Wishing you and yours a Merry Little Christmas, Happy Hanukah or Wonderful Whatever holiday it is you celebrate this time of year!

Eileen

Pennies from Heaven

I received some “pennies from heaven” a while back. A very good friend’s mom passed away at age 106. Among her things was an extensive collection of vintage rhinestone jewelry dating from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Barbara kept the best pieces and put a bunch up for sale on eBay. The remainder however had stones missing or broken clasps and Barbara gave them to me, thinking I could use them in my crafting.

One day, it dawned on me that I could use the rhinestones to make wire-wrapped pendants using Preston Reuther’s step-by-pendant step directions on our site.

The compliments I received on that first piece led me to order Preston’s Wire Sculpture Small Business Kit.

I haven’t even had time to view Preston’s instructional videos because I got sidetracked making these beautiful rhinestone pendants.

Now I’m receiving custom orders from friends of Barbara and of her mom who specifically want jewelry made with these rhinestones for their sentimental as well as historical value.

My “pennies from heaven” have turned into dollars from heaven and have taken my crafting in yet another direction. How exciting!

P.S. I finally did make time to view Preston’s instructional videos and I’m more excited about wire sculpting than ever. It’s amazing what that man can do with wire!

Read This Before You Make Your Own Holiday Cards

When I first started making greeting cards for my friends, I assumed that it was OK to sell them. I figured I bought the programs and that the graphics included were for my use – whatever that might be. [Remember the spelling lesson on the word “assume”? Never assume. When you assume you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”.]

When I got a question from a reader about copyrights, I decided I’d better stop assuming and delve into the matter. On checking some of the brochures I had laying around for my graphics programs, I found good news and bad.

My philosophy is that to succeed in any craft business you have to be original. That said, if you want to use designs you have bought for commercial purposes, check the brochures that came with them and, if necessary, the company’s website to see if a copyright is claimed or if you can pay a bit extra for a commercial license.

I am not a copyright attorney, but understand that works created before 1923 are in the public domain and copyright free. You can check Copyright.gov for official information.

Copyrights usually attach automatically. The author need not actually register his or her copyright.

But don’t despair; there are many sources of copyright free art work. Click here to find some of the best royalty free art sites.

Should You “Keystone-Price” Your Crafts?

I once had a rather heated discussion with a friend and fellow crafter-for-profit about how we ought to price our crafts when we market them ourselves.

Becky had owned a boutique and insisted that we should use keystone pricing. In retail, keystoning is a commonly used guideline for pricing merchandise.

Keystoning means to price items at twice their cost. Presumably such a mark-up will cover the expenses of a retail establishment (rent, utilities, staff, etc.) and provide a fair profit.

I couldn’t convince Becky that keystoning would not fairly compensate her for her hand-crafted items when she sells them herself. Hopefully I can convince you!

Here’s how I look at it. Say you sell your crafts to a store or gallery at wholesale prices. You need to build a profit into your prices.

If the materials cost you X, the proper wholesale price is not necessarily 2X. It depends on many variables other than the cost of the materials, the most important of which are:

1. The (wholesale) market price for similar items;
2. The amount of time it took to make;
3. The originality/creativity of the item;
4. The equipment required (based on its cost and rate of depreciation).

Because of all these factors, your fair wholesale price could be anything from 2X to 200X.

If you are also doing your own selling, be it in a store or just by “pounding the pavement”, your fair retail price should be anything from 4X to 400X (using the keystoning concept).

Marketing takes time. It costs you money: ads, craft fair fees, business cards, display materials, packing materials, etc. 2X could never be enough to compensate you for selling your own handcrafted items. Read more about craft pricing.