We have thoughts on things

The Cost of Making Art for a Living: Part 1

From Brenna Chase

August 2023

Among all of the challenges related to running a sustainable small business, I find pricing to be one of the most difficult domains. It is only getting harder in these times of economic uncertainty and never-ending inflation. And as an artisan marketing and selling my artwork as the commodity, there are various added layers of difficulties and grey areas in terms of pricing. And because I'm selling what I create, it's personal! I've vented and commiserated with my Hinterland womxn and other artist and artisan peers on this very topic. This is not just an issue of "how much did our time and materials cost to make this".  Many of us struggle with the larger question of just how much our time and skills *are* worth to people, and the discrepancy between this figure and how much people interested in our work will actually agree to pay is often vast.

As a stained glass and gold leaf artist, I have very few examples of comparable work or "competition" to others in my niche fields. This works in my favor in many ways, of course, but not when it comes to pricing. There are online resources like this pricing guide, but they are generalized to types of art that don't really apply to me. Found, antique stained glass windows vary in cost depending on their age, rarity, condition, and context of who is selling them and where - you might find a similar farmhouse style panel you see for several hundred dollars at an upscale interior design priced at a garage sale for twenty bucks. But when it comes to new, custom commissions of original designs built from scratch to custom specification, there's got to be more of a formula to the pricing that properly compensates the original artisan. 

Each stained glass studio and glassworker has their own, often complex formula, and there is no standard pricing across the board. These formulas and prices are not posted on the internet, as a) estimates must be sourced directly from each studio or individual artisan as no two projects are alike - think of contractor work - and the scope is all circumstantial b) prices shift over time depending on material cost inflation and demand and c) generally, long-established stained glass studio websites (and online forums) can be outdated and sparse at best. Gold leaf pricing also remains a complex matter of infinite combinations of circumstances and is also up to the discretion of each gilding studio and artisan. Again, the absence of comparative data in these old world arts is both an advantage and a challenge to contemporary artisans looking to price their work at fair and competitive rates that will turn a sustainable profit.

The modern-day concept of anyone's ability to sell their work online adds another layer of complication, especially when it comes to smaller glasswork that takes several hours to make as opposed to several weeks' time for a window. The internet has expanded the niche art of stained glass to hundreds of creators and millions of observers. I love that people anywhere in the world can now appreciate glasswork and learn some of the longstanding methods of how to make it via their computer or phone - emphasis on the "some" due to misleading teachings and information I've seen go viral because they look cool even though they're outright wrong. Anyone is also now able to order stained glass, tools and supplies and try their hand at creating copper foil or leaded stained glass work of their own, even if they can't find an instructional class or supplier nearby. This is all wonderful, and I love to see people of all ages and backgrounds exposed to this old-world art form that I actually flew across the country and invested in to learn, then spent years working in another studio and on my own to perfect!

There's several steps these internet hobbyists miss compared to learning the correct way to make stained glass work on-site as an apprentice involving structure, longevity, and safety, but that's a blog post for another time. WIth hobbyists marketing and selling their goods online at low prices as a side business to move product, acquire followers and likes, and get their work out there, their listed prices break even with their monetary investment in this pricey craft at best. The market for these types of creations, then, is quite skewed.

No one is to blame. Everyone should follow their passion and get their work out there however they desire! And please do not take my frustration as condescension. If glass art and craftspersonship were not my business, I wouldn't think or know about any of these details in my everyday life. But it comes down to reality: why would someone searching for a small glass panel or suncatcher online be willing to pay full price for my original, professionally-made glasswork when there are pre-made, handcrafted pieces that can be easily found for half the price?

Glasswork takes a maddening amount of time and there is no way around this. Either I can price my pieces competitively to match what sells the most on sites like Etsy and hope to get back only the cost I paid for the glass and solder, which means my business never turns a profit, or I can fairly and accurately price my smaller pieces based on the hours I spent creating them as well as the cost of my materials and hope that someday, people who are willing to pay over a hundred dollars for a small copper foil flower will do so. Neither of these options is viable when my art is my business and my source of income.

With years of hands-on experience in both stained glass and gold leaf, working at long-established studios, and talking to other artisans I've met along the way, I have developed and committed to my own general formulas. New stained glass panels are based on square footage and amount of pieces in a design, gilded and hand-painted signage is priced by quantity of numbers or letters and style elements, and architectural gilding can be priced by square footage or time, each with materials either built into the cost or added as an additional charge. For suncatchers, I've chosen a middle ground between those two previously-mentioned crummy options and price items based on an intentionally minimalist design, an unreasonably low hourly rate (think: less than minimum wage) and materials. The suncatchers are not much of a source of income in and of themselves, sadly, due to the uneven competition, so I consider them more of a marketing tool than a product, and from a business perspective, I do not know how anyone can turn a profit from strictly selling suncatchers. My formulas allow some prices to be more justifiable of my time than others, with the reasoning [hope] that these instances will offset those that are not.

The formulas I've arrived at, while helpful, still can only be applied to the most standardized projects. The more complex projects remain somewhat of an enigma - all the varied, irregular commissions and ideas people reach out to me about, and especially the glass and gilded installations I create for my own artistic endeavors outside of commission work. I have yet to even mention the time it takes to create proposals, maintain ongoing conversations and countless emails concerning questions, measurements, alterations, approvals, and logistics that take place before even settling on a design, and the hours of brainstorming, sketching and eventually drawing out designs before I can begin my physical work. I do my best to account for this time in my labor cost, but usually end up having to undercut myself. If I price all of my work exactly according to my time and skills, the cost is often so exorbitant, I have to curb it in order for customers to be able to consider buying it, so I am undervaluing my own work for the sake of selling it. I know so many of my artist and artisan peers understand this, and it's a tough, frustrating spot to be in when we are dedicated to creating to make a living.

Acquiring hands-on experience with both stained glass and gold leaf and building a local network, client base and following over time have all made pricing less difficult, but I don't think I'll ever be able to say it is easy. Please accept this as a small glimpse into the never-ending obstacles of running a small, intentional business. If this creative world is foreign to you, let this be a humble request to consider the immeasurable time and skill an artist has put into their work before you question the price. You do not have to buy it and you are in no way expected to afford it! Just think about it.

From Strangers to Familiar Faces:

Navigating Change and Building Community in a New Place

from Nyamka Ayinde

April 2023

Moving from the east coast to the west coast is an inherently dramatic change. You pack up your home, your possessions, and everything you've known for years and move into a place that is entirely new (physically and mentally). New landscapes, new culture, new people, new relationships... a new you? Sometimes we forget to go with it willingly. Other times we find it thrust upon us before we can say goodbye. What does this mean for me? How am I supposed to balance both states of being for so long: the person I left behind in NJ/NY as well as the person trying to exist in California…the person I know and the person I want to be?

The thing about change is that we know it's coming. We can see the signs and often try to stop it. It's the fear of the unknown that scares us, but in a way, that's a blessing. We can prepare, we can try to mitigate the effects by starting off with small steps and little action plans. In my case I tried to stay connected to Hinterland NY and the people I loved there; I was involved in the Kingston Design Show House and tried to maintain my participation, yet that proved to be challenging. However, I am incredibly proud of Hinterland NY and how hard they worked on maintaining my involvement with this project .

But still it's hard, especially when you live in different states, thousands of miles apart from each other. So to that I say goodbye for now.

I will be watching Hinterland NY from the sidelines, working on my fall fashion debut for Ny's Closet—offering outerwear and accessories for the fashionista in all of us.

To the ladies of Hinterland NY: as you continue to do and create amazing works of art, fragrances—and experiences! Remember my words in my voice at times when you need some serious cheering up. "You...Are...Fucking...AMAZING!!!!"

- Yours Truly, Nyamka

Adaptation as Growth, from Babs Mansfield

February 2023

In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Alice changes sizes a dozen times. I was told by a college English teacher, a guy that actually wore jackets with leather patches on the elbows, that Alice’s size changing symbolized the “uncomfortable” nature of puberty. I read Adventures in Wonderland way before puberty because my mom told me it was too advanced for me.  I like a challenge. Alice is a girl adapting—not the girl that doesn’t fit, as Patches offered. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Prof.

Last year wasn’t what I planned.

I opened Phoenicia Soap Makers Space in Mt. Tremper, NY in May of 2022. Jenn transformed a cold, gray box of a space into an inviting and unique place for events and classes. I was excited about hosting parties amid the shiny copper stills and aromatic plants. I was thrilled at the opportunity to have more personal interactions. But, the general public tip-toed around that.  Rather than big parties, mostly couples dropped in for classes. Rather than in-person sales, folks kept finding me online. I think it was a sort of Covid hangover. 

But, in many ways, 2022 was so much more fulfilling than I could have planned. My Hinterland sisters inspired me and strengthened my creative reflexes. Like so many of our Hinterland Creative Intension Setting sessions, I was reminded not to waste time trying to feed achievement. That’s a chase to more of the same. Sometimes you get the results you planned. Sometimes things are different than you thought they’d be. Feed the source—that juicy well of inspiration that enables you to create when things don’t turn out as expected, that underground spring that opens you to collaboration when isolation had you spinning wheels, that long drink that leads to “what if…" 

I’m adapting, this time I’m shrinking, refining to fit a BIG move. I’ll be opening Phoenicia Soap Makers Space at Hinterland! How perfect is that?

So, come make soap, bath bombs, and other goodies with us, come get your fave smell-goods and partake of the feel-goods at the center of my creative universe. I’ll be closing the Mt. Tremper space on March 15, 2023 and plan to open at Hinterland April 2023. 

May 6, 2022

Wild leeks of the Catskills appear by mid April, and hang around for about a month. Ramps, as they’re lovingly called by those of us who are obsessed, are in the allium family. They taste like if an onion and a head of garlic had a baby, and as a result the most luxe green and silky leaves emerge from well-irrigated forest floors. One moment they’re here, the next they’re not. You want to take advantage while you can, but ensure you aren’t burning out the patch. It feels like an important metaphor/reminder as the next season is in view.

After a winter of hibernation, ritual morning teas in front of the wood stove, and near-constant abstract planning for “the season”, this May feels like the release of tension. For me, ramps are my much-needed reminder that spring is in fact here (even when it might still be snowing), and that summer is just a few moments away. Possessing the same sense of urgency of many event planners and seasonal workers, this month is a formidable transition time from planning to execution. 

In every aspect of my work, I find a seasonal rhythm that leaves me questioning my sanity come April. Disbelief sets in as meetings pile up and my analog paper calendar begins to look schizophrenic. Who is the overachiever booking up all my time? I need to have a word with her. But there is something that happens in the first week of May. Perhaps it’s the spring cleaning of my brain, to recenter and remind myself why I love cooking, event curation, farmers markets. May brings about this sense that my quest to build community is actually working, and that new friendships and collaborations that weren’t present last year are wildly fun and productive in the present. I’ve officially arrived at this point, today, and it feels good. 

Across the Hinterland community, our visions are coming into focus. Collaborative projects, events, and partnerships are unfolding in the most delicious ways. We have a stacked calendar live on our website, and we are in full execution mode. So – spring, ramps, seasonal shifts – it all has a purpose, and we can’t rush it. But the wild leek reminds us, the annual rhythm does happen every year.