Do handmade items/ crafts make any money??

gingerandrubarb

Pink_Mummy wrote: »

That's all great advice thank you so much.. I was thinking about making teddy bears/ bunnies/ blankets etc out of old baby clothes, I've got 4 children and thought about doing something to recycle their clothes?? Then I thought I could charge a fee (say £10) to make it for people if they send me their clothes???

What do you all think??

Have you thought about asking on freegle or freecycle for clothes/baby clothes and then upcycling them? i.e you could re-dye a terrible print? or re-hem an oldfashioned length skirt, or embroider plain clothes (or baby onesies) with a funky print or saying?:p
You could sell these on Ebay/Etsy as vintage (if they are vintage)
OR
Why not take the old clothes, re-dye if needed and make the soft toys and quilts/blankets? you could cut up the clothes to make the quilts. Theirs loads of good templates and quilt blogs that make it soo much easier. Plus i do know that quilts are ubber popular now with the whole make do and mend and vintage revival :T
Take a look at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ or http://www.feelingstitchy.com/

durham_girl

I have seen a business selling sock monkeys on facebook. They are extremely popular and release a new batch of about 20 monkeys each Saturday night for £10 - £12 plus postage. Within 20 mins they are all gone! They do have a massive following which takes time to build, but the monkeys they make are easily the best I've seen. They've just started selling on ebay and on thier facebook profile they're linking to each auction and the monkeys are going or between £15 and £20 there!

Marteebies

I think if you do make hand made items, you should move with the seasons and maybe focus on one area, for example if you were making hates and scarves, you could sell them here in the winter thenfocus online in the summer selling them in countries on a different season time than in the UK. Markets are a great place to start selling!

PasturesNew

Don't forget your Public Liability Insurance - and with soft toys you'd need to look into labelling compliance etc. I think soft toys sold in the UK need some "CE" mark or something.

Read this: http://pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Business/EN71_and_CE_for_new_soft_toy_businesses_explained_114119.html

fraz_babe

I'd try a facebook page its free and some pages ive seen of handmade stuff sell for a lot and looks profitable x

nakmeister

I've sold at craft fairs, folksy and also a stall at the local university, all in November/December. The craft fairs were a waste of time, lots of people looking and admiring but not many buying. The stall at the local university netted about £300 plus local contacts who helped me sell more.

Folksy is quite good, and I believe etsy is even better, but there's such a lot of competition. My advice would be:

1. Go for something unique, something that stands out and looks good on photos.
2. Watch your costs, including your time costs, fees, postage etc.
3. 'Commotize' your crafts, i.e. concentrate on a few lines and get really good and quick at doing them. This will net you much more than a bit of this, bit of that approach.
4. Set up your own website (this can be done very easily and cheaply, even for free) and promote this everywhere you can.
5. Sell on Etsy, Folksy and set up a Facebook shop.
6. Don't sell too cheaply, you are not competing on price, but on the quality and uniqueness of your handmade products. Many people sell their wares too cheaply, which paradoxically can be offputting to people buying handmade products, some people think cheap = poor quality craftsmanship.

Hope this is of some use!

Mike-author

Hi Guys. A few really good suggestions for you from Nakmeister. My partner and I run Two Red Trees and work with creative individuals on a daily basis who make money from their crafts. We found that skill, passion and love of their artisan skills doesn't necessarily come with business-mindedness and this holds many people back when it comes to marketing and making income from their passion. We have written a book to address this with interviews with some of the most successful Etsy sellers in the world as well as thought leaders in social media, marketing, product photography etc. We really are on the cusp of a revolution for creative people, for the first time our generation of creatives have a genuine opportunity to launch and grow micro-businesses and really hope our book can help this. Thanks for the posts guys! Mike - www. commercialcreatives . com

luckystrike23

problem is that such things take a lot of time to make - how much do you value your time? And more often than not people don't appreciate the effort/work you put into creating them.

SchminkyCat

My job involves selling handmade pieces and i've been doing it for over 10 years now. I don't make millions, but have been making enough to pay tax since about year 3. One thing I would say is DEFINITELY charge for your time!! If you are doing this as a business it is absolutely essential to charge for your time, and that doesn't just include the time you actually make the item, but the time you spend in consultation with a client (if you are making bespoke), time spent on the phone or writing emails to clients, time spent packing items, travelling to post office (invariably queuing in said post office!!) etc etc.

If I design something that involved so many hours work that I think it is priced out of the market, I either find ways of cutting that time down, or I bin the idea altogether.

I find that whilst my larger profit margins are found by selling through my retail website, the bulk of my orders, and where I make the most money is through selling to trade. I may only make a few pounds per item, but when a shop is buying 30 pieces at a time, it soon adds up, and making 30 items all in one go is a lot quicker than making 30 individual orders!

ostaragirl

Hi,I'm a fellow crafter but I don't try to make much from it as I find there's just so many people trying to sell.
However, in my area there is a lady making personalised sock monkeys and doing very well at it. She only makes this one product and she will do themed ones, biker, graduation, baby etc and they sell from £14 for a plain one and up to £35 for really fancy kitted out ones. She has had an 8 week waiting list for as long as I can remember and is fully book now until xmas.
I think her success is she is making one product and to a very high standard and also she has done all her selling through a very successfully marketed fb page where she has competitions, photos of monkeys in unusual places/poses etc. I really do think the way to go is to focus on one thing and do it well.