Monday, August 30, 2010

a stack of brown turds for 300 bucks?


I am involved in a group show relating to clay and blogs. I submitted this pitcher when I was invited, for the online show. This is a tall pitcher, and I would charge 30-40 bucks for it, 48 in this case, I marked up the price because of shipping and all. I was surprised to see the other entries: mine is virtually the cheapest! And there are some items that make me think "they want 300 bucks for that stack of turds?". What kind of artist am I? I don't consider myself modest or humble, and I am not crazy, I don't think, therefore some of the prices people are asking are a bit STEEP. I like to sell things, make more, sell more. I am not sure what other people are thinking.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I am on your side Cousin Wonderful...:) I sell my stuff at a fair price, and glad I do. I went to a gallery in Chicago, and yes, the stuff looked like stacked turds. I picked up this bowl that was sold and asked the art broker, "Just what makes this bowl $5,000.00"? It was damn ugly, and crude...His reply, "Well that is a "blah, blah, blah"!...lol lol
Love the pitcher, and keep selling! :)

Unknown said...

Yeah... you remember that bowl thing from that artist in northern CA... the one for $400?! WHAT?! I think $48 is completely reasonable. :)

Reverend Awesome said...

Yeah, I think people just have a lot of nerve and think they are the most special little snow flake ever. No one is going to buy their stuff. They can say because no one appreciates it. That's not really true. They over appreciate themselves.

k.a. barnes said...

Best blog title entry EVER.

Liz said...

I think pricing work is tough. I find a lot of people over pricing and a lot of people under pricing. Its tough to meet the middle ground. I think 48 bucks is a great price for your jug.I would snap it up at that price.
I would also snap it up at 60. But 200??? no way. Not because it isn't beautiful, but because I would think really, 200 bucks is two tires for trixie, or two weeks groceries. $40-60 feels like I bought something special, without taking away from the family budget.
I use a formula to price my work, cost of materials, and energy for firing, time working on it, incidentals, like packaging and presentation, a bit of profit, socked away for buying new equipment etc...
That gives me a wholesale price. Then I have a retail price. My retail is double the wholesale.
When I do the math on this. I find that there are things that aren't worth making. OR that there are things I cannot afford to sell in galleries. The price would have to be ridiculous. I don't want to sell ridiculously priced merchandise.
That being said. My clay just went up in price, I am faced with a power bill increase this fall, and I am keeping my prices the same. Because the local competition is already cheaper than me. They are selling quantity, but are struggling to afford more clay.
I price what i feel the market can comfortably bear without being greedy. There are smaller popular pieces that make up for the loss on pieces I should be charging more for.
In the end, I am just happy to earn enough to feed my little family, and make my pots to brighten other people's lives.

BSOB said...

i hear ya man. all i know is that pitcher is an absolute beauty