In the pursuit of your hobby there may be a point where opportunities for recognition, competition, and sales presents itself. For some, the rewards can be financial and a lot of personal satisfaction and recognition. However, before jumping into this arena there are some things to consider and ponder over. First and foremost, it's a lot of work to prepare for and participate in a show or festival. Perhaps the best way to explain what I mean is to describe how I got into this arena.
I've made custom cabinets and tables for years. The outlets for these were local shops and private commissions. I started out by placing pieces in shops on consignment. This meant that I got no money until the piece sold, and then the shop withheld 33% for their "take". The pricing of the furniture pieces included all materials, the shops commission, and a profit for me; which was between $10 and $40 per hour. After the shops found that my pieces sold I began selling the pieces at a wholesale price to the shops. for them to sell. Well I got old and weak, and did not want to build the larger heavier furniture any more. Well, I loved to work with wood, so the carving bug bit. I decided to scale down the wood working. I began to design and build Noah's Arks and carve the pairs of animals. Not cabinet making, but still designing and working wood. The same shops that sold my furniture wanted to sell the arks. I jumped on that. But a big difference occurred - when I priced out arks and the pairs of carved animals the prices were way too high (I thought).
Here's what I ran into with pricing out a Noah's Ark and 18 pairs of animals.
a. Wood for the ark.............$16.00
b. Fasteners for the ark......$ .50
c. Paint for the ark...............$ 2.00
d. Wood for animals............$18.00
Total Matls $36.50
e. Labor ark...8 Hrs
f. Labor animals...36 Hrs
Total Labor 44 Hrs @$20...$880
Total Price $916.50
GET MY POINT
Stay tuned for what I did to make the Noah's Arks and animals competitive in price.
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