I think it depends on the part of the country you live in...where I live in a little town in south texas people tend to want to get something as cheap as they can.Some of my nicer pieces went to upscale River Oaks Houston recently for a school auction,I thought they would go high...sadly they were cheap there too.I was really disappointed in that.i have had a big birdbath go for 1000 for a ronald mcdonald auction but that was the only went that went for a good price.Good luck!

I think you should write your own description of your work and make sure you include, fine art, unique, one-of-a-kind, made by local artist, describe your glass, etc, etc, etc, etc. This is where you get to learn how to market.

You will have to decide before you set out to sell something what your bottom line is and don't back down. Afterall your time and materials are worth something.

One formula I was given is 2-3 times your costs = price. That hardly covers your time. I agree with Annie that it will depend on the clientele. Some people want unique art not dime store stuff from China.

I hope you do well. You'll never know until you give it a try.

The only pieces I have completed have been given away -- either as gifts or doantions. I've done a couple of birdbaths for public school auctions. I was thrilled that one went for $165, but the other one got less than $100 -- maybe $90. I'm not looking at selling. I was planning on donating one of thesse BBs for a school auction, but I doubt it is going to do that well from what I'm seeing so far. It's frustrating.

LAS: My town has absolutely no market for my stuff, so I'm not into trying to market outside the town either. I figure I love what I do and do what I love, so I'm perfectly contented to keep what I can't part with and give the rest away. Fortunately, my family and friends love everything I make and want it, so I have a wonderful outlet. It's what helps get me up in the morning, so it's all fun - no worries. I'm blessed to have the means to satisfy my hobby, so I give thanks.

I quit crafts long ago because everything I made was coming from China and was selling for less than I could even buy the supplies for. I got so disgusted. Now that I started doing glass and craft fairs - I see the light!
All the people that come to the fairs appreciate handmade stuff ( or they wouldn't be there ) and are willing to pay the price for it. I learned not to mark my stuff cheap just to compete with imports. There IS NO comparison of Handmade to mass produced items - so don't worry about competing with them ! Price your stuff as an artist would !

Slow, it's hard to say around here. The same folks who might go to a charity auction, drink some wine and bid wildly for fun and to impress those who want to impress and be impressed then come to their child's school and bid like a basement bargain hunter. Since I've given everything away, it's not about the money. It's the attitude. I want it to mean something if I'm going to give my time.

I have a month to work on other projects and decide which one they get.

Too much, you posted while I was typing and trying to keep a puppy and a lab out of my flower beds, etc. In the school auctions, you don't get to price the items. If I tell them something has a $100 value, they might still start it at $10 and sell it for $15 or $20. That's why I get disgusted with the whole thing.

Well what you do is have someone start the bid at a reasonable but not give away price and see how it goes from there..of course they might get it but it's going to be lowere than what it should have been also.

I agree in theory, but when you donate something, you have no control over what they do with it. You get a group of moms who've seen dollar starting bids generate huge sums on ebay and they think you have to start really low without thinking about how many bid increases are needed to get to the value of the item. One year in particular, they would start items out so low and put $1 bid increases on items. When a teacher bids, the bidding on that item often stops. No one wants the teacher to be upset with them. These school auctions that I've been to have been interesting lessons on the theories of auction buying.

Are you from Texas ?If so where I'm from harlingen wayyyyyyyyy down south.

Yes, I'm up north of Houston. I know where Harlingen is -- never been there, but my mom had some friends from that area. I met them only once when I was young, but they sure were nice to me. Ialso clerked for a judge who travelled to Corpus and had friends who travelled with their judge to Harligen.

I would imagine that your proximity to the border would make it harder to sell there. Your work is beautiful though and deserving of gallery treatment. I'm glad you have the outlets and can donate to charities that get the benefit of your work. Here, I'm really afraid that anything that I gave to a school auction would be comapred to what they could get at Hobby Lobby or Marshall's. I'm still going to do what work I can find the time for -- I have some other things I should be doing, but I enjoy it.

i've sold a few things over the past year. i did a couple of mosaic stepping stones, not the indirect method kind (i just did mosaic on a cement pad and the glass certainly isn't flush). the first one i sold was for $50. the second was for $80 (i became a little bolder..lol). i also had a bowl go for $55 at a charity auction and a set of coasters sold for $45.

i've had a ton of coworkers ask about my things but i'm hesitant to sell to them because it just feels.... well, 'funny'. know what i mean?

i think it really depends on where you live. my community is kind of funky/artsy so things CAN go for a decent price when they sell. there are opportunities to sell if i had the time and energy, which i currently (sadly) don't. it's frustrating though, when people think they're doing you a favour by buying your stuff for $10 or $20 when you've knocked yourself out for hours completing them. i think some folks think that covering the cost of your materials plus maybe $5 is fair.

anyway, good luck with selling your things and i hope you do well. there will always be people who value art over cheap imitations and are willing to pay for your time and imagination.

All I can say is that, the ball I have made is going for $100.00, and if someone doesn't want to pay that, well, I would just as soon keep it then as "I" would pay that myself! So, don't ever sell yourself short is I guess what I am saying. It takes a lot of time and love and patience to make one of these and they sure the heck don't cost no $20 bucks! I guarentee you that! Louella

I agree. I have a bowling ball I paid nothing more for than the gas to go get it, a tube plus just a bit of GEII and pennies inveted in this balle to be a quick and fairly easy project to get started on trying bowling balls. I have a tall wrought iron candle holder that I got at GW for $4.99 on the same trip as picking up the BBs to put it on and was thinking of spray painting it to go with the pennies. I'd have a pretty easy $20 in this without anything for my time.

There is another auction coming up at a country club that is for a high school graduation lock-in. I suspect it will bring in more money and am going to make a donation there. I'm going to see what happens at the school before I decide what to donate there.

An Auction ???????? OOPS *red faced* ------ My bad ...
I must have missed the word auction and automatically thought you meant a craft fair !!! Geeze - I better learn to read ! - or grow a few more brain cells ! LOL
I'm sorrrrrrry !!!

..........and you are exactly right about auctions --- you have no control over the price once it's donated. Did they ask you the value to at least get an idea of what the starting price should be ?

I have always been asked the value of anything I have donated in the past. Since I don't sell them, it's a wild guess, but at least they have something to shoot for. Of course, in auctions, handmade or one of a kind thigns may be labelled "priceless". That was true of the first birdbath I did, and I was glad not to have to price it.