A lady asked me how much it cost to make her a purse of a well known style in cotton fabric of a particular design and colour. £35 - I said. She said she thought that was a bit dear for a purse. I asked her how much she thought it would cost her to make one then. She thought about £10 as you can get similar in Primarni for £8 OK, so for £10 do it yourself I said Her reply was - I don’t know how to. I said for £10 I’ll teach you how to. So besides saving you £25 you’ll get the knowledge if you ever want to make another. She seemed pleased and agreed. OK I said, you’ll need a machine, cutting mat, rotary cutter, rivet press and the pattern. Oh well….. I don’t have many of things and I can’t justify buying all that just to make one purse. Well then for another £10 more I’ll lend you my stuff to you so you can do it at my house. Okay, she says. Great, I replied, come round on Tuesday afternoon and we’ll make a start Oh, I can’t come on Tuesday I’m having my hair done! Sorry, but I’m only available Tuesday to teach you and lend you my stuff. Other days are busy with other bags and purses. Bugger, that means I’ll have to miss my haircut. Oh, I forgot, I said, to make one yourself you also have to pay for the sundry costs. Now she’s confused – what on earth are they?? Fabric search time, electric, wear and tear on the machine, blades for the cutter etc She looks at me and says – but that’s ridiculous you can absorb all that cost as you are charging me to borrow your stuff. I could, I said, but I’m not spending time looking for the fabric you need you can do that yourself – you need 3 fat quarters of fabric, buckram, woven interfacing, non woven interfacing, a lock, rivets and matching thread. So she then says - I’ve been thinking, I think I’d rather pay you the £35. It’s too complicated to make one for myself, it wouldn’t be as well made and it would cost me a hell of a lot more than £35. When you pay for a hand crafted item, you pay not only for the material used, but also: - knowledge - experience - tools - services - time - enthusiasm Only by knowing all the elements necessary for the production of a certain item can you estimate the actual cost.
^^^ Also with art commissions, people are often accustomed to pricing things based off of prints (where the artist makes one work and then sells many copies - or more likely, is commissioned by a company to make the work and then the company sells many copies), and that’s a COMPLETELY different price bracket from commissioning original art. It’s why a Star Wars poster with multiple characters and objects tends to cost way less than a custom character portrait; the value of the Star Wars poster’s artwork wasn’t the few dollars you paid for it, but the cost was absorbed by the company who knew they’d turned a profit by selling many many copies and many many posters, and by using the artwork for advertising and the like.
