They make great bird feeders. The winter birds are a joy to have.

Just beautiful, Pogo! Both the gourds and the sweet feathered friends in them!

WOW! gorgeous!

Nice!

Pogo, You really need to start selling these creations. I love the way you put the branches around the outside. There must be some type of gardening or feed store in your area that would be happy to sell some for you.

I'd love to sell my stuff. It would be a dream coming true. But I struggle with a problem I think every artist/craftsman that sells their goods struggles with at some point (even the really good ones). It's the issue of time spent vs income. And the universal truth that people buying craft items don't want to pay.

All of my projects take me too long to complete because of some learning error or other complication. For example, I just finished the top feeder (the bottom one is a few years old) and it took me over 5 hours, probably 6. The "other complication" here was the seeds inside had clumped up into a very hard ball that was too big to come out my cut holes. So I had to break the ball apart which took sawing, beating, prying, pulling, a couple bloody knuckles, and a lot of time. The "learning error" had me scrub off at least one attempt at applying the paint. These are not things a buyer should have to pay for.

So, in this example it took me 5+ hours from scrubbing the raw gourd to hanging it for the birds. If I paid myself $5 per hour which is below current minimum wage (and would have to include the cost of growing or buying the gourd and the equipment and supplies used), I would have to get $25 for the feeder. The place that sells the item would take at least 25%, so that puts the price of the feeder over $32. It might sell at that but most likely not in this area. It is after all a simple feeder, a gourd with some holes cut in it.

My plan is to keep working at it, keep learning from mistakes (get to the point I don't have to scrub off paint and start over) until I become somewhat efficient. Efficient doesn't mean producing the crappy work I often see at craft fairs either, but I do understand their need to fill a market for cheap goods. In reality this may never happen because I can hardly find the time between work and kids to get done what I do.

I would spend 100 hours on a gift for someone, because it has to be right and I don't have to put a price on it. But selling is business which is very different.

I hope elfie and pinky and crafters that sell/have sold will chime in with thoughts. Creating and making things is a cherished hobby. I'm always going over new ideas and plans for projects. I'm just afraid of the selling. It makes me consider time vs income which doesn't come into hobby work at all.

Very cool gourd work, Pogo. I love the twisted vine bird perches! How clever!

I have sold my crafts off and on for years; everything from ceramic wind chimes to silver jewelry, dried floral design and terrariums. And you are right, it is competitive. Also, the expense of trying to sell your crafts throughout the year is considerable because whether it is from a web site or craft shows and fairs, it's gonna cost you.

Over the years I have found that working at my "crafts for sale" projects about nine months out of the year works best for me. I just stock pile them, and then go into hard drive the three months prior to Xmas season, concentrating on sales.

Also, though I surely sympathesize with the desire to make each piece perfect and spend hours on end perfecting your talent, you really can't make any money doing that. Spend those hours perfecting one peice, and then repeat the piece over and over again until you can do it quickly enough to make some money on your labor, otherwise, it's truly a bust.

I have, by the way, seen rather remarkable gourd work offered for sale in some very exclusive galleries. Each piece was well over $250 and often included inset semi-precious gemstones with silver wire work embedded in the gourds, also some beaded tassels that included feathers. They were breathtaking, and I thought the crafter deserved every penny they were charging for their work.

There is a demand for high end craft work, but it has to be great, unusual, and you have to build a name and a reputation.

Good advice Ms. Eco Pie and welcome from a fellow Oregonian. Pogo, all artists have that problem. I stopped doing stained glass because it hurt too much to see a precious piece being taken home by a buyer that just wasn't the right person for it, in my mind anyway. Pricing is always an issue with art. Make one you think you won't mind duplicating and that won't take forever either. Keep the original and copy it several times. Then try and market them. You have enough made so far that a webpage will work to promote your work.You just need to be discovered. Don't we all? I should have listened to you about getting my gourds out of my studio. I have a collection of fungus gnats now I got your seeds, thanks!

oh2fly, I originally learned the craft scene at Portland's Saturday Market. Some weeks it was good money, some weeks it wasn't, but the one thing it always was, was a seven day work week. I'd make stuff to sell five days a week, and then have to spend the weekends selling. The burn out rate is very high. But I also made some great friends and had a good time. However, I confess I hated having to set up a booth at 5 AM in the morning every weekend. That part is a real drag after a while.

For me, the toughest thing about selling your craft is though you start out loving it and get into it as an art form, making a living at it seems to sort of eventually work against your original intent which is usually to make something beautiful for the sheer thrill of doing it.

Also I learned that it is better to sell high end than sell low end. Most of the time the people who have only $20-$25 to spend blow it on elephant ears at the food booths. The food vendors are the folks that really make the dough.

I still craft and sell, but I don't do it full time anymore, and when I do work at it, I try to make sure it's because I'm into it at the time. If I let it become "a job", then it robs me of the joy.

And sorry about the fungus gnats. How does one get rid of those bloody things?

David and eco pie... yes, exactly to about everything you just said

I wouldn't want to turn my love of crafting into a full time job for exactly these reasons. I'd like to sell a few things to recoup some costs. I also need to sell some because where am I going to put all this stuff I keep making But making a full time job of anything would change the nature of it. Like my garden, it wouldn't be as fun if I had to work as hard all year as I do in early spring and late summer. The downtime is good.

My DH has a craft that he's very good at and feels the same way about selling his stuff. He's sold a few carvings for over $200 each but he says he'd rather donate for charity auctions than make a real business of it. Like your stained glass David, we become emotionally involved with our work when we spend long hours making it just right. But he, like the rest of us needs an outlet. What do we do when our house is full of our stuff and our friends and family all have something? Put our art in storage? It's coming to that here.

I agree ms eco pie that these long hours spent making something just right is truly a bust financially. I think of these many hours to produce what looks like so little sort of like grade school. It's background. That's why I'm not ready to sell anything just yet. When I do I'll probably use a website like etsy or something similar. I wouldn't expect to sell much but that's ok.

Fungus gnats! Maybe they'll follow those gourds outside. Gourds can become one disgusting mess between when you pick them from the vine and when they're ready to get clean and show their beauty.

And yes, welcome to the board ms eco pie! Thanks for the helpful discussion.

Thanks for the welcome, Pogo, and I'm glad to meet you all.

And yes, I know all about the "what do I do with all of this stuff?" blues. I am a crafting fool and I've got tons of it too. I have finally limited myself to jewelry though, because it takes up less room than anything else I've made. My lampglass beads, gemstones and silver beads and wire all go nicely in plastic shoe boxes and bead boxes, and it all fits in the bottom section of my entertainment cabnet. Don't talk to me about my sewing and yarn room though...I don't even want to go in there!

quote:

making a living at it seems to sort of eventually work against your original intent which is usually to make something beautiful for the sheer thrill of doing it.

I made sewing stuff my business, and I found that the "corruption of the commercial" hurt me only if I didn't let myself play with something new. While I was hawking my warez on the weekends at the farmers' market, taking on commissioned work and pushing my novelties, I was also asking customers for newspaper sleeves. It kept people intrigued enough to come check my table every weekend, to see what I'd do with them. (Fused them into durable reusable bags. I've got enough for that full, hooded raincoat, now. I should get started.)

And I love taking the commissions... I just finished the copy of a men's French Connection shirt, widening it to accommodate the customer's shoulders. I never know what's going to come in, and that's kind of neat.

Pogo, to start with I've never thought of your gourds as the crappy crafty stuff... and I know what you are talking about seeing alot of it at craft sales. With the work and detail that you put into them they are high end and the price you said at $32 is too low. Think of the nice gardening type stores or gift shops that charge and get a good price for what they sell. If you have one of those type of stores in your neighborhood it wouldn't hurt to ask if they would be interested in selling some of your gourds for you.... when you've got enough made that you've got them under the bed, in the tub, and need to move them to do the laundry!

I haven't sold anything at craft sales for quite a while... right now it's working on my pottery and lately it's been fiber, spinning and knitting, with some thoughts on felted things... who knows where my mind will take me next!

Soon it will be the start of the busy season for me, so what I don't get made now will have to wait until next fall, I'm hoping to have enough made to take to the annual craft sale in the town near here, it is the weekend of deer hunting and usually has a crowd. Finding the good craft sales is getting harder and harder all of the time but there are a few here and there that a person wishes they had more money and a bigger house. But I'm not sure if the craft fair is a good way to go anymore.

Elfie, how's it going with Etsy? Been wondering if your getting much business there.

Take your beautiful gourds to a craft store or the recreation center and ask about teaching a class. You can prep the gourds before hand and explain the process so they can do it themselves next time.
Charge enough to cover your supplies and a fee for yourself. You'd be surprised how much you can make doing a class once a week!

Pogo - I sell crafts and jams at our local farmer's market. Every now and then I will do a craft show. I'm probably too cheap on some things, though. My gourds do sell, but slowly. I am way under what other people sell there's for, yet some people STILL think I'm too expensive. Oh well! I won't budge on my prices. I work too hard to let some cheapskate "steal" my artwork. The right buyer always comes along sooner or later.

As far as your seed ball problem...I, too, have that. I finally realized that if you just soak your cut gourd for a little bit, the seed ball will get very, very soft and fall apart in your hands. When you get the seed ball out, just let the gourd dry overnight and it will be perfectly dry. Hope this helps!