Tonight I designed a new item. The idea actually came from my mother as she watched me make a teddy bear. I had put the head of the bear on the body, but hadn't yet added limbs. A mini-bowling set! This first one will be a set of 3 pins and a weighted ball. I'm still refining how I want the pins to look, hence the small number of them. That and it has taken the better part of an hour and a half for a single pin! Multiply that out by 10 and add another hour for a ball. If I were to work only on this set, it would take me half a day. I'd likely only be able to charge about $20, or maybe $25 for a full set. Not worth it.
Most people just do not get the work involved with hand-crafted goods. Each stitch of every toy I make is done by me, not some machine. And every animal crafted must have every detail made independently and then sewn together. I put a great deal of care and attention to detail in every piece. So when I charge $25 for a large hand-made 'Real' rabbit, it's not just yarn and stuffing, it's 2 to 3 days of my life spent creating and putting it together!
Every piece I create is unique, I never use the same pattern in the exact way twice. I'm always tweaking and fine-tuning so as to improve every creation and give it a unique look. I have the talent and ability to make almost anything you can name (within reason... I doubt I could do an Eiffel Tower reproduction just yet *giggle*). And I am unique as there are not many artisans that will attempt some of the things I have. And yes, I refer to myself as an artisan. I have the expertise and knowledge of stitches to make them look the way I want them to look when I am finished. This was brought home to me recently when I created an item from a photo and then tonight when I created an item from nothing more than a picture in my head.
