Bottlestoppers

[schaf]

I took my bottlestoppers to the loca craft market last Sunday.Although I had plenty of lookers and admirers there were no sales.

I priced them at $15 each. Do you think this is over priced or is it that my carving style is just notgood enough.

Terry

[Big Shed]

I am not an expert on carving (or anything else for that matter!) but I reckon they look very good indeed, beaut work IMHO.

Too expensive? I would have said $15 is too cheap when you take in consideration your time and the cost of a bottle stopper kit.

It is more likely that bottle stoppers aren't used as much as they used to be, what with casks and screw top closures on wine bottles and maybe people drink more these days and polish off a bottle in one sitting

[Simomatra]

Terry they are worth every cent of the $15 anything less you would be giving them away. I don't know much about carving but they all look very good.

[tea lady]

No, $15 is definately not over priced, but perhaps heads on bottles are a bit....how you say......weird? Would need a very quirky person to want one I think. Maybe something a bit more styalized, or animals? Just keep whittling away. Sometimes things take a while to start moving, and the idea will evolve in the doing.

[clare]

LOVE them!!! $15 is an absolute bargain too. I wonder if its just the classic market-goers mentality where there seems to be an attitude or expectation of picking up beautifully crafted objects for bugger all. How about supplying a decent craft shop? They're great Terry. No reflection on your work.
Clare.

[Iggy]

I have made and sold a range of ceramic sculptures and a part of that was a set of eggcups "eggheads" and didnt sell one despite lots of positive feedback, go figure. I guess some of us have tastes a little quirkier than others

[springwater]

I took my bottlestoppers to the loca craft market last Sunday.Although I had plenty of lookers and admirers there were no sales.

I priced them at $15 each. Do you think this is over priced or is it that my carving style is just notgood enough.

Terry

No way are they are over priced, too good for bottle stoppers.

[tea lady]

Double the price and display them singly so they seem worth more.

[schaf]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Tea Lady may be right and a more stylized top may be better. It is just that I like doing small heads as a practice exercise and this was a way to use them instead of throwing them in a box.

Best wishes

Terry

[underfoot]

They're great schaf,
as tea lady said, double the price, present them individually and maybe have a WIP that you can whittle whilst at the markets (always draws them in) and gives the uninformed a better idea of whats involved in making them.

[flynnsart]

I would tend to agree with tealady on the heads on bottles thing. Great carving by the way You might have to make a chess set to do your head practicing on

Donna

[Jim Carroll]

Terry do not undersell yourself.

How many other people offer carved stoppers, probably none.

Double at least if not more.

Put one in a bottle so they can see what they are for, as they sit in the block they just look like heads on metal.
You have to educate the buyers it is hard work sometimes as they see things but do not automtically understand what they are for.

Terry a freind of ours does carving and at his stand he sits there and does the carving in front of people, This attracts a bigger crowd and generates sales as they can see the work that goes into it.
Just make sure the tools are just out of little hands reach.
Dont undersell yourself.

The Blond Say Well Done.

[flynnsart]

Can you take a couple of pics of someones face and get a real likeness in your carving? Perhaps you could do individual ones by order, but charge a lot more for them. Do a display with a couple of photos and the finished article. Would make excellent gifts for that hard to buy for person, and would be good challenge for your skills.

Donna

[schaf]

Donna, it is my eventual hope that I will be able to carve a likeness from a photo. At the moment I am just not there.

With more practice maybe one day,i hope.

Regards
Terry

[mastercraft]

Don't know if anybody would be interested but I have quite a few bottle stopper sets left over from when I used to import and sell them ( to promotional product businesses)
The stand could be used and the tops unscrew , so they could be replaced with a carving. Cost would be $5.00 per set + postage. PM me if interested (will reply in business hours)
I think the bottle stoppers look great. Maybe another idea would be to try caricature carvings. I havn't done bottle stoppers but have carved golf balls and they look good with a caricature face.
Pics attached.

cheers , Mastercraft