The American Gourd
Society has a network of knowledgeable gourd growers and artists who serve
as a panel of experts to answer questions. If you would like to ask
a question, (or it you would like to volunteer your expertise to help answer
questions), please email the AGS!
| Recent Question: I
have a lot of trouble deciding how to price my gourds. Other gourders have
suggested an hourly rate of $10 or more. Some of my smaller gourds (4”
x 4” approx.) will take up to 10 hours to complete and the large ones 10”
or more may take up to 30 or 40 hours. That makes them pretty pricey. I
do a lot of detail work whether I’m doing woodburning, painting or colored
pencil so I want to get something for my time. Any other pricing suggestions?
-- Pam |
One of the greatest hurdles to becoming a professional gourd artist is
deciding how much to charge . Pricing your own artwork is going to be a
very personal decision with a host of factors to consider. Start with the
cost of the actual materials that you will be using. If you are spending
$20 for the gourd, & materials used to create your art, then you should
charge $20 more than you want to make on the project.
There are no hard and fast rules about price per hour for art. The big,
big names could charge $100 an hour if they wanted to, and still stay happily
in business. Most of us don't have that luxury.
Before you figure out how much time your piece will take, ask yourself
what kind of wage you want to be making. The total price will be adjusted
later; this is just a starting point. I'm going to say I want $10 an hour,
because I've got more experience than a minimum wage job requires, and
ten is a nice easy number to work with. If you are just breaking into gourd
art or don't have a lot of skill, you may choose a lower number. If you
are fabulously skilled, you may feel that your time is more valuable, then
charge accordingly.
It is very difficult to come up with a price in the early stages of your
career. You may want to do some research first by looking at other gourd
artists that sell their work, either on e-bay, which is hard to sell and
get your monies worth there, or so I've been told, other gourd artists
web-sites that sell their art on-line, gourd shows, galleries, etc. etc.
You may also want to look at similar artwork to your own (size, medium,
) and then adjust your price to fit your level of expertise.
Location is everything, craft fairs tend to get the least prices, juried
art shows tend to get more. Gourd shows I'm sorry to say, usually nothing,
unless you have an exceptional piece, or are very well know. Galleries
and Museums get the higher prices, the customer attends these shows expecting
to pay more.
Finding a good middle ground will become easier as you are able to sell
your artwork; however, Remember, people want to buy quality and they
want to buy a name. Your prices should reflect your level of experience
and popularity.
Good luck, and I wish you the best. Lynette~MI.
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Anywhere from $10.00 to
$20.00 to even more an hour is not asking too much for your art. You are
describing your gourds as having a lot of detail. If this is the case,
then the person purchasing them will know this by looking and realize the
cost reflects the time involved. You also may think about putting the hours
it took to create the piece on your tag. This allows the customer to do
the math, and you will probably be surprised on how many people think it
is a deal. Also if they have not done one themselves it is difficult for
them to realize the time involved. So adding this to your tag helps.
I am sure you will probably run across a few people who shake their heads
at prices. It all depends on the person. But you will also have just as
many tell you that they are too cheap. So don't let it discourage you to
set a rate that you feel comfortable with earning, because it also depends
on yourself. Are you doing your art, for the fun or the income, or a mix
of both? A lot of artists just do their gourds to relax, and feel that
if they break even, and are allowed to purchase more tools to try new techniques,
they are content. But there are several who are doing it to make a living.
The hourly rate also really matters on where you are selling your art.
A fair, or some craft shows you will probably struggle to get paid a high
hourly rate for your work. It really depends on the community the event
is being held at. A craft show / art show, the rate can go up. At
a museum or gallery, the hourly rate may go even higher. Whatever
you decide, after you attend one to two shows, you will probably figure
this all out on your own. Most people bring a variety of priced pieces
to every show, to assure that they do not go home broke. The same thing
applies on a website. Keep a variety of priced pieces. Some people may
love your art, and want your more expensive piece but have to be content
with a smaller piece in their price range. -- Mug from MI.
| Recent Question: Why
do many of my gourds have the white interior coating in them that's so
hard to clean out? What can I do to prevent this? -- Ronda in Illinois |
After asking several people in the Gourd Patch, about the white lining
in the gourd, we pretty much decided that the growing process, drying process,
variety of gourd did not make a difference on the thick, hard to remove
white lining showing up in gourds.
So we concluded that gourds
insides are as varied as their outsides. But they did come up with some
great ideas on making it easier to clean these gourds. Please note:
everyone who wrote wanted me to remind the person who asked the question
to wear a respirator or dust mask when cleaning out the gourds, just to
be safe from the irritants of fine dust, or mold that can bother
some people.
I myself clean out most of the debri then put in small sharp edged stones,
and shake the stones around in the gourd. This does a great job sanding
the inside of the gourd. I add the stones, shake a few minutes, then empty
the stones and paper out. I repeat the process if necessary. Mug in MI
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If it is intact, I
tend to leave it just because it is so pretty. If it's torn or has
a few bare spots, I've learned to just fill the gourd with water and let
it soften the insides for several hours or overnight. Then, after
draining it, I can usually get an X-acto knife blade or other slim blade
behind a section of it and then I can just pull the whole section away
from the wall of the gourd. I go around the gourd that way and it
makes cleaning it much easier and faster, besides cutting way down on the
dust and irritants from it. Works for me and hope that it might help.
-- Iris in OK
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I've found that a Pampered
Chef grapefruit knife (it's curved and serrated) works great on those white
insides. -- Cindy in WI
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I've opened several gourds
that had the white lining. Usually, it's in patches so I have
to clean it out. But, sometimes I find one that is solid white
which happened a couple of weeks ago. I carefully removed several
layers to make it a little smoother, sealed it with JW Sealer, and
hand brushed two coats of JW Gloss varnish over it. This made
it harder. I had never done this before so didn't know what
to expect. By the way, cleaning out a gourd isn't one of my favorite
things to do either. -- Hellen in TX
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I fill them with water for
a couple days and scrap the lining out with the scrapers that Jim Widess
sells. You could make scrapers using those fine band saw blades if
you knew how to fold them and insert them in a wooden handle. Helen in
IN
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For most of my gourds I
clean them with a flap sander attached to my drill - that does a pretty
good job on the white pearl-like lining. For gourds that I need to do by
hand - for the white stuff I use a scallop sea shell. I have them
in several sizes and curves. They are easy to hold, incredibly cheap
and very sturdy. With a bit of extra effort they cut thru the white
stuff pretty well. The down side - it really scores the inside
so it does require more sanding to smooth it out. I don't mind the
extra sanding - I prefer getting the white stuff out fairly quickly and
it does do that. -- Suzanne
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I use the circular inner
lid that is used on a canning jar. The edge of it is curved under and makes
a perfect scraper, as well as it
shape being round. I use
2 sizes.. one for widemouth jars and the other for small mouth jars. Louise
in FL
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Quite a few people used
the lids to canning jars. :o)