Sock monkeys!

babyfreckles

LOL I see its an addiction then? I think this site is becoming an addiction for me lol All these crafty bits I would have never thought of doing - Handmade is so much nicer than shop bought, a lot of thought goes into it to!

stardrops42

chatty123 wrote: »

Gosh I certainly wouldn't pay £35. fools if they do. I have made a whole family for somebody and didn't charge anywhere near that. like all home made crafts one could never charge an hourly rate as we would never sell anything.

I enjoy making them so much that I only make a couple pounds profit so that I can buy twice as many socks to make some for charity . i support the local hospice and the rspca.

of all the hundreds I have made I have never made any 2 alike

good luck with the 2nd one.........and 3rd. 4th. 5th and so on and so on

I have sold quite a few on Etsy and the 2 below were sold for $38.00(about £25 at the time) each + p&p. Both of them went to the United States (they seem to be willing to pay alot for them there;)) The pink one was sold to a lady who bought another 2 at the same time:eek: To be honest I don't think thats a lot of money if you take into account my time (about 5 hours per monkey) petrol, cost of socks, stuffing, buttons, time etc looking for socks, wool for hats and scarf and more time knitting hats and scarves(well actually my mam does the hats & scarves;))etsy/paypal fees. If I am selling to colleagues I charge £10 per monkey, if they want any outfits for them I charge them whatever I have to pay for the outfit. Obviously family get them for free as gifts:D You also have to remember that each one is unique which is why people are willing to pay a premium for them.

Poppy & Choccy

deedledee_2

I agree with stardrops about the pricing. Although they are relatively cheap to make, they are very labour intensive!

babyfreckles

Maybe the professional looking ones should be priced that much, but it only took me a couple of hours to knock mine up (Its not the best I must admit lol) and I was hand stitching!
Goodluck to you if you can get that much for them

chatty123

£35 mmmmmmmm matter of opinion I suppose.

stardrops42

The point is my time is very precious to me and if I was putting in the same amount of hours at my "regular" job I would be earning a lot more than what I charge for making a monkey. If I am going to sell my monkeys to strangers via Etsy then it needs to be treated as a business and not a hobby otherwise whats the point It would cost me money instead of making it! Obviously when it comes to family and friends I don't charge because then it's a labour of love:D At the end of the day something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it and people must have been happy to pay what I charged otherwise they wouldn't have bought them.

Sian_the_Green

I agree Stardrops, I think if you make it into a business you have to make it profitable, you wouldn't sell homemade jam at a loss, or carve a piece of furniture and not take money for the labour involved. If you are making one for a friend it is a different story however

Ninno820

Apologies if this has been asked before but does anyone see a problem giving a "sock monkey" kit - ie a pair of socks and the instructions in a nice plastic bag with a topper?

I have a few friends who are crafty themselves and, I think, would enjoy making their own.

moonpenny

Scuse me for butting in on the price issue for monkeys but Stardrops – I agree with you about prices!

I havn’t made any monkeys but years ago I used to make dolls for bridesmaids which used to take hours and hours, (plus, I am a perfectionist, so took longer still!) Anyway, the price I got for them didn’t even cover cutting out and stuffing time.

The reason that crafts are so low paid is this attitude that “oh! I just threw it together”
You would never get an artist or carpenter spending hours over something and then let it go for peanuts.

There is a BIG difference between making things as a hobby and trying to make a success of a business venture, so please don’t be so hard on people trying to make a living in the big bad world.

I am amazed that this idea that “home made crafts don’t warrant a decent price” is perpetuated on this forum by the very “crafts people” who post on it every day.

Come on girls! (not “votes for women”) but “decent pay for all the talented craft workers in this country”! :T:T:T

babyfreckles

I guess its just matter of opinion!