You know those moments in time where you are so busy that you can hardly see straight and the stress is almost too much to take? Well, that has been me in the last three weeks. I had an unfortunate encounter with a woman bent on making my life horrible for the last three weeks. Don't worry. I am not going to vent here! I just wanted to clarify. I am in college, attempting to get a BA in English. I am just 3 classes away from finishing. So you can imagine my frustration at being teamed up with someone who cares little for anyone but herself.
Now that I am finally rid of her, I can get back to my stress-free programming! I.E. pattern making, preparing for autumn craft fairs, crocheting, and my writing. It has been too stressful to even think about any of that.
If you notice, I did a Share it Saturday late last night to show what I was up to - now free from stressful, uncaring people.
What I really am up to is something very tedious, but necessary. Any crafter who attempts to sell their product will understand. Since I had the opportunity to join a juried show with my crochet with shows in November and December, I thought I would do ornaments.
1. I LOVE crocheting ornaments.
2. I LOVE Christmas.
3. I LOVE imagining my ornaments on other people's tree or given as gifts.
4. It is extremely easy to decorate a booth for Christmas.
What more could I ask for?
So, tonight I am doing two things - making a list of ornaments that I could potentially make and making them while timing myself.
Timing myself, you ask?
Yep! Timing myself. I am not the type of crafter (anymore) who wants to forget the time aspect of crochet. I believe that there are many undervalued crochet products being sold with no one the wiser. 3x the cost of the material is okay for someone who just randomly sells things; however, for someone wanting to be in a juried show that requires true value, no sales, and representing the actual product - well it is not okay.
This is my formula.
7.25 (federally mandated minimum wage in the U.S.) (divided) / how many I can make in an hour = total for just 1 of those items.
Total of 1 item + (material costs x 3) + packaging costs + taxes = true value of the item
Take the pine cone for example. The small version allows me to get 4 done in an hour. When dividing 7.25 by 4, I get $1.81 for making them just as a wage. I have not weighed the item or found the proper packaging, but I can assume that my price would be between 5-8 dollars per pine cone.
That is the true value. That is what my work is worth. And that is an uncompromising price and value for my work.
As you can see, it is a busy evening and week for myself. I hope that you are still around to view more future posts.
Now that I am finally rid of her, I can get back to my stress-free programming! I.E. pattern making, preparing for autumn craft fairs, crocheting, and my writing. It has been too stressful to even think about any of that.
If you notice, I did a Share it Saturday late last night to show what I was up to - now free from stressful, uncaring people.
What I really am up to is something very tedious, but necessary. Any crafter who attempts to sell their product will understand. Since I had the opportunity to join a juried show with my crochet with shows in November and December, I thought I would do ornaments.
1. I LOVE crocheting ornaments.
2. I LOVE Christmas.
3. I LOVE imagining my ornaments on other people's tree or given as gifts.
4. It is extremely easy to decorate a booth for Christmas.
What more could I ask for?
So, tonight I am doing two things - making a list of ornaments that I could potentially make and making them while timing myself.
Timing myself, you ask?
Yep! Timing myself. I am not the type of crafter (anymore) who wants to forget the time aspect of crochet. I believe that there are many undervalued crochet products being sold with no one the wiser. 3x the cost of the material is okay for someone who just randomly sells things; however, for someone wanting to be in a juried show that requires true value, no sales, and representing the actual product - well it is not okay.
This is my formula.
7.25 (federally mandated minimum wage in the U.S.) (divided) / how many I can make in an hour = total for just 1 of those items.
Total of 1 item + (material costs x 3) + packaging costs + taxes = true value of the item
Take the pine cone for example. The small version allows me to get 4 done in an hour. When dividing 7.25 by 4, I get $1.81 for making them just as a wage. I have not weighed the item or found the proper packaging, but I can assume that my price would be between 5-8 dollars per pine cone.
That is the true value. That is what my work is worth. And that is an uncompromising price and value for my work.
As you can see, it is a busy evening and week for myself. I hope that you are still around to view more future posts.
Sarah
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