Sunday, March 13, 2011

Made in the USA Supplies

Since I have start crocheting again, I have noticed that most of the yarn is made in Turkey or some other non-US country.  Because of this I only buy certain yarns.  Lily Sugar and Cream that is made from USA grown cotton and Super Saver that is USA manufactured acrylic.  This leaves me with a very limited selection.  So I am wondering if I should feel so guilty about buying non-US yarn.

I have also been noticing where my other supplies are made,  Almost all my jewelry and floral supplies are made in china.  Now I feel even worse because I never thought about it before.

Now that I have been looking into it, I have noticed that there are not very many craft supplies that are made in the US anymore.  I don't like this one bit and I'm not sure what to do about.  But if anyone happens to know where I can get USA made floral and  jewelry supplies please let me know.  I would like to contribute to the down fall of our countries economy as little as possible.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Creation in a Funk

I got some bad news today while I was on my way to buy more supplies.  Nothing kills creativity more than bad news.  I know I would feel better if I would just work on a creative project but its hard to get motivated when I am down in the dumps.  Then I feel even worse because I didn't get hardly anything done.  Such a slippery slope.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better, more creative, more productive day!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Pricing - How do these other crafters make anything?!

When I price out a new item to sell, I always check to see what other people are charging for similar items.  Today I am looking up crochet belly dance belts.  This is an item that takes at least 2 hours for a basic belt so thats a minium of  $40 under my current pricing model.  How are these other sellers making anything by selling a belt for $13 to $25?!  That means they are only paying themselves $4 - $8 an hour.  Minimum wage is $7.40 right now.  Minimum wage is for brainless, talentless jobs not art and things that take skill.  I think my over 20 years of art and design expereince is worth WAY more than minimum wage.  Its really disheartening to see other sellers under cutting the market and devaluing handmade crochet items.

Here is how I price for anything I make:
  • Cost of Replacement Supplies + $15/hour labor(includes design time for one of a kind items, or a portion of design time for reproduced items)+ 15% for Overhead Costs + Etsy/PayPal Fees +/- Love Factor = Item Price
    • Overhead includes things like photo editing time, time spent promoting, marketing, tools, equipment, time/gas spend shopping for supplies, and any other indirect expenses.
    • Love FactorI also make adjustments for appeal.  If the items is particularly stunning, I will mark up the price.  If its not the best, I lower it.
  • Postage + Packaging Supplies + $0.45 per mile to the Postoffice + a little bit for my time = Shipping Costs