We turners make many errors, some by what we omit, some by what we
commit. The prayer book has me confess mine and warns "there is no
health in us", but I'm wondering about confessing errors of a different
kind of commission today.

What has been the experience of those of you who take (took) work on
commission? Good deal? Lucrative? Loss of time? Waste of material?
Unhappy customer? Never again? Big part of my work? Good deal? Everyone
is pleased & proud? Somebody will want anything? What?, but more
importantly, why?

I'm not talking about work that you are involved in decisions re time,
material and design or about standard architectural or restoration
turning, but about a 'one off' that you agree to make according to
another's concept. I once made a commissioned Billy Club for a guy... to
my chagrin, it ended up looking like a phallic symbol.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:18:23 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

What has been the experience of those of you who take (took) work on
commission? Good deal? Lucrative? Loss of time? Waste of material?
Unhappy customer? Never again? Big part of my work? Good deal? Everyone
is pleased & proud? Somebody will want anything? What?, but more
importantly, why?

Last thing first -- money.

I did a commission this past spring for some drawer pulls. The person
wanted them of ebony (sadly) for the custom dresser she was making. I
couldn't disabuse her of the notion of using such a fragile wood in
such a stressful application...that's what she wanted and she didn't
want any "ebonized" wood, either. So, after exhausting my entire
supply of ebony trying to make all these things the same, (her design,
using a pattern from a metal pull) as well as trying to get them
drilled and threaded without breaking them, I finally completed the 15
or so that I had agreed to do. NEVER AGAIN!! will I allow the
customer to set _all_ the parameters. I am virtually certain that she
wasn't able to use them, or if she did, that they have all broken off
the drawers by now. Either way, it was a waste of perfectly good
wood, as well as the time that I had to eat because I couldn't
possibly have charged her for all of my time and gotten her to agree
to pay me.

OTOH, I have done a great number of pieces for people who gave me a
basic idea of the type of project they were interested in and
basically gave me carte blanche as to wood selection, final design and
finish. In those instances we were both pleased with the transaction.

Clearly, restoration work or persnickety commission pieces aren't for
me.


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

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Hi Arch

If you are turning wood for the joy of turning, as a hobby, don't take
on assignments unless you are able to look in someone else's mind so you
would be able to see what his/her idea or expectations are.

I have been asked before if I would make this or that something and
people where surprised to have me tell them "NO I will not, however I
might make something like that for my self and if you like it I might
sell it to you".
Last sunday a client came up to me at the craft show I was attending and
asked me to turn a bunch of canon barrels for some model sailing ship
his father had started and he wanted to finish, again the answer was no,
however I did give him the time and place of our turning club's meeting
so he can get someone who is willing to do a bunch of repetitious
spindle turning, I'm just not interested in that kind of work.
Having worked with people as clients before I do know from experience
that people are first of all not able to express what they have in mind
for you to make, if they even do know themselves, unless like I said
before you are able to look into their head, don't think you know what
they want.
It goes like this, Oh I like that bowl, when they see it's sold already,
then, could you make me one like that??.
If you say yes and make one like that, it is very likely that the bowl
is not to there liking, it'll go something like this, the grain is not
the same or it glows not like the other one, it just looks different,
it's to dark or to light etc.
I just don't bother, life is to short and I like to enjoy what I do and
keep it that way.

O by the way Arch I am making a bunch of birdhouse ornaments they are
fun to make and people like them a lot, also Ruth's SS bottle stoppers
are much appreciated, and no I am not going to be responsible if they
drink to much or get the stopper stuck in their ear or some other place
they better know that if they want to do stupid they better be tough G

Here's a link for some ornament ideas, some of mine are at almost the end.

http://www.woodcentral.com/newforum/ornaments.shtml

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Arch wrote:

We turners make many errors, some by what we omit, some by what we
commit. The prayer book has me confess mine and warns "there is no
health in us", but I'm wondering about confessing errors of a different
kind of commission today.

What has been the experience of those of you who take (took) work on
commission? Good deal? Lucrative? Loss of time? Waste of material?
Unhappy customer? Never again? Big part of my work? Good deal? Everyone
is pleased & proud? Somebody will want anything? What?, but more
importantly, why?

I'm not talking about work that you are involved in decisions re time,
material and design or about standard architectural or restoration
turning, but about a 'one off' that you agree to make according to
another's concept. I once made a commissioned Billy Club for a guy... to
my chagrin, it ended up looking like a phallic symbol.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Leo began: "If you are turning wood for the joy of turning, as a
hobby, don't take
on assignments unless you are able to look in someone else's mind so
you
would be able to see what his/her idea or expectations are."
**********************

Leo, and Arch, I totally agree. Althought I do a lot of spindle
reproduction work, it's not the same as taking a commission to make "a
bowl just like that one". I can reproduce any spindle for chair, bed
or porch, I can turn a hundred porch spindles that will look identical
to the eye. A customer asked if I would turn a set of 4 salad bowls
this high and this big around........... I had to turn 13 bowls to get
4 that looked like a set! Oh, it wasn't that I can't turn bowls, it
was that I tried to get them "perfect".

I've tried a few other small commission items and it's always the same;
I try too hard, make dumb mistakes (as opposed to smart mistakes!) and
I get stressed. Like Leo, my policy now is "I won't take orders, I'll
make it, if you like it, you buy it". Less stress.

By the way, Leo, there was a discussion on Woodcentral about liability
and, as you might imagine, it went off base a tad. It was mentioned
to put disclaimers or warnings on candlesticks, pens and ornaments (you
might poke your eye out!) and hollow forms (getting your finger stuck
in the opening), but a "stopper stuck in their ear or some other
place"?!? I don't want to know! : o

Ruth
www.torne-lignum.com