Pricing Intarsia

[ricklab]

 

What do you think a fair asking price would be for this piece. It is a Judy Roberts pattern, 16 x 21. I used the following woods:  Walnut, blue pine, cypress, aspen, wenge, maple, Lyptus, Irako, paela, cherry , black mesquite, leopard.

 

Thanks for any input you can give.

Rick

 

[NC Scroller]

Rick let me answer your question with a question. How much time do you have in that project (cutting, shaping, sanding, gluing, finishing)? If you charge less than $25 an hour you are selling yourself short. Now getting someone to pay that is an entirely different story.

[meflick]

Too new to intarsia work to give you any real "advice" on pricing your piece. I mainly wanted to tell you how beautiful I thought the piece is. As far as selling it, have you been selling pieces already? Where do you sell at? What is your market or target audience where you would be selling it at? Weekend Farmer's market? Online? Store? Knowing that is going to help you figure out what the market will bear. As Scott pointed out, figure out how much time you have in the piece. (I saw someone noted keeping a journal of sorts while working on a piece and track the time working on the piece. I need to remember to do that.) Also, consider your "expenses", blades, sanding paper, finishes, pattern purchase, electricity, etc. all need to be factored into the price of your piece. Don't undervalue your time and talent. (We all do.) Good luck. I lol forward to seeing what others tell you and what you decide.

[heppnerguy]

I don't make a lot of intarisia pieces any more and most of what I have made in the past 3 years have been for family gifts. When I was selling the most I usually priced mine at $125 because that seemed to be a figure, people were willing to pay without an arguement. I have sold some at $175. I think is really depends on where you are selling them. At bazars or craft shows, I believe it is a little difficutl to get much more than $125, at least around here. But if I  was at a horse show and had all horse pieces or a car show and had all car pieces, I could raise my prices and they would sell just fine. I have seen fairly simple intarsia pieces on the internet, that I would price at $125. asking $300 to $1200 for them. A hard question to give a hard fast number to. Jim Finn sells all of his boxes for $20 regardless of how much work is involved in them, so that the people will purchase the ones they like without decideding which one to buy because of the price. This way Jim knows which patterns to cut more of and which is may not be so sought after..

 

 

Dick

heppnerguy

[trailfndr]

This is a subject that I have fought with for the past several years. I have heard of people that price based on how many individual pieces of wood they cut for an Intarsia piece (anywhere from 2-6 dollars per piece)  I have been selling Intarsia for a few years, and Intarsia is 95% of what I do, so pricing has been tricky.  I generally have used the per piece method, and add a bit if I use exotics, or based on the intricacy of the pattern.  I also keep a database on every piece I have made and sold, for reference.  It shows the piece name, the number of pieces, size, woods used, and price.  I am now also adding the materials cost and hourly rate.  This will give me a good tracking system for reference when I make a new piece.

 

Recently I have been very careful to log all of my time, AND figure how much wood I am using so I can insure that I am not losing money.  My prices range from $50.00   up to $500.00  and I know that is not the upper limit,  I just haven't made anything worth more than that as yet.

 

And others are correct, WHERE you sell will make a difference.  I am currently in the process of setting up what's needed to do Art Fairs.  Between the display panels, canopy, and so many other things,  its a costly venture, but I feel that it is the best way to sell my work, and get people to pay what the work is worth.  We are Artists,  we aren't craft people. Craft fairs, and farmers markets won't get the prices that this work should be valued at. 

 

My best suggestion,  Do a lot of internet research looking for people that sell finished Intarsia.  Compare your work to theirs, and take a hard and honest look at what's out there, compared to your work.  Look at their prices for pieces you have made yourself, and that should give you some ideas of where you are as an artist, and where you should be as far as pricing. Be aware, that there are some people on-line, using Ebay, and Etsy, that can not possibly be valuing their work properly, or are showing mass produced pieces made in Vietnam and China.  You can never compete with them, so ignore those.  I have seen pieces sell for 35-50 dollars on-line, that I sell all the time for 150.00, and I never make 25 an hour for my time..  Average for me is around 14.00 per hour after expenses. I am good with that....for now...Once I retire from work, and can devote more time to my Art,  that will hourly rate WILL change, but by that time, I will also be an established artist and my work will be more in demand, because more people will know WHO I am.

Edited August 19, 2016 by trailfndr

[Rolf]

I valued my Chickadee (in an earlier post) at $150. It will be in an auction and I suspect it will go for much more. 

[amazingkevin]

 

 

 

What do you think a fair asking price would be for this piece. It is a Judy Roberts pattern, 16 x 21. I used the following woods:  Walnut, blue pine, cypress, aspen, wenge, maple, Lyptus, Irako, paela, cherry , black mesquite, leopard.

 

Thanks for any input you can give.

Rick

 

I charge $5.00 a piece .Because of all the steps you have to go thru ,There are no shortcuts.It's very time consuming.and a dusty dirty job.Much thinking goes into this kind of work.

[trailfndr]

Kevin,  If I charged 5.00 per piece,  NO ONE would buy them in my area.  My high is 3.00 per....I guess I am way undervaluing my work....Might have to rethink things...ALOT

[heppnerguy]

I have to add that Lee is probably one of the most devoted intarsia people on our site and he has done a lot of exploration on how he wants to sell his pieces. His work is always very well done with an excellent eye and imagination going into his selections of woods that he uses for his pieces. I see many intarsia pieces that have little to no shaping done on them or the finish just does not have the quality needed to add anything to the desire of the piece. The gaps or lack of, between the adjoining pieces also has a lot to do with what makes the piece appealing and worthy of the prices one might put on them. The difference in scrolling and intarsia, for the most part, is the cost of the woods, normally used it the two crafts and all the time needed to finish most intarsia pieces, compared to the scrolling. I fall into a lot of those 'not so well done' cat agonies but my family and fre

I ends do not have the luxury to compare my work with those who are so superior, like Lee or Scrappile, so they are willing to invest a few dollars in my things. Pieces are only worth what someone is willing to pay. How can a Cambell soup can painting be worth thousands of dollars? I have no clue,but people pay that and much more for them..I really do not understand art very much but I do understand quality in intarsia and scrolling when I see it and that is why I understand I am a mediocre scroller and intarsia person even though my family and friends think I do a great job

 

 

Dick

heppnerguy

[Jim Finn]

All depends on :  You want to make money..... or sell the stuff you make as a hobby.  Personally, if I wanted to make money I would get a job...ugh. 

      In my experience, it matters not, to the buyer,what your costs are or time spent, what matters is, will it sell at your price?

     What I do is, find an efficient way to make an item to keep the price low enough to sell easily. 

     Yes  I sell my boxes with inlaid images in the hinged lids for $20.  Sounds cheap but over the past seven years I have sold well over 2100 of them.  (Do the math)

[Scrolling Steve]

All depends on :  You want to make money..... or sell the stuff you make as a hobby.  Personally, if I wanted to make money I would get a job...ugh. 

      In my experience, it matters not, to the buyer,what your costs are or time spent, what matters is, will it sell at your price?

     What I do is, find an efficient way to make an item to keep the price low enough to sell easily. 

     Yes  I sell my boxes with inlaid images in the hinged lids for $20.  Sounds cheap but over the past seven years I have sold well over 2100 of them.  (Do the math)

Jim, if i were at a show and saw your boxes at 20.00 i wold be all over them....I like your approach !

[Bpardue]

I sell a good bit and all i do is intarsia. I piece things depending on the size- small items from $20 to $50. Normal or average size pieces made for shows sell by the piece count. Piece count will range from $2-$3 per piece of wood - large pieces will be $3-$4 per piece. The majority of my work this year has been commissioned work - Commissioned work starts at $4 per piece and goes up.

I have a "real" job and this is a self funding hobby. As long as i can sell stuff to keep my shop equipped with tools, supplies, wood & patterns and not dip into household funds than I'm good.

I do intarsia because i enjoy it, not to make lots money.

[country girl]

I do not scroll. Only intarsia. I am going to try to make enough pieces by November to put them in a Christmas bazaar. I think that something simple I will price by the piece. For example. The Santa I am making now is ten pieces, and under 8x11. I am going to ask $15 each.  Although i know they will take at least 4 hours each to build.  A bird with feathers I am going to ask $25. If dad enters some ornaments..... $5 each. If I can get 40 pieces done by then, at an average of $15, then that will be $600 and will buy some wood and materials for the shop. I will let you know how that goes. I am thinking at that price, with my limited experience, I will be happy. Not doing it for a living, just for the fun. But when I get good, then the price will go up. 

[country girl]

I have to add that Lee is probably one of the most devoted intarsia people on our site and he has done a lot of exploration on how he wants to sell his pieces. His work is always very well done with an excellent eye and imagination going into his selections of woods that he uses for his pieces. I see many intarsia pieces that have little to no shaping done on them or the finish just does not have the quality needed to add anything to the desire of the piece. The gaps or lack of, between the adjoining pieces also has a lot to do with what makes the piece appealing and worthy of the prices one might put on them. The difference in scrolling and intarsia, for the most part, is the cost of the woods, normally used it the two crafts and all the time needed to finish most intarsia pieces, compared to the scrolling. I fall into a lot of those 'not so well done' cat agonies but my family and fre

I ends do not have the luxury to compare my work with those who are so superior, like Lee or Scrappile, so they are willing to invest a few dollars in my things. Pieces are only worth what someone is willing to pay. How can a Cambell soup can painting be worth thousands of dollars? I have no clue,but people pay that and much more for them..I really do not understand art very much but I do understand quality in intarsia and scrolling when I see it and that is why I understand I am a mediocre scroller and intarsia person even though my family and friends think I do a great job

 

 

Dick

heppnerguy

 

Dad, I have an eye for woodworking and yes you are too a wonderful artist and great at what you do. I believe that you facebook page includes prices and they are all very reasonable.