Crafting for Money

Are you thinking of selling your work?

This is the time of year when I begin to hear from so many of my customers about selling their jewelry. This year, with the economy and so many folks finding themselves looking for a new career I am getting the questions even more often. How can I price my work? Is my work good enough to sell? Where can I sell my work? For long-distance friends I answer questions via email but if you are in Raleigh (or even within driving distance) we have several classes geared towards designers. In Photographing Your Work you'll learn how to take great photos with any digital camera, how to make an inexpensive light box and even how to do simple photo editing using free software. In Getting Started On Etsy you'll learn how and why to use this great sales platform to promote your work. In my Crafting for Money class we'll discuss how to price your work so you are making a profit and ways to sell your work from craft shows to boutiques.

I teach the Crafting for Money class and one of the things I spend a lot of time talking to folks about is why they might want to sell their work. For many people, it's economic. They can make way more than they can wear and would love to make some extra money to feed their crafty habit. These people don't necessarily want to quit their day jobs and design full time. They want to sell to family and friends on a limited basis. This is a great motivator but sometimes these folks seem to feel like wanting to sell their work part-time or on a small scale makes them less of a designer. It doesn't. A part time designer can still create work that is beautiful and unique and original. A part time designer has some advantages over the person who must pay all their bills with their work; they can take on jobs based on interest and enjoyment, not just the bottom line.

Jane Mormino teaches the Photographing Your Work and Etsy classes and in both classes she draws from personal experience and exhaustive research. Jane is experienced with selling her own work at shows and via Etsy and she can tell you how important good photos are. Jane is also the kind of crafty gal who doesn't spend money unnecessisarily so she will also show off some inexpensive and free ways to make the digital camera you already have take better photos.

So, call and register already, what are you waiting for?