If you're going to get bad news and good news on the same day, it's probably good that they come at the same time.

I don't like to focus on bad news, so I'll post the good news first. My Yellow Windowleaf beadwoven cuff made it to Etsy's front page today! See?

I've been busy and hadn't even seen the treasury before I saw it on the front page (and thanks to a couple of Etsy friends for pointing it out to me). The treasury's title is CHAZ (a cross between cheese and jazz and has nothing to do with the treasury), and it was curated by aslibinal. Be sure to check out her shop for some cool Blythe stuff and some even cooler stuffed critters (ya gotta love a stuffed critter called Mr. Toofy).

Okay, now the bad news. I was literally in the middle of capturing that screen print of the front page when the phone rang. A few weeks ago, I was approached by a jewelry representative who told me she really loved my beadweaving and wanted to market it to high end gift shops and boutiques. Now I'm normally a bit skeptical about things like that, but I knew how she found me and did some research to determine her legitimacy, so I went for it. I packaged up some pieces for her to take to her clients, made up a price list for her; and I've just been waiting for word. I was a bit nervous, actually, that I'd wind up with orders and would have to race to finish a bunch of bracelets. I needn't have worried.

She told me that everyone who saw my work really loved it, but they all thought the prices were too high. Their expectation was that a beadwoven cuff should cost them somewhere in the range of $15 to $20!!! Eegads! These are the cuffs you see me writing about here on my blog, all designed by me, all handmade by me, and all made from the best materials I can find. The rep told me that the shop owners said they could purchase Fair Trade items much more cheaply than they could purchase mine, and they didn't think they should have to pay so much.

Even when I manage to purchase the materials for my cuffs on sale, there are a few dollars tied up in the cost of each piece. That doesn't even take into consideration the amount of time it takes to craft one of these pieces. It takes a long time to weave all those little beads together, and I'm pretty quick. I really do enjoy every aspect of making these pieces, from working on the designs, to choosing the colors, to weaving all the beads and watching them turn into "fabric." That being said, I'm not willing to sell my artistry, my skill, and my time for what would amount to less than minimum wage.

I don't think anyone should expect that. I'm dismayed when I see someone selling their beadweaving (or anything, for that matter!) on Etsy for what I know to be a ridiculously low price. It doesn't help any of us to sell at bargain basement prices. What happens when someone wants wholesale pricing? There's no room to provide that unless you actually LOSE money on your craft. Yes, there are those out there who say they're just selling their work to make money to pay for materials. I kind of started out on Etsy with that thought, but I eventually abandoned it. Some of the reason for abandoning that is that it's not fair to the people who are selling their work at the higher prices they deserve if I'm undercutting them. I've made a lot of cyber friends on Etsy, and a lot of them are beadweavers. I would feel absolutely horrible if I sold my work at prices substantially lower than theirs just to garner extra sales.

We really need to educate people about handcrafts. I think all of us who create do so because we love it, and we'd probably make things whether there were an Etsy (or eBay or DaWanda or eCrater, or wherever you sell) or not. Our friends and relatives would just receive lots of handmade gifts. But if you ARE selling your handcrafts, don't undersell yourself. Don't undercut your fellow sellers. Place a value on yourself and your art/craft, and stop trying to sell at prices charged by those third world countries. Use the best materials you can, do the best work you can do, and take pride in your art.

I will now step DOWN from the soapbox. I just had to vent some of the frustration I experienced when I received that phone call today. My beadweaving is on its way back to me, and I'm fine with that. Discerning buyers will understand that they're purchasing something special when they purchase my beadweaving.

Some more pictures, some new listings, and a question. I'm going to start with the question, though.

How do you price your work?

I'm not just being nosy or anything, but I'm curious. Do you really think about everything that goes into your creations? Or do you price your pieces at lower prices than you really should, in hopes of appealing to buyers? It's a pretty safe bet that everyone who's creating work to be sold is accounting for materials, and you're probably giving yourself at least some sort of hourly wage, but in looking at the prices being charged on Etsy, it appears that many of the sellers are shortchanging themselves... and in the process, they're devaluing the work of their fellow sellers.

I'm by no means an expert on pricing, but I have spent some time recently analyzing the pricing structure on my beadweaving in an attempt to place an appropriate value on my creations. A lot of thought went into developing a formula that would work. While many people use a formula as simple as cost-of-materials x 2.5 or 3, that type of formula doesn't work well for something like beadweaving, which requires relatively low material costs but a great deal of time.

So, what do you account for in your pricing?

1. Materials. You know what the beads, chain, wire, clasps, jumprings, etc., cost. Right? Did you remember to include the cost of the gas you used to drive to the store? Sales tax? Shipping costs?

2. Fees. There are lots of fees associated with selling, even on a site like Etsy where the fees are relatively low. There's that $.20 listing fee. The 3.5% transaction fee. PayPal fees, which vary based on the type of PayPal account you have and the type of account and/or location of the buyer. Think you have everything covered? What if your item doesn't sell the first time it's listed? Do you have some extra fees built in to cover renewals? (One of the best ways to "advertise" your work on Etsy is to list frequently. If you're not making all sorts of new creations every day, you should be renewing the ones you have in your shop so they get some extra attention. Every renewal puts your work on Etsy's front page, even if it's only for a few seconds, and you never know who might be looking.)

3. Time. This is where everyone seems to falter. You probably include at least some sort of hourly wage in your calculation, to cover the time it takes you to create your pieces. Do you include the time it takes you to design the pieces? How about the time it takes you to do the photography? Or to write up your listing? Do you blog about your creations? Post pictures to flickr, Talent Database, or other places to promote your work? How do you account for the time it takes you to do those things?

4. Packaging/shipping. You probably account for the cost of postage when you calculate the shipping cost for your listing. You might even account for the cost of packaging. Are you sure you have everything? Bubble mailers, boxes, bags, tissue, bubble wrap, ribbon, string, tape, mailing labels? Gas for the trip to the post office?

We all have different skills, we work at different rates, and we create different types of art. So it's unlikely that there's a formula out there that would work for everyone. Just be sure that when you're pricing your work, you're giving yourself credit as an ARTIST. Don't shortchange yourself. And don't devalue the work of others who may be creating in the same genre by offering your creations at prices that are too low.

*steps down from soapbox*

Okay, enough of that. Now for the pictures. These are my newest listings, for two very different bracelets.


First is an Oglala bracelet, Garnet and Mauve Ruffle. These are so much fun to make, and even though I'm not a "red" person, I love the colors in this piece.

The ruffles are made up of beautiful clear beads that are lined with a pale mauve color, and then there's a picot edging made from size 15 garnet colored glass beads. The larger beads are painted glass, and I added some little strands of the size 15 beads for some extra embellishment.



The second bracelet is very different from the Oglala. This one, Abstract in Bronze and Sand, is the same design as the Evolutionary cuff I created awhile back, but I used only two colors of beads this time.

The beads in this one are have a matte metallic finish (my personal favorite). The bronze beads, which have an iris finish, are absolutely gorgeous!







Hey, look at that! I managed to get some pictures taken today!!! Of course, there are a few other things which I should have gotten done that didn't quite make into my schedule... but then, that's always the way.