I've sold a few items in the past to friends needing gifts for wives,
girlfriends or mothers.

Several people have suggested to me that I put things one ebay. However
with the charges that they tack on I'm not sure how profitable it can be.

I figure about $15 an hour when I price something I make these days but
I know people that set a price of $30 or even $60 (their stuff is
perfect compared to mine). However, the $15 an hour is optimistic. A
hollow form may take an afternoon or sometimes a couple afternoons if
I'm starting from a raw log. Then there is the finishing and sanding
and fixing of checks etc so I'm actually getting much less.


Arch wrote:
I don't sell and my experience re the buying and selling of turned wood
objects is limited to observing buyers at craft shows, art festivals,
club and symposium auctions and shows, gift shops and minor galleries.
My perception of what people will pay for and how much is obviously
narrow and may be flawed, but I suspect I see the major kinds (not
necessarily in dollars) of woodturning sales.

I know nothing of the business of high end art collectors, galleries or
museums. but from my perspective, it appears that fellow turners will
pay more than the public will for turnings that fit the craft/art's
accepted criterion for good work. Not for the few luminaries, but a sort
of reciprocal 'in-bred' support system for intermediate and advanced
turners whose work is at or above the craft's standard for design and
esthetic.

Is my perception false? Excepting the mundane 'rent payer' items, does
your best work, whatever that may be, sell better and for a higher price
to the public or to fellow turners? Granted that turner's can better
appreciate good work, but I wonder for whom the lathes turn.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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