For many of us, the simple fact is that what we love to do does not pay. And it is not that we are unskilled, or that our output is low quality. It is that we have chosen an undervalued field.
Going back to my earlier pricing plan,I can usually work in a labor charge of between $5 and $25 an hour based on what craft I am working on. And I am not the only one who is forced to have a widely fluctuating rate. Designers are often locked into a certain pricing scale based on the type of work they do.
At the bottom of the perceived value scale are the handicrafts. Skills like weaving, knitting and crochet are often devalued because people feel certain that they could do it themselves in their free time. And their free time is not worth much, so why should ours be any different.
Oddly enough, the same type of item sewn from fabric and based on a purchased pattern can fetch a much higher price, despite taking less time and a lower cost of goods. Sewing is considered a advanced skill when compared to knitting or crochet. And highest of all would be the custom designed crafts, because pattern-design is highest in the crafting heirarchy.
But designers are going to make the items anyway - it's what we do. So why don't we focus on selling our highest-esteemed output, the patterns themselves. Sure, we can sell the finished products too - and ask for a fair price because it is "the prototype."
Selling patterns has a secondary benefit in that it allows us to move into a non-physical economy. Microsoft can make more money than IBM because they are selling copies of their software, while IBM has to build a whole computer. By selling copies of patterns - which most of us would be making anyway - we have a higher potential for profit in the long term than by selling several handmade objects.
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