Shopping Uptown at an artisan's shop, the conversation went something like this... Shopkeeper-"Did you make your bag." Me-"Yes. I made it last year, just pulled it out of the wash this morning." Shopkeeper-"Do you make things to sell." Me-"No." Shopkeeper-"Here is my contact info. We'd love to see more of your work." Okay, this is my Koi bag. The exterior is a print featuring the fish, with the the lining a light blue batik to represent water, and the binding a bright orange batik for contrast. I quilted it in concentric circles to represent pond ripples.. After picking up my jaw from the shop floor, I am now thinking fabric, designs, and how much to charge for the bloody things. (Why can't the days be 36 hours long?)

Wow! That sounds so freakin' awesome !

Fabulous!!! Looks like you are in business!!!! Congrats- hope it makes you lots of $$!

Yes, I was told once by another writer... "Somepeople wish they could write as well as you can sew...." But like my writing, when I look at my things, all I see are the errors...

You going to do it then? Opportunities like this don't come along every day!!

Give a try! I'd love to see a picture of it.

That's awesome! I make and sell jewelry so I can offer a little advice, though ultimately pricing art is part voodoo. Hope this doesn't overwhelm, I'm just doing a brain dump. You could use just a little of this advice as an experiment and then if you decided you're going to seriously stick with it, go further. At minimum, you'll want to determine how much it costs you in materials to do each bag, and how much time it takes you. The wholesale price you'd charge would be (going strictly by math) about 3x the cost of materials + cost of your time (choose how much you want to make per hour). The suggested retail price would be about 5x that. A lot of artists charge too little for their product. Too many. Often you can't go strictly by the math. It might send you way too high or way too low (again, selling art/creative stuff is part voodoo). Personally I'm comforted by at least trying to do the math. If you decide you're really going to stick with this, you can help yourself by getting a wholesale account with your suppliers (will require a business license, but if you're going to sell your work you should probably have one anyway, most areas would require it). A wholesale account will really lower your materials costs. Be sure that you get some kind of contract from the store (if you have a lot of product with them you want to have it in writing who's responsible if things get stolen, when you get paid, at what rate, etc). Find out if they want to buy the bags outright (which might mean at wholesale) or if they want to do it on consignment. While buying the bags at wholesale they might expect to pay 50% of retail, consignment IMO should be them taking 40% or less. Depends on the store. A popular place to sell online is Etsy, btw. That's a whole other brain dump on how to do that well.

Chris, I come from a long line of artsty-fartsy crafters and musicians...I know all about the ins and outs of selling handmade anything including the frustration... One of the reasons I quit custom sewing for people was not that I wasn't paid enough...I was always very upfront with that, but it was just dealing with folks who often wanted the impossible... My main concern it time...I have a job, family, and a husband who travels...making time a very precious commodity, especially when I want to carve a few hours out of the day to write. Still thinking on the whole thing...posting it on Facebook, my extended family is 100% behind me giving it a whirl..I just don't know....

Well, I suppose you could do it on a very small scale and see what you think. Like just for that shop. If you want to go all uber-professional you could do the designs and pay someone to make the stuff. Or you could pass and just make them when you feel like it.

K2p2 - that is awesome!! A bit of extra income is always good, and if you can earn it doing something you enjoy so much the better!!

Congrats which either way you choose, you should be proud, It's nice when someone recognises your work and the effort you put in I second that need for a picture, I love seeing others work

I have a picture of the bag...but no idea as to how to link it in...

Originally posted by k2p2 I have a picture of the bag...but no idea as to how to link it in...

Upload it to photobucket, and then ask photobuck to generate a link. It's fairly easy. Then use paste the link here. It usually comes straight up. There might be a bbc code that you need to use here with the url, but you can find those in the FAQ's under codes. I have to look it up each time I use it.

So I have to generate a photobucket account?

I use Photobucket for all my images here. Though I think you can also upload images to the gatchamania gallery and then get an image link that can be put in a thread post. I'd like to see your purse! And it's great that an artisan's shop wants to sell your work!

Thanks lb...Image is up in the Gallery...I put it under Gatchamaniacs....I am what I sew...hee hee.

Glad it worked! And now you can copy and paste the "BB Code" provided under your image in the gallery and post it here: I love the koi!

That is impressive.... wish I could do stuff like that!

k2p2 -- That's awesome! It's always nice to have your work acknowledged and appreciated, and from the picture, I can see why it caught the shopkeeper's eye in the first place! Very nice work!

K@, that's a really cool bag! I can see why the shopkeeper was interested! Why do't you make a small amount, say 10 bags, and see how they do in the shop? If they go fast, if it seems like this could become a business, then you can look into 'rearranging' things to make it work for you. It's wonderful when you can get paid for doing something you love. I am so happy for you!

Gorgeous work!

Upon seeing the bag, all I can say is "Wow!"

Do you make Gatchaman bags? If so, I'd like to place a bulk order.... (I'm being somewhat serious. If you made Gatchaman bags, I'd be willing to buy...)

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Do you make Gatchaman bags? If so, I'd like to place a bulk order.... (I'm being somewhat serious. If you made Gatchaman bags, I'd be willing to buy...)

Ha! Now if they made Gatchaman fabric....No really, I've tried looking for anime fabric of any kind, and there is some out there, IN JAPAN...There is this little thing about cost, and shipping...then I have to sew it... For instance that Koi bag would easily run about $40 retail...and the fabric is no longer available, we sold out of it as fast as it came in.

I'm not sure you'd need Gatchaman fabric. You could get plain red fabric and make a design for the Phoenix symbol. Then you could put that symbol on various plain background colors like white, pink, blue, yellow, green, brown... it would be super cool!

TJ's suggestion sounds better than what I had -- that you kidnap some child labor from China and use them to print your own fabric...

You can do print on demand fabric these days. The only issue is that it's copyright infringement. I've been thinking it would be cool to make bracelets patterned after the team's bracelets, but am pondering where the line is between "inspired by" and "lawsuit."

Originally posted by ChrisW I've been thinking it would be cool to make bracelets patterned after the team's bracelets, but am pondering where the line is between "inspired by" and "lawsuit."

I had this discussion with someone and determined that Tatsunoko generally won't pursue anything if the quantity is less than 100 and there is no profit being made. That being said, I paid someone to make my Gatchaman costumes that I wear at Comic Con. They're one of a kind... but technically there is profit being made. Somehow, though, I don't think Tatsunoko would mind that.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun I had this discussion with someone and determined that Tatsunoko generally won't pursue anything if the quantity is less than 100 and there is no profit being made. That being said, I paid someone to make my Gatchaman costumes that I wear at Comic Con. They're one of a kind... but technically there is profit being made. Somehow, though, I don't think Tatsunoko would mind that.

I can't picture myself making 100 identical anythings! However, if I'm going to make jewelry, I'd typically like to make some kind of profit. Doesn't have to be exorbitant, but my time and effort do cost something. That doesn't mean I won't try it someday just on a lark and see how it comes out, if only for myself or a gift to someone. I know there's a woman who got permission directly from the creators to sell her fanfic novels based on Ai no Kusabi. I'd think that creating a costume might be a bit different, particularly since cosplay seems to be kind of sanctioned by the industry. Just rambling. I enjoy these thought exercises (and am a champion over-thinker, hence the Eagle clan). The chance of trouble is of course reduced if one doesn't put up a big "I'm making Gatch stuff!" sign online.

Ah yes, I could see it...plain white denim, or a nice Kona, red eagle design, machine quiliting to look like feathers....lots of nice pickety pockets inside, with outer pockets for phone an iPod (a girl has her priorities...) Hmmm, one hundered bucks for starters...Perhaps more. That's just it..with materials, patternmaking, time consumed putting it together, and know-how...you know how you go to sci-fi and comic conventions...I've been to sewing ones, and taken classes...It is all wrapped up in that...although you have given me an idea... Hee.

Sounds like you have a plan k2!!

I always have tons of plans, and fic ideas...trouble is there isn't enough time in the bloody day...if only I didn't need to sleep.

Just thought I'd add that I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the ins and outs of the fan market ... I can't wait to see the bags you come up with, k2!

K2. I'm thrilled that you have an idea! I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with! And yes, I have been to many Sci-Fi and Comic conventions.

k2p2, what a compliment! That's great & thanks for sharing with us. I used to not think much of fish, but we've kept a pet goldfish for 9 years now. He's a sweetie & quite social.

K2, you could use some fabric with birds on it for the different team members.