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Book Excerpt
Chapter1
Assembly lines around the world
are churning out mass-produced items that are purchased almost as fast
as they can be made. But consumer acceptance of low-cost look-alike
goods hasn’t eliminated the demand for handcrafted items—although those
items are likely to have a much different function today than in the
past.
Many handcrafted items are now
valued as works of art, but historically their value was primarily
utilitarian. For example, baskets and pottery were essential for
transporting food, water and other items. And weaving produced fabrics
that could be made into clothing and blankets.
Because of the industrial
revolution, the need for functional handcrafted items is not as
extensive as it once was. But Americans who want quality artistic and
decorative items turn to modern-day craftspeople who produce a variety
of items such as jewelry, ceramics, wood carvings, furniture, crocheted
and knitted goods, decorated clothing, toys and much more.
What Is A
Craft?
In this book, craft refers to
any handmade item that can be given as a gift or sold—and if you’ve
attended a crafts fair, you may have been surprised by what craftspeople
sell and what people are willing to buy. The unpredictability of the
crafts market is one of the intriguing and challenging aspects of the
business.
In Craft Today: Poetry of the
Physical, Paul J. Smith writes, “In its broadest sense craft refers to
the creation of original objects through an artist’s disciplined
manipulation of material. Historically craft was identified with
producing objects that were necessary to life. Modern industrialized
society eliminates the need to make by hand essentials for living. The
term craft now must be defined in the context of a society that focuses
on greater efficiency by technological achievement.”
The question of whether crafts
are art or a separate medium may never be definitively answered. In The
Crafts of the Modern World, Rose Slivka writes, “Throughout their long
history, crafts have produced useful objects which are later considered
fine art. Time has a way of overwhelming the functional value of an
object that outlives the men who made and used it, with the power of its
own objective presence—that life-invest quality of being that transcends
and energizes. When this happens, such objects are forever honored for
their own sakes—they are art.”
Of course, for someone wanting
to start a crafts business, the question of whether the products are art
may not be particularly important. A more critical question is whether
you can make money.
The nature of the crafts
industry makes it difficult to define and quantify, but industry experts
estimate that sales revenues exceed $10 billion annually, and hundreds
of thousands of working artisans earn their entire income from the
crafts they produce. Most professional craftspeople start making their
handcrafted goods as a hobby, and begin selling items to friends and
family. From there, they typically expand to selling in crafts shows and
fairs several times a year. Sometimes they’re content to keep this as
something they do on the side; others are eager to move from part-time
to full-time status. Still other artisans tackle their work as a
full-time career from the beginning, often renting studio or retail
space, or both.
Start-up costs for a crafts
business range from literally a few dollars to several thousand dollars,
depending on what you are making, what type of equipment and raw
materials you need, and whether you already own equipment when you
start. Crafters earn as little as a few dollars an hour (for part-time
crafters who are not particularly interested in profits) to as much as
$20 or $30 an hour and sometimes more if they learn how to market and
manage their businesses efficiently.
In The
Beginning
Let’s take a look at how some
established craftspeople got started: Jay Norman of DeLand, Florida, who
makes containers for his business, Organize With Wood, was a dance
teacher who had worked with wood as a hobby all his life. He says his
wife, Dianne, turned him into a professional craftsperson. “His items
were so clever and unusual, I thought he could sell them,” she recalls.
So Jay and Dianne quit their jobs in New York in 1997, moved to DeLand,
Florida, and now sell virtually year-round at crafts shows around the
country.
Judy Infinger of Altamonte
Springs, Florida, makes wood and fabric decorative items, primarily with
a Christmas theme, for her part-time business, Woods and Threads, which
she started back in 1988. “I just do, fall shows, so I concentrate on
Christmas items—ornaments, pins, that sort of thing—which are my
favorite, anyway,” she says. She builds her inventory throughout the
year, then sells at shows during the autumn crafts show season.
Deborah Farish, owner of Dolls
by Deb of Manchester, Missouri, makes soft-sculptured dolls as a
part-time business and works full time as an administrative assistant in
an accounting firm. She’s been sewing since she was 12. “I would go to
crafts shows, look at dolls, and think, ‘I can do that’—which is what
everybody says when they go to a crafts show,” she says. Finally, in
1993, she bought some fabric, made a doll she took into her office as a
sample, and began getting orders. With the encouragement of friends and
customers, she built an inventory and began exhibiting at crafts shows.
Gladys Johnson of Bunn, North Carolina, was looking for a hobby when a
friend of hers invited her to a doll-making class. “After doing my first
doll, I was hooked,” she says. Still, in the beginning, she had no
intention of turning her hobby into the business she named Dolls by
Gladys. But in 1995 “it got to the point where I had to get rid of some
of the dolls so I could make more,” she explains. She makes porcelain
dolls, most with cloth bodies (although she has made some with porcelain
bodies).
Lynn Korff, owner of Korff’s
Ceramic Originals in Cabot, Pennsylvania, had been making ceramics for
about six years when she opened her own studio and shop where she made
ceramics, held classes and sold supplies. Eleven years later, she
decided to downsize: She closed the shop, moved her business home and
set up a Web site in 1999 to sell her crafts. Her primary product is
piggy banks, but she also makes and custom paints other ceramic items,
such as dinnerware, flower pots, candle holders, serving dishes and
specialty plates.
A love of candles prompted
Melony Bell of Fort Meade, Florida, to start making them as a hobby. She
wasn’t satisfied with the quality of candles available in stores. Her
husband is a beekeeper, so she started using his beeswax to make her own
candles. After she gave a few as gifts, people started asking if they
could buy her candles. So, in 1998 with a full-time job as an auditor
with the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles and serving as city
commissioner/mayor for her town, she started her own candle-making
company.
Anita Fetter of Waynesfield,
Ohio, has been making and selling wood and fabric crafts since 1980. She
started working with her husband, who made wood items that she painted
or stained; she also did cross-stitch, knitted and made stuffed animals.
But as their hobby turned into a business, her husband backed out of it.
“He stopped when it got to be a job,” she says. “Now I do most of it and
just make things for the fall and winter.”
What these crafters and many
others have found is that while selling their handcrafted goods is often
fairly easy, the challenge is making a profit. You need to decide what
to make, determine if there is a sufficient market for that item, then
figure out if you have the wherewithal to reach that market. Just
because your family members appreciate your handmade gifts and your
co-workers are willing to buy modestly priced items from you doesn’t
necessarily mean you can sell enough of them at a price that will
justify your investment of materials and time. On the other hand,
friends and family may be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and
you may have a product that will become the foundation for a thriving
company.
Beyond that is the issue of
running a business. Just because you love doing a particular craft
doesn’t mean you’ll love doing all the things that go with running a
crafts business. Of course, you don’t have to love them, but you do have
to do them. |
