I give much the same spiel, but you know those people are always doing the
numbers in their head to figure your hourly wage so I always add a bit
about how I would make pretty good money if I could keep it all, but the
gallery takes half, there are show fees, equipment expense, paying my own
insurance, self-employment taxes, etc, until what's left to pay for my
time isn't a lot.

Another favorite answer is that it is like asking an accomplished pianist
how long it took him to learn a Scott Joplin tune. The answer might be
"few hours and 15 years of practice," and that's how it is for me, too.

-mike paulson, fort collins, co



My response depends on what I am charging for it. Seriously though, I
usually explain to them about the whole process the bowl goes through.
I explain how long roughing takes; how long the drying process takes;
the finish turning; and the finishing which I usually do when I have a
large number of bowls to do. I try to give them an approximate time of
actual work over the calendar time it takes from beginning to end.