Bneighbor

Craft people are artists, hence the "starving artist" quote. If we had to live off what we made, most of us would starve! If you enjoy what you do, and do it for fun, then what you charge for you craft is just icing on the cake... Fun and a paycheck too! But most of the public do not see our craft as art, it's "homemade, so therefor not professional. I used to make wedding gowns, and loved it. But I got serious and decided that the hundreds of hours I spent to make someone else's dream come true was not helping me gain MY dreams of a new seeing machine (top dollar one). I re-figured my pricing strategy, and my first 3 years of new pricing came in at a very fair price and the brides were happy. But I had a bride bring me a picture of a $12,000.00 dress for me to copy. When my price came to just under $9,000.00, she almost fainted. She demanded I cut the price. My suggestion was to go to the salon that had the dress and demand THEY cut their price. She said since it was "homemade" how dare I think is should be paid a "professional rate". I escorted her out, thanking her for considering my services and closed the door. I got a call a few days later, she said she was "going to let it go"(whatever that meant) and let me "try my hand at a designer gown" (uh, that is what I do, DESIGN and MAKE the dress). I apologized and told her my services were no longer available and suggested she buy the gown. I am now out of the gown business, after 25 years. I now sew, piece, quilt, embroider, and play. My sewing room, my machines, my time, my rules. Don't like them, go someplace else.
We are artists and we should not apologize for being one, and we should be able to charge a reasonable price for our goods.