Jumping up and down – news from the show in Florida

My “To Keep Them Sweet” ribbon won a Complex Weavers prize at the Dallas Handweavers Guild show.

Thanks to the kind help and good connections of a guild member, I was able to get it into the Complex Weavers Show at Convergence in Florida.

One of the things I kind of agonized over, was whether to offer it for sale, and if so, how to price it. There’s silk reeling, and hundreds of tiny beads, and lots of hours of design work. So I decided to go ahead and put a price on it, but one that would make me happy to let go of it – $350. I decided some time ago that if I was going to sell weaving and be able to get my time back, it would have to be art gallery prices, not craft show prices. I figured nobody would bite, but ya never know.

My friend just took this photo of it in the display case and emailed it to me.

Can you see the little green sticker? It says SOLD.

This SO made my day.

0 replies
  1. ngakmafaery
    ngakmafaery says:

    …congratulations all around! I am noticing this week or so that those of us in the grownup age group seem to somehow be *getting* it financially finally, or doing work that somehow starts to get appreciated and compensated (and this after some serious hard times for many, personally, financially, healthwise)…so, yay! Enjoy!

  2. admin
    admin says:

    You would? I do take on commissions, if you’re really interested… 🙂

    I’m curious who bought it – my friend said it’s the first piece she’s seen there today that’s marked sold. Wonder if it’s somebody I know?

  3. eowyna
    eowyna says:

    Yes! I agree that the only way to price something like this is to mark it at a price that you will be happy if it sells, not sad. Congratulations!

  4. xmurphyjacobsx
    xmurphyjacobsx says:

    Good job on the pricing! There’s a real mental game in pricing anything hand made. I know that I’ve played it with my woven bead pieces — you CAN price something too low, and a potential buyer will think the item is “cheap”.

    Congratulations!

  5. sola
    sola says:

    I was just going to say – i think it would have sold cheerfully for twice that, but it SOLD, and that’s exciting! Congrats!

  6. sskipstress
    sskipstress says:

    Congratulations! My mom has a similar philosophy about selling her paintings, price it high enough that it dulls the loss. Or give them away to friends and relatives who appreciate the work. I haven’t sold any of my work, and I don’t know if I ever will because I don’t do much in the way of showcase pieces without having an intended recipient for them.

  7. selkie_b
    selkie_b says:

    *snicker* you still underpaid yourself 🙂 But WOOT! It’s such a beautiful piece and will make someone so happy I’m sure! AND you one a serious award for it!

  8. elmsley_rose
    elmsley_rose says:

    Congratulations on your prize!!

    Do you have something special earmarked to buy with your “Keep it Sweet” $? (I hope that you don’t miss it too much – it is very special)

  9. greeneyedpagan
    greeneyedpagan says:

    Fabulous job, and contrats on the selling of it!
    I do not do work that I sell any more, but have in the past, and you are right – finding the magic number can be difficult. I have never done weaving, but I did do beadwork, not on a loom, but small (size 14s and smaller) square stitch “woven”, and other things, that were extremely time intensive (and gorgeous and durable as well!). One of the ways I found people would “get it” sometimes is if they watched me work…once they see how slowly these things go together, they start to understand why a 2″ wide cuff bracelet woven of size 18 beads didn’t sell for $10…but if they didn’t get it, they didn’t deserve the bracelet anyway. 🙂

  10. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    EXACTLY — i do similar bead weaving, square and peyote stitch, and people see a bunch of little glass beads — until I hand them my “test set” of plastic pony beads and a yarn needle and let them try 🙂 suddenly, my work gets much more valuable…

  11. scribe_ari
    scribe_ari says:

    Congratulations, and kudos to you for not underpricing your work and going for gallery pricing. I am happy it sold for you.

    Too many artists suffer from being overmodest in their cost analysis, and thus their price.

  12. admin
    admin says:

    Really, the purpose I made it for, was in the making… I can make another one. It’s a lot of weaving work, but for me it was more in the thinking work – the getting-to part. You know how some times you just make something, and you realize that it’s something you’ve been aiming toward for a while, and it’s the direction you want your work to take? That’s the kind of thing this was for me.

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