Two years ago a friend and I were vending at a breast cancer event. I was selling my crochet items and she was selling her hand made jewelry. I thought her designs and items were really beautiful and reasonably priced. As we sat at our booth watching the attendees admire our work, one lady walked up and started looking at a pair of earrings my friend made. After carefully inspecting them she asked how much they were. When my friend told her the price she goes on to tell her, "those earrings are too much, everything you used can be purchased wholesale and can be sold for $10." When I heard this my blood began to boil, and the lady just kept on and on. I wanted to do one of two things: 1. Snatch the lady across the table and deliver an open hand slap to her mouth. OR 2. Tell her if you don't like the price then just walk away. My friend kept her composure and was really nice and professional, explaining to her this is hand crafted jewelry, not machine made. After 10 minutes of listening to the woman rant on about the price of the earrings, she finally walked away empty handed.People, please understand what crocheting and arts and crafts mean to us:
To me, crocheting is like having a child. The idea or concept I come up with is just like conception. I develop the idea in my head and it grows there until my hands give birth to the creation, and just like a newborn baby I am proud of what I made and I want to share it with the world. Every time I make an item I am giving birth again and again to creativity because every article is made with love even if I make 50 of the same pieces. Think about it, a mother can give birth to 5 kids and even thought they are all her creations each one has its on uniqueness. When I have put my hard work, time and love into my pieces I don't want to hear anyone tell me "I can get that at ________ for $10," or "That's too much, could you come down on the price?" You don't have to like my work or pay the price I am asking for my creations, but those comments can really be kept to your self. Let me give you something to think about, just put yourself in my shoes with this: What if you were somewhere with a group of people with their children and someone walked up to you and said "You have a beautiful daughter but you know my sister's daughter is a lot prettier than yours," or "Your son is smart but you really should tell him not to make straight A's on his report card" you wouldn't like that, would you? That's how the heck I feel when these words are spoken to me.
Yes you can get a crochet hat from the swap meet for $5, yes you can buy a shrug or sweater from a clothing store for $19.99 but you must remember what you are buying has been manufactured by a machine in bulk, but what I have made was handmade and it has taken time out of my day and my family's day and you cannot really put a price on that. What's funny is I can sit down for 3 hours and create a custom purse, hand made with hand sewn lining and handmade handles and sell it for $40 and you will tell me it costs too much but you will go to the major department store and pay $100 for the same style of purse with the only difference being it has a brand name on it. Well check this out, my creations are name brand and original but I guess that's different because my designs are not sold in the major stores......yet.
Please understand I am not trying to be mean or nasty but I just have to say what is on my mind and on the minds of other artists. These comments not only hurt our feelings but it insults our craft. So when you see us vending or you see our work on display somewhere you have the right to refuse to pay what we are asking, but you don't have the right to insult us, just move on to what you like and what you are willing to pay. You don't have to like us but you must RESPECT THE CRAFT!!
