Pricing

These past few months I've been paying more attention to how different artists price their work. Pricing is something that I have always been conflicted with. Since many people do not know all the time and what goes into glass work, they feel many pieces are over priced.

I've been doing some research on how to price jewelry. Many sites give you different formula to use. The one I have been using is the cost of materials plus about 10$ an hour for my time. Something I'd like to start also taking into account is the complexity of my work and the level of technique the different pieces require. For example, it can take the same about of time to make 5 small beads with little detail as a larger focal lampwork bead. The little beads may even require more glass. However, the larger focal bead has much more detail and time put into it. It feels much more like a tiny piece of art. Using my formula, the 5 smaller beads should cost more as they used more glass and about the same time. But I feel the formula doesn't represent the quality of the focal bead. Plus once a bead comes out of the kiln there is still work to be done, I need to clean out the bead release and polish each bead. If I make a bead into a jewelry, that is more time I need to take into account.
Also, at what point to I consider myself more than a beginner and give myself a raise? Many glass artists make beads full time and charge out at $20-$30 an hour for their work.


If you search online at craft sites like Etsy, many focal beads run in the price range of $20-$70, for one bead. When I first began lampworking I didn't understand how one bead could be so pricey. But now I do. The hard part is helping other realise that many of these beads are worth the price the artist puts of them. ( although I have seen beads that do not match their price)

I am also wondering what other factors I should take into account when pricing my glass work. For example, after a glass bead is made it spends a good amount of time annealing in a kiln. During that time I am not working on the bead but the beads is still being worked. Other then the cost of electricity do I take into account the amount of time the beads spend in the kiln?

I have just received my new larger kiln for glass fusing, often my fused glass spends 6-15 hours in the kiln. If I'm making a dish or slumping it goes into the kiln multiple times. So I may have spent 1-2 hours putting the glass together but by the time the piece is finished it's spent over 20 hours in the kiln. Does that mean I charge $20 for my time about $40 for the glass for a total of $80 for a piece that took a total of 22 hours from start to finish? I'm not sure....

The more I have been working with glass the more I find it like painting and other art forms I have tried over the years. Many people how purchase art do not feel that hundreds of dollars is unworthy of a painting, but the same price for a piece of glass art is not always understood.

I know I am just beginning to sell some of my own work and am not that experienced yet in pricing and marketing. My main goal with my work is to simply afford to continue my hobby, but I do want my glass work to be valued properly. I figure I have more research to do.