The weather was beautiful this week. The trees are in their fall colors and it was warm and sunny.
I did get the blocks for the center of the Halloween quilt sewn. Just need to sew them together and create a triangle border.
This is from a pattern that I found on All People Quilt by Becky Cogan for NEEDLLOVE.COM. The quilt has prairie points for the border, but since I do not like prairie points I will just make a triangle border.
Not sure I will get it finished in time for Halloween…we’ll see.
Found some more Halloween decorations that we made. Put this in front of the fireplace. Hope the our cat leaves the raffia alone. I think it is pretty tempting to chew on it for a cat.
Finally got our couch yesterday. So nice to have a good couch to sit on. So all in all a very good week!
Now to try to figure out what I want to sell some of my quilts for at the art show in November. I am thinking of selling the following quilts.
“Paris Rooftops” about 18 in by 24 in.
“Spiritual Sanctuary” about 24 in by 36 in.
“Forest Cathedral” about 14 in by 20 in.
“Orange Sky at Night” about 18 in by 24 in.
Any ideas of what one can realistically sell art quilts for?
Thanks for reading.
Chris
Pricing is always a tough one. It helps if you can see similar exhibits in the area to get an idea of what the going rate may be and especially helpful if you knew how people had priced their work at this event last year. But you cannot price your quilts the same as a photographer prices her work, or a water colorist etc. Fiber simply must go for more. My rule of thumb when I was doing more framing in the 12 x 16 range was to price them at $175 unless I had done excessive piecing or beading/embellishing. Recent quilts similar in size and complexity to your rooftops and Forest Cathedrals I priced at $395. This is based on a formula that tries to take into account cost of materials and labor (although one never captures 100% of that) plus 40% to cover potential gallery fees/commissions. A lot of quilt artists starting out are advised to use a simple one dollar per square inch formula. I was surprised that when I applied that to my own quilts, it came very close to the figure my elaborate formula produced. But I have to admit, the larger the quilt, the harder it is to put the price those formulas are producing on it. In the end, I always stand back and give the quilt a good look partly with the eye of a potential buyer and partly with the eye of the maker to reach a price I feel comfortable with that doesn't under value it such that I'm "giving" it away nor under price it and unduly undercut the pricing of other pieces in the exhibit while not erring too far on the other side such that it is out of range of potential buyers. It's hard sometimes to find that balance.
ReplyDeleteYou've got some lovely and quite big pieces there. I don't think any of them should go for less than $400.
Hope this helps.
Got sidetracked by the pricing thing. Meant to mention I'm really taken with the addition of that blue in your current Halloween quilt. I'm sure I would have inserted green instead, but that blue is a bit unexpected and really does something special to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input on the pricing. Wow not sure I could sell them for that much in central PA. Maybe this year I will just exhibit and see what goes on at the art show and then sell next year. As to the fabric that reads as blue...it is actually purple. I guess a cool blue purple so I guess that is what the camera picked up on. So hard to get true colors with photos.
ReplyDeleteWell, except for one area, I was leaning toward calling it some kind of purple, but one leaning toward blue rather than red. My feelings about how it works in the quilt remain the same!
ReplyDeleteAs for the pricing - if you know how much commission will be taken on sales, you could subtract the difference between it and my 40% figure to bring down the price. When I sell through POAC they only take 25% but so that I'm not repricing if I try to sell through a different venue with higher commission, the 40% figure keeps me covered and also allows me to offer the occasional discount. Will anyone else be offering art quilts at this thing?
This is an art show in our development so there is no commission. I was asking around and was given the advise to take the cost of materials, cost per hour for making it and then double it. I think all of the methods come out about the same. I was impressed with the $1 per square in calculation. The numbers come out pretty high.
ReplyDeleteYes they did (as I did quick calculations before advising you). It gets more shocking the larger the quilt! Basic retail 101 for any business generally prices by doubling what they have paid for the merchandise (wholesale costs). That leaves lots of wiggle room for sales, etc but also covers overhead which artists are notorious for excluding from their costs (guilty as charged). Since this is your first outing and there's no commission taken, you can keep your price down by omitting that add-on. For instance, using the $1 a square inch method, subtracting 40% on the 18 x 24 pieces would bring them down by about $125. I'm guessing that still will look high to you so you kinda have to do a gut check. I just can't emphasize enough though, don't give away your work! Better to have it out on display and not sell. Underprice and the public will go right along with you that the work is not worth very much. Be confident, be brave, you may be surprised!
ReplyDelete