Making money selling crafts

fiddlesticks

Wizzbang wrote: »

Why not knit hats for fishermen? https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/knitting2

Blankets and baby clothes for premature infants- contact the PICO/ Neonatal dept of your nearest hospital. http://www.bliss.org.uk/knit-for-premature-babies

There are many more charities listed here: http://www.ukhandknitting.com/knitting-for-charity/charity-list

This would seem a far better way to fit with your values/ beliefs/wants and needs.

Alas no as while it would help me get rid of some of my yarn stash, that not where the problem lies. The problem is getting rid of the finished items which are not usually hats. Basically I'm selfish and want the freedom to knit what I want to knit, make the beads i want to knit but i'm too lasy to jump the final barrier and make them good enough to sell! Also I HATE knitting baby clothes. done it once and never again, far too fiddly!

But thank you for trying, I'm coming to the relisation that i may have to stop some of my crafts as theres nothng to be done with the results.

Ilona

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Basically I'm selfish and want the freedom to knit what I want to knit,

I know exactly what you mean. I make textile pictures and other craft items, some hand sewn, some machine sewn. I made a load of fabric shopping bags and gave them away. Now I donate them to a cat rescue to sell to make funds. I make other bags and give them away.

I have a dozen or more large textile pictures, I enjoy the thought processes which go into making them because I use all recycled materials so they cost very little. They take a long time to make so I won't give them away just yet. Three of them are entered into an art exhibition, if someone wants to buy one, I might let it go.

Yes, it's the creative aspect that drives us, I understand what you are saying. I suggest you give some away as gifts. People are still contacting me saying they are using my shopping bag, years after I gave it to them. It's good to know that.

Ilona

Wizzbang

Just enjoy the process and then probably the best thing for you to do is give them away. I make sequin pictures and my house would look like a glitzy glitter ball if I put them all up, not to mention how cluttered it would be as I've made so many!!! I'm afraid I can't bear to part with them, so they're all in storage. I enjoy the process the most and I won't stop making them. Fortunately I've found ways to get my materials so cheap (discount shops) or using free vouchers from Swagbucks etc that I don't have to worry about recouping the cost.

I have been thinking perhaps I could give them to a local Children's Hospice- maybe it would brighten up the rooms?

OneYorkshireLass

If you're not wanting to be restricted with what you make, lots of the kids on PostPals would appreciate crafty items to decorate their bedrooms or hospital rooms: http://www.postpals.co.uk/

fiddlesticks

Wizzbang wrote: »

I enjoy the process the most

Yes exactly!
How many bags of almost finished jumpers and beads can one house have......Lol. maybe I should just just stop stressing about the clutter.

adom_thomas

Hi,

I am seeing these days that people are selling on social networking sites such as twitter, facebook and more. You can make your own facebook shop. Even, you can join facebook groups where people are selling! Best of luck!

Wizzbang

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Yes exactly!
How many bags of almost finished jumpers and beads can one house have......Lol. maybe I should just just stop stressing about the clutter.

For the sake of your mental health, I would stop stressing about getting money for the items. You'll feel much better just giving them away- thus achieving your aim of reducing clutter, whilst making someone else's life better. You obviously don't make them for money and clearly have no interest in doing so. Some things in life aren't about money and it would be such a waste of your talent and resources just to make them, to stuff if boxes and bags in your house until they rot away. Set the stuff free!

fiddlesticks

yeah maybe you're right. Just need to find people to give thngs to now.... and find another way to fund my Cashmere habbit. :-)

Edited to add...
My one ebay listing didn't go anywhere so that's maybe an indication.

Luna68

if you are making things as its something you are enjoying
you said don"t want throw why not make things for charities?
Luna

Beartricks

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Oh dear.
I've been self employed before. That was one client and I had no outgoings to keep track of. It was a lot of hassle and stress and if I have to go through that again for 5GBP a month I know I'll never get round to selling anything . The keeping track of what I spend on making an item is someting I never do and specifically don't want to do. It would also be impossible given some of my materials have been in my craft stash for years.
Howevr if I don't shift some of my stuff in 20 years I'm going to be one of those people who can only use one room in the house and die in a landslide of jumpers

I did carefully read the rules and regs on both Folksy and Etsy and it seemed to me that they are for serious crafters, people who care about marketing, customer service, quality... all the stuff that I find impairs my enjoyment of the making stuff thing. For me its just about avoiding chucking things in a skip

I was confused by the fees thing as I wanted to charge 99p but the fees came out at 1.35. I have sold a few things on Ebay before several years ago and it didn't work that that but I guess they have changed the structure.

And yes I agree about the facebook thing.... if you have network of people who are interested n the stuff you have to sell than absolutely its a medium for selling. I live in a small town, I don't know anyone here anymore and particuarly not anyone who would pay for crap.:-)

If you don't want to market yourself, you wont get anyone buying your stuff. You're up against tens of thousands of other people making the exact same types of things and the ones who market themselves will get noticed. You're not going to get people gravitating towards your work out of nowhere; how do you expect them to find you?

Similarly with customer service and quality. You wont get by on just enjoying making your things because people aren't paying you to enjoy it, they're paying for an item. It might be a fun hobby for you, but for a buyer is spending money and you spend money on things that you think are worth spending money on. That implies a certain level of quality and service. Like I said, there are hundreds of other people who are willing to offer this, so people will just go to them instead.

Making and selling art, or crafts, has always had an element of self-promotion and marketing. I know that a lot of people who do these kinds of things are the same kind of people who don't particularly enjoy being around others or the business aspects of everything, but the successful ones either do or they force themselves to do it. I'm sure there were way more great painters during the Dutch golden age that we don't know about, but Rembrandt was one of the only ones who figured out how to sell his talents to the upper classes and ensure his paintings ended up on people's walls.

I should know, I'm the type of person who makes things and has a complete disconnect when it comes to actually getting people to want them. Occasionally I get over it, but mostly I just end up filling cupboards and underneath beds.