It has been a tough decision to make given the amount to time that I spend beading and the cost of materials but after giving markets ago and having set up a small online shop and giving it a I have decided to focus on creating art. This a personal choice for every maker and creator and depends a lot on their own personal situation and inclinations.
For me I didn’t get much enjoyment from trying to sell my work and my home town is only starting to get interested in higher quantity handmade items. Between that and working full time as a casual with a changing roster and working out of town it just didn’t really work out. Having taken the time to do the math I would have to make and sell a large bauble for every single day in the year just make $10950 in a year and that is before taking beading expenses into account, as well as stall fees, travel & postage ect. Not exactly a brilliant business proposition.
But that is ok as I didn’t really have my heart in selling my beadwork, at least not as a dedicated small gift shop. It just took a lot of time away from the artistic beadwork that I really wanted to do. That’s not to say that I won’t be making baubles and things to sell, but mostly it will just be art items and possibly more exclusive items to sell, if I ever get around to working on my idea and writing patters.
In this day and age is with such a saturated market it is really hard for anyone in the creative arts to make a living selling goods unless they really stand out or can upscale to mass production of gift items, like mugs, shirts, postcards and the like. At the same time making your was as a artist you face an over saturated market that has a heavy focus on easy to mass produce modern art, that takes little to no skill to make. But with persistence, quality and a lot of luck I believe anyone can make it work.
Lou, currently unsupervised by any cats.
delicatebylou 