digbugsgirl- Good for you! You shouldn't budge on your prices. If people don't want to pay your prices offer them directions to Wallmart, where the Chinese who produce their goods get paid an average of 53 cents an hour.

People who drop their prices just to make a sale hurt everybody in the business. It happens on e-bay, it happens in craft shows. The
American consumer used to paying the price for cheap imported goods, shouldn't be shopping for "handmade in America" crafts. We can't compete with the Chinese labor markets, and frankly, I don't think we should be expected to.

Great tip on the seed ball, that thing was rock hard! Next time I'll try soaking it.

I think there will always be people who think crafts are too expensive. They obviously don't realize the time that goes into these things.

You work with gourds? What do you make with them? I'd love to see. It's always great to meet another gourder.

We posted at the same time eco pie. Well put!

quote:

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

Business continues to trickle in ($10 sale here, $10 sale there), even though I'm not putting much effort into it. Thanks for asking. I've been working on local commissions and being a good mom, and letting myself get caught up on (translate: "sucked into") other online creative communities, to keep the embers glowing. When I start adding more and diverse stuff to the store, I'll start getting more business. That's how it works: every time you list something (or relist), you get your item cycled through on the front page, and your store comes up higher on the list in searches.

I really wish Pogo would put these things up for sale on Etsy - it's bloody little effort compared to setting up shop at a market or craft fair, you charge what you want and people PAY IT, and the fees are not onerous. Etsy is MADE for people who create one-of-a-kind things, and she's got mad photography skillZ (with a capital Z), so her stuff will sell FAST! Just keep adding one new thing a week, or every two weeks, and she's got sustained front page exposure, and now's the time people are thinking about decorating their gardens. The whole of the USA becomes her marketplace, and all she has to do is box the gourd and ship it.

I do all kinds of different things with gourds. Here are a few. The first one is a candy "bowl" for Halloween. I sold the last one last year along with another one almost like it. I didn't think to take a pic of that one.

Thanks for the update Elfie! I've been reading more and more about Etsy and it seems to be growing all of the time, and it is becoming a good place to buy craft/art. Yep, I think it would be a good way for Pogo to make some money when she runs out of friends and family to give her creations too.

DigBugsGirl, thanks for sharing, the pumpkin/gourd made me smile... Too Cute!

Etsy is great. Many crafters disgruntled with e-bay have gone there. When I sell again it will be on Etsy.

Hey Pogo? I was just going back through the older threads and saw the picture you posted of a wood-burned pheasant on a gourd. Pogo! THAT isn't "craftwork", that's real art! You have an exceptional talent, and I mean that.

The places where I saw high end wood burned gourd work selling was in Arizona, the winter vacation destiny of millions of folks looking to escape the cold of their own state in the wintertime. Most of the gourd work I saw had Native American Indian motifs; many with copies of the beautiful graphic patterns they applied to their baskets and pottery, and others that were wood-burned portraits of famous chiefs, etc. While there I picked up a book called "Decorative Art of the Southwestern Indians" by Dorothy Smith Sides, (Dover Publications) containing "290 copyright-free Design Motifs for Artists and Craftsmen." It may be out of print now, but I'll bet you can find a copy somewhere in the public library system. It's outstanding, and all the motifs are authentic and taken off of museum basket and pottery pieces. The motifs would be excellent to transfer to gourds.

Also, many of the high end gourd pieces were stained with multiple colors. I think they used water-based ink. Also the gourds themselves were usually stained, and dark red mahogany seemed to be popular. The expensive pieces were all coffee-table artwork.

Anyway, you might try your hand at some Native American designs, take pictures of your pieces, and e-mail them off to galleries in Arizona. You can probably locate many of those galleries on the internet, or go down to your local phone company. They generally have phonebooks from all the states, and you'll find the names of addresses of galleries there. Check out the galleries in Sedona, Prescott, Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson, because they sell some really top notch stuff.

Pogo, you shouldn't be trying to sell your wood-burned gourds at crafts' fairs; they are art pieces and girl, you are good at it. That is very high end work.

Also Pogo, have you ever incorporated Koi into your work? With so many people putting in ponds and water features these days, anything with Koi on it sells big time

Thanks ms eco pie for the nice comments. You are more optimistic than I am. I don't think I'm gallery-ready yet by any means.

One thing I would need before selling anything at that higher end is more experience with is how the colors and finishes hold up. For example I used leather dye on this gourd a couple years ago and now it's faded so bad the green is completly gone, it's yellow now. Same with this one which was my first gourd. The color is about gone now. That would be bad business to have sold those. I won't use leather dye anymore.

I know the kinds of gourds your talking about in the southwestern galleries. Bonnie Gibson has a real classy style of gourd art and it's popular down there. She uses a lot of inlace with stone chips and the gourds are stunning. A lot of the gourds are very simple but so classy and beautiful. I admire the artists that can use simplicity like that.

I never have considered koi. I've seen some art done very nicely with koi though. They have fish grace and color too.

Don't sell yourself short, Pogo. I know they are using inks, not dyes, for the artwork, and they are using wood stains for the main color. To keep the color in, they are using a soft cloth and a wipe on water based verathane; Min-Wax puts it out.

There is also an enormous need out there for hand made work that can be given as gifts to men, and your gourds would be perfect. Men seem to be drawn to artwork with dragons, elephants, tigers, lions and wolves. Also, you might consider doing a line of endangered species animals. I bet those would really sell.

You really do have a talent. I'm not just saying that to flatter you. I am sincerely impressed. Those are just killer dragon flies, but I really LOVE your wood-burned pieces. That's a class act all the way.

Really cute hatching dragon, too.

When you're ready to sell, you know where we think you should start (online, anyway).

Digbugs - Those are sweet gourds, too! That little birdhouse with the front garden was just too cute.

I love the candy bowl, great idea bugsgirl. Nice job on the painting too.

The hatching dragon was all my son's idea and drawing, I just added the paint. And congrats on getting it right as a dragon elfie! Everyone thinks it's a snake.

see pogo, you do have it! I think we found your agent

Thanks everyone. I've done some woodburning, too, but don't have any pics. I hope to get a little more into that, but I just keep forgetting to get new tips. One day I'll get there. I also like to use horse hair.

ok new here just joined i live in a apartment w/ a balcony would it be ez for me to grow gourds?

Welcome to the boards lilerthmom. Gourds would be hard to grow in a small space since they overtake everything in sight. Lisaann posted a pic here of a luffa that pretty much ate her deck but I couldn't find it to show you.

Yep, they take over lilerthmom! Haha

Hi Pogo! One of these days you will tell us you have been commisioned to mass produce your talent! I know that's coming! Heck, I knew that when you posted your first pic!

Okay scary luffa gourds!