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Thread: Making Craft Items with Wood

  1. #1

    Making Craft Items with Wood

    Hi All,

    Great forum, I've browsed the first 100 pages or so and ridden the emotional roller coaster with a few of you. I've seen a lot of discussion on commercial applications and it seems that is where the $ is.

    However, I do some woodworking as a hobby and have a whole workshop full of tools. I've never done anything for sale because the I would never be able to charge enough to justify the time...much to labor intensive for a part-timer. I see a laser cutter as a way to dramatically increase the speed of production on items such as puzzles, ornaments and decorations allowing for more realistic pricing structure.

    That being said, is anyone out there finding profits, regardless of how small, in making laser cut ornaments, 3-D puzzles and similar items for sale at craft sales and the like?

    Thanks...now on to the next 100 pages...

    Chris

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    1,843
    Chris, We only do 1 or 2 craft shows a year. Both are near Christmas & we do sell a lot. However... Crafters won't pay near as much as you can get elsewhere - that's just a fact. You may sell a lot of stuff, but not at the same price that people pay at say your web page. Crafters like to get something for nothing. If it don't look like a great deal they move on.
    We have decided to do these couple of shows because we like to show off our art/craft - the fun stuff. The rest of the year we are now devoting to more commercial stuff for a more study income.
    Tim
    There are Big Brain people & Small Brain people. I'm one of the Big Brains - with a lot of empty space.- me
    50W Fiber - Raycus/MaxPhotonics - It's a metal eating beast!
    Epilog Fusion M2 50/30 Co2/Fiber - 2015
    Epilog Mini 24 – 35watt - 2006 (Original Tube)
    Ricoh SG3110DN
    - Liberty Laser LLC

  3. #3
    Chris

    Welcome to Sawmill Creek. If you are percieving the laser to be another tool in your arsenal and you don't have to make money with it then you're going to love what you can do.

    If you have to sell enough to pay for the laser then I'd advise thinking very carefully about the whole idea.

    If you're in the market for a used laser there are a couple listed on the Classified forum right now.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630
    I still feel like the bestway to make money with a laser is doing production work.

    I had a friend that does Christmas items sell some ornaments for me two years in a row at a local holiday gift fair. The one $5 or less sold OK, anything higher sat. You'd have to sell a lot at that price to make anything.

    On the other hand, I'm in the process of another 3-d puzzle job, and it's my best type of order these day, but I do not sell retail. I am manufacturing them for a puzzle website owner who has gotten some big orders for his designs as gifts for big corporate events. Making 450 using his provided material even at a wholesale price makes for a nice profit.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    KY but subject to change.
    Posts
    243

    Crafted or Manufactured

    Chris,
    Having been to umpteen craft shows as an attendee, not an exhibitor, let me say that a lot of craft show people think that lasered items are less "crafty" than "handmade" items. Seems illogical to me but that seems to be a common perspective.
    I bought a used laser from a member here and had thoughts of turning a profit while enjoying my hobby. After a lot of research and some serious number crunching, it soon became obvious that this was not in the cards for me. That being said, I love playing with my laser and finding ways to use it to enhance my enjoyment of woodworking. I'll never hand cut a veneer inlay again and in addition to banding and fancy joinery, laser etching adds a new element to boxes. Any gift items I make out of wood are likely to be personalized with a lasered monogram, picture or photo.
    Good luck on whatever you decide.
    Jim
    Growing older is mandatory.
    Growing up is entirely optional.

    Remember; it's never too late to have a happy childhood.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    victoria, B.C. Canada
    Posts
    35
    Blog Entries
    1

    doing craft fairs

    chris...i agree with Tim to a point about people wanting cheap stuff BUT there are a couple differant kinds of craft fairs here in canada but i'm sure it's the same in the states. There are craft fairs it seems at every church, elementry school in the months of Nov and Dec and yes they are also looking for $1 or $2 things and then there are the BIG craft fairs, you know the ones that cost you anything from 100 to 12 hundred to attend and are usually 3 days long. The people that attend those types of craft fairs are a bit more prepared to spend money...i mean if their willing to spend $3 to $10 just to get in well they're the ones you want. I've been a woodworker for 34 yrs and the last 12 or so years i waqs turning bowls and i pretty much built stock over the year to prepare for 2 maybe 3 fairs. My quality was set very high but i did something that most turners wouldn't do...and that i kept my price with in reason. I have seen turners selling a bowl for say $600 and they left with that $600 bowl, their choice...whereas i would sell a similar bowl for $300 and i would sell 10 times more bowls than they would and i didn't feel bad about it because in my mind they where "out of town" with their prices...my choice. As far as lasering things for craft fairs...this is something i did for those people who didn't want to spend alot of money. Find a ornament whereas you can laser on a photo with a short caption, make it cute, something like "baby's 1st christmas" or for grandma, grandpa, uncle and so on...there are a lot of babies born every year and when i was doing them i had times when i had to turn away orders. I sold them for $8.50 each when they bought 4 (min) or more. I would spend about 5 min with the set up and i had 6 differant designs that they could choose from...the key thing is keeping it simple and thats what gave me my spending money for christmas. This is only a hobby however. At one show last year i had 211 orders plus other things that people ordered after christmas is what blew me away. I never really had a bussiness card i just lasered my e-mail address on the back but i think i might remove that this season..lol...so if you have high quality stuff and are at the bigger sale you should (hopefully) you'll do good...dale
    epilog mini 45W...coreldrawx3...photograv...rotary attachment...pump for air assist...Quatro air filter...sand blasting cab. and 34 yrs of woodworking tools

    "It's only a dumb question when you know what the answer is"...by me

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    1,843
    Dale,
    Here there are three levels of Craft shows.
    1. The lowest is the church & retirement home type which is free to get in, but has few customers and you have to practically give stuff away. I don't bother with these.
    2. The next is what we do the Judged shows. These have a fee to get in and customers expect higher quality and pay a bit more for it. As a laser engraver this has been a tough market to get into asI have had to convince the judging that there is still a lot of hand made process in building my crafts.
    3. The highest level is for true crafters. The fee to get in is very high and the prices of the crafts are equally high. The workmanship of the crafters is fantastic. I still have had no luck cracking this type of show. Mention the use of a laser and the organizers turn up thier noses. This is sometimes still true for the judged shows too.
    Tim
    There are Big Brain people & Small Brain people. I'm one of the Big Brains - with a lot of empty space.- me
    50W Fiber - Raycus/MaxPhotonics - It's a metal eating beast!
    Epilog Fusion M2 50/30 Co2/Fiber - 2015
    Epilog Mini 24 – 35watt - 2006 (Original Tube)
    Ricoh SG3110DN
    - Liberty Laser LLC

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    victoria, B.C. Canada
    Posts
    35
    Blog Entries
    1

    craft sales

    Tim i agree with you 100%, the top shows can be picky and so they should. I got around that by selling my turned bowls as my main craft and because the ornaments where made of wood they allowed that. I believe they judge your craft by the time it takes you to produce and that it was produced by you and not bought at a dollar store. The fact that ornaments cut out by laser instead of by a scroll saw can be a negitive but what you do to it after the fact can be listed as a positive (allowed) and that also dictates your sales. Anorther factor is....have they sold out all of their tables. I believe these shows are loosing their purpose...there is just to many of them. Some shows around here had about a 50% decrease in attendance. Sad but just the way it is i guess.
    epilog mini 45W...coreldrawx3...photograv...rotary attachment...pump for air assist...Quatro air filter...sand blasting cab. and 34 yrs of woodworking tools

    "It's only a dumb question when you know what the answer is"...by me

  9. #9

    Thanks All!!

    Thanks for all your comments. I am certainly interested in acquiring a laser, signed up to attend a Laserbits/Epilog clinic in August right down the road. I will continue to lurk and read and ask questions!

    Chris

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Shohola, PA Pocono Mountains
    Posts
    1,336
    Chris,

    I have the Sears CarveWright little CNC and I make signs and tourist stuff... Search for my posts as I included pictures of what I do.

    My website has some of the stuff I do of if you email me, I will send you pictures.

    Check out the CarveWright at forum.carvewright.com/index.php

    I post under Digitalwoodshop.

    The $2K CW would be a good fit for Craft Shows then you can save and buy a Laser and expand you line of stuff. It is a Hobby Grade machine.

    Good Luck,

    AL
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 07-14-2009 at 3:59 AM.
    1 Laser, 4 CarveWrights, Star 912 Rotary, CLTT, Sublimation, FC7000 Vinyl, 911 Signs, Street Signs, Tourist Products and more.
    Home of the Fire Department "Epoxy Dome Accountability Tag and Accountability Boards".

  11. #11

    RenFest

    I also found craft fairs to be a losing proposition. Instead my wife and I go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and do very well there. Besides the usual gift items we also burn family crests which has been very profitable for us.

    We don’t bring the laser to the renfest and people don’t seem to have an issue with paying for shipping.
    Ryan Pridgeon
    Epilog Mini 24 w/ 25 watt, Corel Draw 12

  12. #12
    I have attended the Dayton Ohio Wood Carvers Show for the last two years and sales have been great. This is probably the top wood worker's show in the midwest. Vendors come from 27 states. And yes the quality of your products must be very high to show at a juried show. I just directed them to my website at MadKowCrafts They immediately recognized my stuff from other shows so they were familiar with my quality. I found about one third of my sales were to fellow vendors. People pay $10 to attend for the weekend $6 for one day. Also one of the advantages of a juried show is that they regulate how many of the different types of products are sold. Also the flea market items are not permitted, you must have made everything you have for sale or display. A lot of people took my business card resulting is sales for several months after the show. Once you get into a good show its easier to get into others as you can use a good show for reference. I encourage sales of multiple products by offering discounts for volume sales. That works well as about half the sales are for more than one product, people love discounts. And instead of those white T-shirt shopping bags I use clear bags. That way my buyers are walking around showing off my product!
    Last edited by Mike Null; 07-17-2009 at 7:31 AM. Reason: removed link

  13. #13
    We do local shows for the Christmas Season and a couple of dog shows each year. We do all the dog breeds and a lot of military items. Most of our items sell well. The custom and personalized ones sell the best. Generic ornaments always sell. I do let them know that although they are lasered we still have to design and finish the so there is that personal touch. We get a lot of orders from the show and it gets our name out there for the rest of the year. We are now being asked to attend more shows as they seem to like what we do and have. If someone wants it personalized we take am make if for them that night and they pick it up the next day, we always take a phone number and the money for personal item up front. We have had good luck at shows and intend to do more. I am also looking for a small laser to take with me to do items right there.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Ray Uebner
    Trotec Speedy 300 45w, Xenetch 1313, Signature 8080 Plus, Baby Lock EM6

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