2.5 times square inch = asking price studio: Ok, this means that the artist is taking the measure of her 2d works, length & height, multiplying those two numbers together, then multiplying that end number by a FACTOR OF 2.5…

15 paintings at 36×36= 1296 sq in. per year: Ok, this number is around how many 2d works of art this artist is making, & what size they are around…Ballpark…Total square inches of 2d works of art per year (1296 square inches times 15 of them) is 19,440 square inches of work per year about…

3240 x 15 = 48,600.00: This number is how much the artist is selling/asking for each of those 15 works of art…So each work is about $3,240.00, times that by 15 & you get about $48,600.00 earnings per year…

Comment: The key to that normal sort of earnings figure is that this artist is selling directly from the studio…That means that the entire 50 thousand dollars goes back to the artist…

Now, I did not factor in costs…Costs might throw a skew into the earnings number…if costs are half of asking price, that means that $1,620.00 of each 2d work is cost…Which means that earnings, or profit earnings drop to half as well, which means the artist is only really earning like 25 grand a year in profit…

That’s probably a more normal number…

Now if costs are less than half of asking, then profits would be more…

Say costs are one third of asking…Say costs at 1/3 of asking are $16,200.00…? Then profit would be $ 32,400.00 ? Better…

or maybe, I should use the artist’s mark-up of 2.5 times as an indicator of costs…

If costs are total gross divided by 2.5 then costs would be…$19,440.00…Then profit would be…$29,160.00 …

If costs are asking price divided by a factor of 2.5, then per 2d work, costs are $3,240.00 minus $1,296.00 ($3,240 .00 divided by 2.5)= $1,944.00 then is profit per 2d work…

So we are back to basically saying that your costs per work of art, are in fact, length times height…(In 2d works)…

Now how does that work with 3 dimensional works of art?

I have seen sculptors use weight as a guide…10% of weight is the price…So something that weighs 60 pounds might be 600 dollars…In this particular case what I have seen is sculptors inflating the weight of the sculpture so that they can justify increased price ask…Like a fish story the weight seems to increase over time…

*If my Dragonfly sculpture is 44 inches long by 30 inches wide, then, 44×30= $1,320.00 (ignoring the depth)…

if I use the other artist’s from the studio formula, then I might say that my costs to build were that, $1,320.00 …

using the 2.5 factor as a ballpark, I’d multiply $1,320 by 2.5= $3,300.00 asking price…

Hey, that’s not bad…I could use that…

The only problem is, is that in Canada, in the current poor market, it won’t sell…Not at that price…

Why not?

*because artists here are competing with art from many other countries that are coming in at very low prices due to poor working conditions, slave labour, child labour, work camps & other violations of Canadian labour laws, Health & Safety laws, & other factors such as illegal length working hours combined with lower than legal minimum wage paid…

So what do artist in Canada do?

Well, there needs to be some foreign import laws in Canada that say we will not allow into our country goods that were made by illegal working habits…or something like that…

Until that happens, artists in Canada won’t be able to sell their works of art at fair prices…

Well, maybe we could stick a Fair Trade sticker on our works of art here, that says this work of art was made using domestic Fair Trade policies…That might distinguish our legally made goods from illegally made imports or domestic products…?

 Now this Spare Hand project measure about 11 inches by 9 inches…finished…So let’s try the formula…

11×9=99 dollars…

99 times 2.5 equals…$247.50

That might be a reasonable asking price…

Now how much might someone actually pay for it in Canada right now, 2013, February 19th?

I’m guessing that a Canadian today might look at the materials, & just want to pay the cost of the materials…

Like 10% of the reasonable price…

So they might want to pay $24.75 per piece…Cost of nuts, bolts, screws, Plasti-Dip black rubber, clear tube, & glove…

They’d figure that if this thing was mass produced it could theoretically be made for that cheap…Just materials costs…

Which is why so many Canadians are buying Chinese products…They are mass produced & priced just on material costs…

How can a Canadian artist compete?

Not possible…Laws about imports have to be changed in Canada…Without restrictions on works of art made & sold that avoid Fair Trade policies, Canadian artist cannot compete on price…

I guess you can compete by providing literature as to why your art costs more…That might help…

Does anyone else have any comments or suggestions? Feel free to post…

http://www.moo.com/share/r5n8kb Hi, I just ordered some MOO business cards today…They gave me this link…if you click on this link & order something from MOO, you get 10% off your order & I get some money too to my Moo account, I am not sure how much…Anyways…I put the link here so that you can get 10% off your Moo order…I don’t think I will get rich if you do order from them from that link, but hey, every little bit counts doesn’t it? Sari (p.s. I am not vouching for the Moo product necessarily…I haven’t received my cards yet…I will update when I take a look at them…Be forewarned!

here’s the raccoon project, I am still, ridiculously, applying different colours of moss & grass (sponge & hair, not real moss & grass, though still natural items)…The problem is that I have to apply it with gravity- each colour has to be applied while the raccoon is in a certain position, so the moss doesn’t fall off because it is on a vertical slope…So I lay it on its side & apply some glue & moss…Have to let that dry for a few days…Go back & turn the raccoon onto another side…More moss or grass…Few more days…I have to wear a respirator, hoodie, & glasses & gloves while working…Just for a few little touch-ups…I can’t do the work all at one time because the glue has to set or it will all fall off while I turn it another way…This is making for very frustrating work…So I’ve been thinking about pricing…Say this sculpture is similar in inches square to maybe a 3 foot by 4 foot painting of mine…Around, not exactly…A 3×4 ft is 36 times 48 equals $1,728.00 …Ok, using the other artist’s formula, let’s multiply that by 2.5…Ok, so we get $4,320.00…That would be a “normal” asking price from the studio…My cost might be the original $1,728.00 …Now how much would a Canadian actually pay if they saw the asking price is $4,320.00 …Well, in my experience, Canadians will offer a lowball 10% of anything that is asked…Just to see if they will get it…Yes, they lowball at 10%…That is how “not-liquid” they are…So, I might say that a Canadian might like to pay a lowball price like something like $432.00 …Yes…That is the art market here…Even more ridiculous than me putting on tiny bits of moss & grass on the sculpture for months at a time…That is also why they are going to foreign countries & returning home with inexpensive sculptures…Way cheaper…