What the postcard doesn’t tell you is that we’ll be conducting hourly prize giveaways,  so stick around for a chance to win big!

To many, art typically consists of media such as painting or sculpture. It can usually be found in a frame on a gallery wall or resting on a pedestal. The viewer pictures the artist in his studio at an easel, pouring himself into a canvas.

On the other hand, there is craft. The materials associated with it are typically sewing needles, paper mache, and scrapbooking paper. We visualize our grandmothers in rocking chairs next to baskets of yarn.

However, with the growth of the handmade movement, the lines between art and craft has become increasingly blurred. These mediums and methods are overlapping and merging to create their own unique categories. Knitting is finding a home among street art and clothing is being displayed in galleries.

As a community, we find ourselves wondering if these distinctions between art and craft are significant. How can we continue to break down and question these assumptions and expectations?

John Ballou, Rochester in Rubber

The purpose of Mayday! Underground is to bring local artists and craftspeople whose work represents the handmade movement to the forefront; in turn, this fair provides the Rochester community with a unique shopping experience. While Mayday! is one of the few Rochester craft fairs that explores the line between art and craft via its vendors, ‘The Root of Art over Craft’ exhibition will take this exploration one step further.

Running in tandem with Mayday! Underground, ‘The Root of Art over Craft’ asks artists, craftspeople, and everyone in between to assess their practice and push it beyond its normal scope. We are bringing the gallery setting to the craft fair in a fresh, new way. Our attempt to merge these two worlds is an attempt to break down the barriers between art and craft for both parties: artist and viewer, crafter and shopper.

The Universal Lemur Company, The Butler Studios, Squidfire, Form Fits Function

Octokitty, Sweet Pea Felts, Soft Shell Crafts

In  My Head Studios, ShShhShop, Shartreuse Studio, Manic Metals

Excessary + Peppermint, Heather Vitticore, Duncan Creative, Lilsville

Heidalas, E is for Erica, Bits & Pieces, Lilipad Creations

If you haven’t yet, enter our sweepstakes for a chance to win $25 to spend at any of our wonderful artists’ booths!

The usual gang, Jennifer Buckley, Sabra Wood, and Marie Verlinde, will have their awesome pots, vases, bowls, and sculptures for sale. They’ll be accompanied by guests Maggi Bartlett and Michelle Wescott, who will have hand bound books, note cards, and quilted lovlies.

When you visit Mayday Underground this Saturday, pick up a coupon that you can use at Crocus Clayworks on November 5!

“$70 for a t-shirt?!”

“I love your website, but everything on it is overpriced!”

“Your stuff is too expensive.”

“Are you rich or something?”

“I could make that for $5.”

“Sorry, but that’s a rip-off.”

“$80 for a hoodie? You’re not Gucci.”

I’ve heard it all. At first it hurt my feelings and made me worry that my prices were too high. Now it only baffles me that someone would say something so rude. This is my job. It may not be like your job. I don’t have a boss or regular hours, and I don’t have to drive to work or even get dressed for it (heh), but this is how I pay the bills.

I’m always tempted to asked these people, “How about I come down to where you work and tell your boss you’re overpaid?” Because that’s essentially what they’re saying.

But I’m too polite to do that.

Instead I decided to write this article to shed some light on the work that all of us that run a handmade business are doing… including all the behind-the-scenes stuff you probably never even think about. (And that some of us don’t charge for.)

Sure, some people will still be rude doucheballoons. That’s life. But maybe I can just make a few people think, “Oh, I hadn’t realized how much work goes into that!”

[Note: If you are a handmade seller looking for guidelines on how to price your items, please don't use this article as a model for your own pricing. As you'll see below, I'm a hypocrite when it comes to not underpricing. Please do as I say and not as I do. Read this guide for pricing instead, if that's what you're looking for.]

Step 1: The design phase

I sketch most of my ideas before I start cutting. Sometimes it’s completely spontaneous. I just start doodling and see where it takes me. Other times I have exactly what it will look like all planned out, and I want to get it down on paper so I don’t forget anything.

It’s usually just a quick scribble of pen or pencil on paper. Other times I take more time. I’ll add color with colored pencils or do the sketch 4 or 5 times before nailing down a particular design.

Since most of my sketches are quick, we’ll say the total time spent sketching one piece is 5 minutes.

As you can see, my sewing skills do not translate to pencil and paper skills.

Sketching: 5 minutes

Step 2: The drafting phase

Unlike a commercial outfit, I don’t have each of my patterns drawn up in every single size.  For custom orders, I redraft my pattern each time to match the customer’s measurements, because I’m not a fan of “standard” sizing.

Likewise, even for non-custom pieces, I don’t have patterns for each possible combination of styles I make. I get bored easily, so I prefer to make one of a kind designs.  For example, I have a single t-shirt pattern that I customize depending on whether or not I’m making a tank top, a hoodie, or a tee. I don’t have one scoopneck pattern, one v-neck pattern, and one crewneck pattern. I have one pattern for a t-shirt that I change each time I use it, depending on what I’m making.

Random tip: I like using old Tyvek envelopes for patterns because it won’t rip!

This shirt is pretty simple, so it only took about 15 minutes

Step 3: The cutting phase

This is another step that varies from piece to piece. My fairytale coats take at least 2 hours to cut because there are so many pieces. A simple tube top might take me 20 minutes. A zip-up hoodie takes an hour or more.

Start snipping!

Again, this one is pretty simple, so it only took 30 minutes

Step 4: The sewing phase

The most time consuming of all the steps, but one that also varies depending on an item. The formal dresses on my site, like the Nightshade dress, can take more than a full day to assemble. Same with the coats. A tube top takes 30 minutes, but a hoodie takes 3 hours.

This one took about an hour and 15 minutes. 75 minutes

Step 5: The photo phase

I usually make a big batch of items and photograph them all at once to make it easier. Because photos are The Most Important part of selling an item online, I like to be thorough. I generally take a modeled photo, a photo on the dressform, and a detail shot of the item laying flat.

This is one of the few steps that pretty much takes the same time, no matter what. I spend about 20 minutes on hair and makeup. Photographing 15 clothing items takes about 3 hours. Dividing the whole 3 hours and 20 minutes by 15 gives us 13 minutes per item.

Photographing the item: 13 minutes

Step 6: The measuring, weighing, and inspection phase

Before I put the completed items on the garment racks to wait to be sold, I measure and weigh each piece. I also take this time to inspect each one for any detail I might have missed before: stray threads, a skipped stitch, etc. Then they get a good going over with the lint roller and are put away.

Measuring, weighing, double-checking: 5 minutes

Step 7: The photo editing phase

The most tedious phase of all. I have to pick through all the modeled shots I take and find the ones where I’m not making a stupid face, blinking, or blurry. I adjust the light and color balance, crop, resize, and I add my watermark.

Editing the photos for one piece takes 30 minutes.

Step 8: The listing phase

When I add an item to my website, I have to upload the photos, write the listing description, and decide on a price. If I also list the item in my Artfire and Etsy shop, I can copy most of that information, but it still takes time. It probably takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the original listing and 5-10 more minutes each time I relist in one of my other venues. But for simplicity’s sake, let’s just say 15 minutes.

Listing an item: 15 minutes

Step 9: The marketing phase

Listing isn’t enough. The second most important component of selling an item online (photos being most important, as I mentioned before) is promotion. If you don’t get the word out, no one will know your stuff is there! For the time it takes me to promote one item on the various social networking sites, 20 minutes is a conservative estimate. (This doesn’t even take into account if I actually purchase advertising.)

Marketing an item: 20 minutes

Step 10: The shipping phase

Once an item sells, I have to get it packed up and ready to ship. I spend about 5 minutes tagging and folding and another 5 minutes packaging and labeling. Then I email a shipping notification to the customer.

Note: Most sellers actually drive your package all the way to the post office and stand in line. They’re not only spending time doing that, but they’re spending money on gas. I didn’t figure that into my calculations because I print my labels at home and have the post office pick my packages up, but for some sellers, this is a big Time Hog.

Packing and shipping: 10 minutes

Grand total
Sketching: 5 minutes
Drafting: 15 minutes
Cutting: 30 minutes
Sewing: 75 minutes
Photographing: 13 minutes
Measuring: 5 minutes
Photo-editing: 30 minutes
Listing: 15 minutes
Marketing: 20 minutes
Shipping: 10 minutes

218 minutes or 3 hours and 38 minutes.

My “goal” wage right now is $20 an hour. I used to use $10 as my goal, and then I realized one day that I could go get quite a few entry level jobs at that rate, and I’m not doing an entry level job. I have 8 years of experience and skill. $20 is a much more appropriate wage for skilled labor.

(And for those that think $20 is a huge wage, a full time job at that wage is equivalent to a salary of a little over $40,000 a year before taxes. Middle class in the US by every standard. On top of that, there’s no sick pay, vacation time, retirement or health insurance. After all of those expenses, it’s quite a bit closer to a lower middle class salary.)

At $20 an hour, this top cost $73 to make. That’s only time/labor, of course. Materials for this top cost $18, bringing our total to $91. Now go see what it’s actually listed for on my website.

Yep… $75. Less if it sells during a sale. With materials and overhead, I’m not actually making my goal wage, as you can see. With just materials taken out, I’m actually making about $17 an hour.

Now I’m busted. Those of you who know me will have no doubt heard me preaching about the evils of undercharging, yet here I am committing the cardinal sin myself. For shame!

I mentioned overhead: there’s a TON of time I spend doing extraneous things not counted on this list. Responding to customer emails is a huge one. Every time someone asks a question about an item, it’s another 5 minutes, at least. For the average custom order, I spend at least an hour emailing back and forth with a customer. Probably more like two or three usually.

I have to order fabric and supplies. I have to clean and oil my machines. I have to vacuum all the little bits of thread and lint off the carpet in my studio. None of my overhead is ever counted into my prices (cost of machines, computers, utility bills, seller fees, rent and utilities). If I counted all that, I probably am making more like $10 an hour.

When you buy a top at Walmart, someone was paid a decent wage to design the top ONCE, and then a person halfway across the world was paid a few cents an hour to make 1000 of them. Total time and materials for a single top at Walmart is maybe $3. If they sell it for $15, they’re marking it up FIVE TIMES the cost.

My stuff isn’t marked up at all, and neither are most handmade artisan goods. Even so, our time is more expensive than a sweatshop worker. But when you buy handmade instead of buying from a corporate giant, you’re getting a lot of things from us that they can’t offer. Handmade means we care about quality and attention to detail. Sweatshop workers care about one thing: make it as fast as possible. Handmade means we care about customer service. All corporations care about is that green stuff in your wallet. Handmade means you’re helping the local economy. Corporations mean you’re helping some rich greedy jerk get even richer.

So the next time you’re going to open your yapper about the price of someone’s handmade goods, think before you speak. (And if you’re still tempted to be a jackass, then at least remember the Golden Rule and keep it to yourself.)

*** I’d like to take a moment to thank all of my kickass customers, who are NOT the people that make the comments at the beginning of this post. With their support and appreciation, I am able to do something I love.

Amanda and Casey, planning and planning

they be finalizing the advertising campaign for the show, getting ready to bring the good ship Mayday to the scalawags of Rochester! with some help from casey’s cat/first mate Mina, this is sure to be the finest Mayday yet.  Weigh anchor and turn your bearings toward the Main Street Armory! only 19 days left….Avast!

This is taken directly from the Bazaar Bizarre Boston website. I think there is a great lesson to this post, and I wish others, especially those not engaged in any sort of crafting or creating, could read and appreciate the message. The original post is HERE.

The other day I posted on twitter that I tend to think of the current world of craft and its availability to the mainstream as something more serious than a trendy internet phenomenon, or something twee and insignificant in today’s industrialized world. While I may not take myself very seriously, I have a different, more serious view of the importance of making art.  Not even just the end result of the art itself, but the act of making art. The skills acquired by looking, listening, trying, failing, fixing and working – these are the skills that show your craft. I think these are important things to pass on and keep relevant. Skills and knowledge about making objects by hand are also often the first experiences that mold designers and craftspeople who can use industrialized methods to make goods on a large scale.

From the first time I started to read about, and think about the importance of making art, I loved the concepts of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. The artists, designers, and craftspeople who led this movement were interested in the intrinsic value of things made by hand. They were anti-industrialists who wanted to preserve traditional methods and skills as a crucially important part of making art and objects for everyday use. During this era of industrialization that was rapidly increasing output of consumer goods by machine, people such as William Morris, John Ruskin, CR Ashbee, Edward Burne Jones, Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, Mary Fraser Tytler, Charles Rennie Mackintosh all worked to preserve traditional and historic methods of making everything.  From this movement schools of art and craft were created, as were guilds and associations for everything from embroidery and weaving, architecture and carpentry, painting and printmaking. They wanted to keep the work of the craftsperson as the same level of appreciation and worth as the fine artist. From CR Ashbee:

“seek not only to set a higher standard of craftsmanship, but at the same time, and in so doing, to protect the status of the craftsman. To this end it endeavours to steer a mean between the independence of the artist— which is individualistic and often parasitical— and the trade-shop, where the workman is bound to purely commercial and antiquated traditions, and has, as a rule, neither stake in the business nor any interest beyond his weekly wage”

Of course as someone invested in being part of the art and craft community, I have a great interest in, and hold high value of the talents, skills, and techniques it takes to create art and goods. I hope that by actively participating and being part of the community that supports these values, we are the second wave of the American Arts and Crafts movement. One could say that industrialization won out, but I argue that industrialized goods would never exist without the artists, designers and craftspeople who first learn by hand. It is also interesting to me that many of the recognized participants of this movement were men who were interested in several fields that were usually in the realm of everyday women. The difference of opinion even back then about what was skilled work to be valued as art (architecture and painting usually by men), to skilled work that was to be expected as everyday household chores (sewing and necessary household goods usually by women). I am not a scholar of art history nor gender studies, so I won’t digress too far into either of these topics in this post, but it is something I find interesting to note.

It is important to make art, to craft a useful object to be beautiful, to find a use for a beautiful form. These things are crucial to passing on your knowledge, and to a greater purpose preserving your cultural knowledge and style by letting it continue on by the hands of the next generation of makers. I recently did a paper-cut about the ideas of beauty, usefulness and everyday objects using a Antoine de Saint-Exupéry quote from The Little Prince. Below are two small pictures of the piece in progress. The full finished piece is part of the Tangled group show at the WSAC in Somerville. The opening is tomorrow night (Saturday October 1st from 7-10PM) and this will be one of the first times I have listed my work for sale. It doesn’t matter if it sells, but it seemed important to impart a value to my work, even if only monetary.

This blog’s purpose isn’t to focus on personal politics, the economy, social justice or activism, but sometimes I feel like everything boils down to those topics.  I refuse to let anyone dismiss any art or craft as ‘women’s work’ because it involves sewing, or say ‘well anyone can do that’ because the tools and supplies are simple. Those statements don’t detract value, and they don’t mean anything. Maybe the tradition of the work is from women, maybe a key part of crafting is that anyone can learn how to do it, each in their own way.  Knowing how to construct your own clothing or make something beautiful out of a few simple supplies isn’t some bullshit fanciful hobby. It takes skill, talent, time and determination to produce these things. I want everyone to take pride in being a crafter, and I want the world to understand and appreciate its importance.  These things are worth investing in, worth supporting and being a part of, whether you are a crafter making goods, or a consumer purchasing them.