How to price your work

This picture shows a decision being made. We make beautiful (we think) jugs – people buy them regularly for milk or for flowers, as gifts or for themselves. We are still making them, but have had to decide not to sell them anymore in shops and galleries. We think the commission taken by owners is fair and reasonable, given the work they do in advertising, connecting with customers, displaying our work so beautifully.

However, if we sell our jugs at £45, and receive only £25 – £30, it’s not enough to cover our time, materials, firings, postage or delivery. It’s sad though as we love making and selling them, and you love to buy them.

So, this image reflects a decision. The extra work taking a piece from a vase to a jug – creating and adding a handle, cutting and inserting a spout, drying carefully to void warping or a crack in the handle, ensuring everything lines up and will pour straight (we know how important this is). So, how about we make some special little vases instead, the same shape as the jug? Still with the seatree poetry and imagery, but at a price we can afford to sell in galleries.

Stay tuned to see the finished pieces.

The way we work out pricing is by using the Scottish Artist Union artists rates, currently £42 an hour. A jug will take around half an hour to make and finish well, £21, another ten minutes of glazing, £7, a small amount for clay and glaze, say £2, a contribution towards firing, maybe £2 per jug, say £3 towards posting to a gallery. These are rough estimates, not with my notebook to hand, but gives you an idea, a rough total of £35!