Whether in my booth at an art show or as a comment left on social media, I'm frequently asked, "How long does it take you to make one of these pieces". I don't know. I've never really known and can't even figure out how to calculate the time spent. There really isn't a good answer.
One of the problems for adding up hours is the fact that there's plenty of prep work for this series. I buy polyester stretch velvet from local fabric stores and two different on-line shops in NYC's fashion district. Every time I get new yardage, I iron Wonder Under to the reverse side. Sometimes this takes a whole day (at least when a box comes from Spandex World! I generally order at least ten different yards!) Another problem is the fact that I'll prepare several "bases" of synthetic felt at one time. The felt is recycled packaging material that once protected a kayak or canoe being shipped to my friend's outdoor store. If I'm going to cut up one "boat", I'll cut it up into lots of bases ... some for Lunette Window and others for large or small "Stained Glass" pieces or for three sizes in my "In Box" series. Basically, I'll cut up the entire "boat". Some times this takes two hours or more. How can I add the prep time to the individual piece?
Finally, there's another problem. I am rarely ever working on just one piece. After all, these polyester stretch velvet shapes are all hand-cut. If I cut up a blue square that is too small of one piece, it is likely perfect on another piece. So ... I have more than one going at a time. This makes it impossible to know how much time is spent on any one piece. I don't know how long this Lunette took to make ... because it was in progress along with the once finished last week. I do know, however, that I'm really pleased with how both of them turned out!
1 comment:
Beautiful! I'm wondering if the next question to you get is "Then, how do you price your work?"
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