"Learning to reconcile art with commerce while maintaining your signature and voice, all at a price can be tough, regardless of experience or tenure."
~ Joe Zee, from the Sundance Channel's All on the Line
Making a living selling things you love to make. It sounds like such a simple concept. I want to provide my customers with incredible items that are a reflection of my design principles. However, I tend to be a perfectionist and I want everything to be a work of art. Art & perfectionism takes time.
Like Joe Zee insinuates, it's hard work to draw the line and determine when you've reached handmade nirvana - for the artist and the customer. There's no sense in continuously creating pieces that price you out of the market. This year for me is all about streamlining and refining. I'm trying to train myself that I do not need to reinvent the wheel every time I create a piece. Once I develop a successful structure for a particular piece, be it a bracelet, necklace, belt buckle, then my creative time will be spent on the color and canes used to decorate the frameworks, like a fashion designer who works with a set pattern and relies on fabrics and color to create a signature look. Make sense?
TIME = $$$
Like Joe Zee insinuates, it's hard work to draw the line and determine when you've reached handmade nirvana - for the artist and the customer. There's no sense in continuously creating pieces that price you out of the market. This year for me is all about streamlining and refining. I'm trying to train myself that I do not need to reinvent the wheel every time I create a piece. Once I develop a successful structure for a particular piece, be it a bracelet, necklace, belt buckle, then my creative time will be spent on the color and canes used to decorate the frameworks, like a fashion designer who works with a set pattern and relies on fabrics and color to create a signature look. Make sense?
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