Selling what you make?

[Jenndiggy]

How do you all go about selling what you make?

I made cross bookmarks and sold them on consignment to Christian bookstores in the area for a long time. (now all the Christian book stores in the area are closed)

I like making small crafts and currently my love is crocheting scrunchies. However, that's not really something that's easily sold. I've traded them around on coupon boards, but not as often as I'd like. LOL!

So what do you make to sell and how do you sell it?

 

[hollygirl]

I'm still trying to figure out how to sell what I've made. Although I don't have a great quantity of stuff to seel. I would like to seel some paintings. Other than that I'd like to get lots of mosaics done for selling. I was thinking about selling at our local craft expo sometime. That's the only way I can think of right now.

 

[Jenndiggy]

Holly, sometimes people do pretty well with art on ebay. My stuff isn't ebay type stuff but more bazaar type things. Maybe put a painting on over there and see how it does.

 

[Dyrwen]

I somehow know that I could do art for a living later on, but I also know I couldn't sell my own art.

That seems so difficult, selling something you've invested so much time into...

 

[Little Miss Shy]

I don't usually sell my art/craft work but a couple of years ago myself and a group of 5 friends needed to raise some money to fund a mission trip we were going on so we held a craft fayre to raise some cash. Between the six of us we did glass painting, silk painting, card making, pot decorating, friendship braclets, notebooks, bookmarks and clay models. It was great fun getting together to make the stuff and fun on the actual day of the sale. We also baked cakes and did face painting for any young children that came.

 

[Sunny]

I somehow know that I could do art for a living later on, but I also know I couldn't sell my own art.

That seems so difficult, selling something you've invested so much time into...

I was going to answer the posts here about art but your sig line was so disturbing to me that I have to say: it's better to aim at something & miss than to aim at nothing & hit! God loves you even when you haven't recognized Him!

 

[Dyrwen]

I was going to answer the posts here about art but your sig line was so disturbing to me that I have to say: it's better to aim at something & miss than to aim at nothing & hit! God loves you even when you haven't recognized Him!

Aim at an afterlife? No thanks, if it's there, I'll get there. What's there, I won't know, and really, neither will you until you're there. You've made your belief as to what you feel is there, and I as well. Death is the one unknown many have attempted to solve with their imaginations.

Back to art selling, sort of hard to actually find someone to buy it as well, eh?

 

[Sunny]

Aim at an afterlife? No thanks, if it's there, I'll get there. What's there, I won't know, and really, neither will you until you're there. You've made your belief as to what you feel is there, and I as well. Death is the one unknown many have attempted to solve with their imaginations.

Back to art selling, sort of hard to actually find someone to buy it as well, eh?

I will pray for a youngster as yourself because I was where you are once & cannot help myself. I KNOW HIM and He will be there for me when I leave this life. The next life is eternal and I won't spend a minute of it in hell if I can help it. Since I can't help it-I believe on He who can!
As to your belief-you've made it plain that you believe in nothing! I am saddened to think that you are so wounded by the world at such a young age. God bless you....

 

[Sunny]

Jenn-Craft shows might be the way to go with what you're selling-many folks do really well at them!
Holly-Paintings can sell in a lot of places! Take pics of them & show them around to cafes, bakeries, banks, doctor's offices.,etc. Many places are more than happy to have your free display on the wall for decoration and you get exposure & put a price on it with contact info(a little business card with contact info) you never know...

Little Miss-Well done! I like your initiative! Did you make a bunch of money-help pay for your trip?

I sell my stuff through a local gallery. It isn't a good market right now but every little bit helps & if the economy turns around I already have my stuff there soo...

 

[Dyrwen]

I will pray for a youngster as yourself because I was where you are once & cannot help myself. I KNOW HIM and He will be there for me when I leave this life. The next life is eternal and I won't spend a minute of it in hell if I can help it. Since I can't help it-I believe on He who can!
As to your belief-you've made it plain that you believe in nothing! I am saddened to think that you are so wounded by the world at such a young age. God bless you....

Pray all you like. Don't tell me you're doing it though, it makes you appear arrogant in your beliefs. Such inability to accept one's beliefs, even in no gods, is almost appalling, though expected.

 

[Annabel Lee]

Come on. This is the Arts and Handicrafts forum. Can't Drywen post here without having prayers offered?
Give him a break.

 

[Dyrwen]

Thanks.. it is a bit of a hijacking.

Seems like selling your art is always "who you know" not "what you do."

 

[Sunny]

Come on. This is the Arts and Handicrafts forum. Can't Drywen post here without having prayers offered?
Give him a break.

Jesus is the best break we can offer anyone & since this is a Christian forum I don't feel the need to keep Him to myself when I see someone in need. If nobody was willing to tell me about Him I would still be wandering lost too! Anyway if he doesn't believe then why would my prayers bother him so much.

 

[Dyrwen]

It's a CHRISTIAN FORUM. I read about Jesus hundreds of times a day, personally informing me is only less efficient. I found a path, you found one too. Mine directs me where I wish to go in life. As does yours. Don't call me "lost" just because I don't join into your little religious belief.

Your "prayers" don't "bother" me. They only appear arrogant as you feel a need to tell me that you pray. Your god does not need you to tell others about it, "he knows" you're praying, it's not like I care that you do. Why would you need to tell me though? It's like saying
"I don't eat pie, I dislike it.">"Oh, then I'll eat pie for you."

 

[coastie]

when I was doing nothing but photography while I was in high school I entered my photos in numerous art fairs and coutny fairs and such. I only sold 8 pieces but they were all sold at fairs.

I talked a local professional phtographer into displaying some of my stuff at one of his shows and he said that there were people who seemed mildly interstwed but that my things weren't priced so they assumed that they were either not for sale or weren't worth anything.

The hardest part is assigning value to your art.

Let's say you spend a month on an oil painting. The canvas paint and brushes end up costing you around $75 for the painting. You spent roughly 50 hours or so on the piece and poured out your heart and inspiration onto this canvas. To you it's worth thousands. To others it's worth a hundred or two.

BUt you have to be careful not to price it too high or people will find you boastful or pretentious. If you price it too low, no one will consider it worth their money since it doesn't seem to have any value to the artist.

I sold a landscape once at an Art Fair where it took first place for $120 and the same photo (with a little lower fileter and less contrast) was entered at a county fair and didn't even place sold for $18.

The $120 one ended up in a home, the $18 dollar one ended up in a studio gallery (albeit a small insignificant one).

That was five or six years ago, and my mom tells me that the $18 dollar one is still hanging at the gallery and is still for sale.

Can't count on anything. WHen you figure this out let me know... ok?

 

[vgirl]

I'm gonna sell mine outta my home and at a local school house that sells WV homemade crafts. Then u could go to ppl's houses and show them ur crafts.

 

[foolsparade]

I paint and I would not really enjoy selling them. My art is for myself and for others to enjoy. I cannot fathom the concept of being aritistic to merely make some money. and I really could use the money.

 

[Sunny]

I paint and I would not really enjoy selling them. My art is for myself and for others to enjoy. I cannot fathom the concept of being aritistic to merely make some money. and I really could use the money.

I'm just as tickled as I can be that you feel that way but I intend to sell mine. I can't afford to continue if my art doesn't pay it's own way. I am of the belief that artists should always create to please themselves -otherwise they are not true to themselves-I also believe that is what makes art sell, not trying to please everyone else but doing everything to your satisfaction. Never have I seen an artist who wasn't his own worst critic.

 

[Firscherscherling]

This is not an easy question to answer because there are so many variables.

For example, the way you sell will depend on what your specialty is, whether you are selling individual one-of-a-kind things or catalog-type items, the amount of volume you can produce, the amount of volume you want to produce, whether you want to make a living or just pocket money, etc.

My wife sells her stuff 4 ways (Jewelry)-
Art/craft shows- These shows are not very lucrative, so you have to do a lot of them to make a living. We make between $700.00 and $1,000.00 in a two-day show. The benefit of shows for us is advertising and networking more than it is sales. We make more money later from the people we meet who become regular clients. We only do 2-3 a year. We are about to start doing major wholesale market shows like the Rosen show.

Wholesale through a sales rep- Sales vary based on the economy and range between $500.00 and $10,000.00 per month. Quite a range. But we like having people out there doing the sales work for us. My wife refuses to sell her own stuff to stores. Can’t handle the rejection. We are represented by 4 traveling salespeople covering 11 southeastern states and Texas. Sales reps typically get 15%. We now need reps for the west and the northeast.

Direct to clients from our studio at home- Word of mouth is awesome. Sometimes I feel like a drug dealer with people coming by, hanging out, checking out the goods and leaving with a little bag. Anyway, this is the easiest way to sell because people come to you and are ready to buy.

Home shows- This is my favorite. We do between 1 and 4 home shows a month. The hostess buys the refreshments and sends out the invitations. We typically sell $700.00 to $1500.00 in a two hour period. The hostess then receives 10% of sales in free jewelry.

But, to do it all right, we incorporated, got serious about keeping the books/records, providing professional service and invoicing and all that goes with it, making a nice wholesale catalog, and producing sales samples for the reps. Now the biggest hurdles are finding the piecework firms we need in order to boost volume, and keeping new designs on the cutting edge. Seriously selling your stuff means hard work running the business end, as well as producing consistent quality products.

Sorry so wordy. Hope this helps.

 

[Kydra]

id like to sell mine also...its not worthy....yet...anyway