I need your opinions - selling carvings

[Marci MN]

I have found I really like carving ornaments. Granted they are not in the round carvings, but only flat ones, I still have enjoyed doing them.

What I'd like to know is.. is it worth it for me to make alot of them for selling next year? Do ornaments sell? Can I get my carving time worth of $$ out of them? Or do I have to under sell them to be able to sell them at all?

I have this idea to add other ideas along with ornaments. Not just Christmas themed, but all holidays or special events. I will also add things like curved wires to have ornaments hanging as plant pokes. I have also made a super strong magnet block with a hook underneath so ornaments can be hung from refrigerators. I have also tossed around the idea to have some hanging from walking sticks. Or keychains, or to be clipped to jacket or purse zippers. I'm hoping that by adding these ideas it will help folks think about having ornaments out all year long.

Please tell me what you think about this idea.. I'm getting mixed opinions here at home. Is there another idea you can pass along that will give me an outlet for something I enjoy doing?

[Thor]

Carve ornaments! You will have them ready for next year's ornament trade if nothing else.

I have carved over 40 this year...which was my goal.
I had no idea I would participate in the ornament swap that took 11 I think of them. I gave 7 of them away to children who needed something special.
They are all gone.
That makes 23 that I sold. I had someone in today (the gallery) who specifically came to buy my ornaments for family gifts. I didn't have any left!

Yes, they sell. No, you won't get rich from it unless you're really good like some folks on this list I guess, but the wood can be scraps, the time is fun, and it improves skills like nothing else I've found lately.

Next year, I will plan to have so many more! The woman who was here today has put in her order for 15! Oh my! I'm not even an ornament carver! or a Santa Carver!

I can't speak for the other pieces for all-year-round, but try it and see. Oh, I was just selling mine for $12.00 each. That's not much, but my ornaments are not great. Fun, but not great.
Thor

[Kenny_S]

Well Marci, That be a tough question to answer. I don't know how much time you have in each or if you havea market for them. I sell mine locally and out of a Craft shop that is strictly Crafts and other items made in Kansas by Kansasans. However, Soime on this board gets their price out of their ornaments depending on what the market is around them. Some goes as low as $4 an ornament and some goes higher. Again, depending on the market for that area. Me, I get $4 bucks apiece for most of my ornaments but then, I don't make my money's worth from them. It is a price that I can get more wood or tools from and a place to get rid of a lot of ornaments. Now 2006 may be different as it kept me busy carving ornamnets and not get what I should have carve completed. I also did several commissioned large arving but then, I sold them way to cheap. But the market here is low due to many jobs being eliminated.

My suggestion, is, to ask around and show some of your ornaments and see what people think. Check if you have a craft store or a consignment store or even if you have a craft fair. Maybe you will do ok and maybe not, Again what is the market level for ornaments?
Some will say not to go to craft fairs, but you have to show them somewhere and at some time. I had good luck and not so good luck at Craft fairs. Again, if your object is to make money? Or to get your product(carvings) out for people to see. What you will recieve is the uuuuuuhs and awssss and neat idea or carving but sometime you may find you are carving for 50 cents an hour.


My thinking is go for it and try. I would rather try and fail than not try and wonder," What if"? But then again, sometimes my thinkig is rusty. Wink
GO FOR IT!
Yes it is a hard question to answer but, hope this helps a little

[Marci MN]

I'm so glad you dont think my idea is off the wall. I cant sleep for all the ideas going through my head lately. *sigh*

I just went down to the barn and brought up another 50 boards that are 1/2 inch thick for more ornaments. I also grabbed a 2x4 piece to see if the dremel can handle that thickness.

I dont plan on getting rich with this idea. But a chunka change now and then to build up carving supplies ( I'd like to get to the point of using knives and gauges and doing characatures). Hopefully in the next three weeks I can send an order to Rick for my beginners kit.

Thor.. were all your ornaments Santas?

Thats the price I was thinking I'd have to hang around too.. 5.00 or abouts. I'm just not sure on what price would be ok around here. We do have tourists in the summer time.. maybe thats to my advantage.

Here are two pics of what I've finished in the last week or so.
Please be honest and tell me if I need to change something in this idea.

[squbrigg]

Making and selling wooden ornaments can be profitable, depending on a number of things. Marketing is one of them, supply and demand another, and quality another. A year round business is possible, we have a "Farmers Market" once a week here, and that is where you can find a lot of wooden handmade things. Craft sales are popular in the pre-Christmas period, and some folks have even gone so far as to have a portable booth/display for a once a week show in malls, or sidewalks in the summer in the city.

Basically, if you make a good quality, nicely designed and carved varnished/painted product, they will sell. Price them moderately, fair to both yourself and the buyer, and you will be surprised. If they are well carved.....they will sell for sure. I have found that how the carvings are presented, has a lot to do with how well they sell. I have never made or sold Christmas ornaments, but I have sold carvings, several small Celtic knots, relief carvings , ships, etc. And now canes.....! Folks love well carved things.

Bob

[MelNM]

Marci I have seen ornaments as high as $75.00, but like you say it is seasonal, some of the folks here carve Santas year round because there are lot of collectors out there, you see them on ebay a lot if you want to test the water, I too have been considering it.
Mel

[GaryMc]

Hello Marci,
I don't claim to know very much about selling ornaments, but I like you like carving them and I have sold some this year. I got $30-35.00 for my Silly Santa's that I sold ( 4 I think) and have been getting $20.00 for the snoman with the team insignia on them 9 (4-5). Also sold a cuople of branch Santas for $25.00. You can see them in my Gallery here. But that was just at the carving show I went to in Nov. and also some friends. I havent really tried to market them, but I probably will this year. I can see that the right ornament, shown to the right people at the right time will see pretty well.
By the way I like you Santa Ornament, and would sell them for more than $5 or 10 . I would try them at $15-25 and see what happens.
One more thing, I have been watching people selling on Ebay, seems that once you get established there you can get more for your carvings, but I am not sure how much you can get there. Maybe this next year I will find out.
GaryMc

[Mark N. Akers]

Marci:
I agree with Gary 25.00-35.00 dollar range is a good range for a hand-carved
ornament.Great job on thecarving and painting of the ornaments.

[Doug Ridley]

Yes they will sell. We sell these Santa ornaments for $144.00 per dozen wholesale and have been doing so for about 20 years so they do sell at the retail level, otherwise these people would not be reordering. However, when we started we were only getting $96.00 per dozen. Have raised the price over the years. We have sold somewhere between two and three thousand. We regularly have 3 gift shops that handle them and when we travel we stop at gift shops along the way and offer them. If you pick the right type of shops they will usually try a dozen.
You will have to set your own price depending on how long it takes to make them and paint them. We figure about 2 hours per ornament so we only make about 6.00 per hour but by wholesaling them and refusing to break up a dozen, we do get some decent money together at one time. Wood cost is negligible as they are all made from scraps left over from other progects.
Hope this helps.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Please be honest and tell me if I need to change something in this idea.

Yup! You need to charge more, $5 is not enough for your work. It's worth more.