The Lampshade Lady Blog

Saturday's Lampshade Workshop and Beyond

                 Here's a great group of my students from this past Saturday's workshop. Sorry Donna, you were at the ironing board and missed out in the photo. It was a little tight in my shop with 7, but I think everyone had a fun time.

A highlight for many, was wandering down to Machs, our General Store, for  lunch.  If you don't live in a rural area this general store is quite unusual. The local farmers usually hangout around the coffee pot and lunch bench. One of the store's claim to fame is it's  big hole in the floor that looks down to the river passing swiftly under the building; I gotta admit it is pretty cool, especially when the river is running so fast. It's a classic old general store and probably most of us that live here take it for granted. A little town is so, so lucky to have a meeting place where most of the town's business is taken care of! No joke.
        This was my last workshop in my shop until Oct 1 and 2. A 2 day intensive in peak foliage, Cost $275. We will get a chance to do more complex hard-back shade frames. And have a Vermont Goat Cheese w/ wine for celebrate our first day's hard work. Call or email for more info.
         I will also be on Nantucket Island for a one day workshop with The Nantucket Historical Association's 1800 House Craft Workshops on Tuesday July 20th. Contact them for more info. Take a vacation and learn a new skill. I hope to get a bike ride out to the beach!
         Also coming up Memorial Day weekend is The Vermont Open Studio Tours. This is a self guided craft tour throughout the state. I have done it on and off over the years and decided to get involved again. Our area has organized a local group called Artisans of Southern Vermont to help market our area. We have a very talented group, although I must say Vermont is lucky to have so many incredibly talented artisans. I also just started a twitter page for us, check it out. Our twitter name is, ArtisansOfSoVt  Hope you will follow us and see our virtual tour! And even better, put in on our calendar for a trip to Vermont. My shop is always open but many of these artisans only open their studios once a year.
         Lastly, My friend, Angela Miller of Consider Bardwell Farm has just released a new book called Hay Fever, How Chasing a Dream on a Vermont Farm Changed My Life .You may have seen Angela's farm was featured in the November Martha Stewart Magazine and on Martha Radio last Thursday. She will be at The Northshire Bookstore on April 30th in Manchester, Vermont. I will put more up next post. Gotta get back to work. Good luck Angela and Russell.

xoxo,
judy

Are You Ready to hit the Flea Markets????

                       Flea Market season is just around the corner. I just mailed in the balance for my Brimfield Booth today. Yipee, As it is said, "it's a good thing". I've only sold at Brimfield once and it sure was a fun time. I hear May is even better, great weather and everyone is so happy to be outside and looking for great finds. It takes a fair amount of organization to be ready for any event. (The best thing I brought with me was my electric tea pot, saved the day.)  The first of the year is the hardest, gathering all the STUFF you need. The pile starts to build, inventory starts to grow, booth plans start to come together. I used to be on the the road every weekend..... in my early years of my business. It's much more fun now that I only do it once in a while.

                                             photos:Bouret

Yes, It's a flea market economy! Don't you think!

It feels like it. Everyone wants a deal and expects one, too. 

Brimfield starts May 11th, put it on your calendar.

Don't forget to check out my interview with Crafternews blog. Lampshades are slowly making a come back. Gosh, there are times I wish I had a bigger niche like quilting or knitting. But other times it's a fun challenge trying to spread the gospel of great lampshades.... We've got a full workshop on Saturday, my shop is pretty tiny and 8 students is a bit tight and sorry to those on the wait list. There's always the Nantucket workshop on July 20th with Nantucket Historical Association's 1800 House Craft Workshops.

On Pricing our Work or perhaps, did we make a profit?

         Pricing our craft/art work...this is a question I have been asked lately.
        Is lampshade making a profitable business? another question asked.

            These are 2 questions I have been answering lately. My answer is never quite clear and most likely usually sort of vague. There are so many variables to both these questions. I have found pricing to be on of the hardest of all questions in my early years.
            WHEN do we get the confidence to charge the price we should really get for our work??? It took me years to have the courage to really get the $$$ for my lampshades. Really, YEARS... Granted, I live in a rural area, but that said, it is an area with relative wealth in nearby towns. Always a good thing...my early years I made many a trek down to the gold coast in Conn.
            Money was loose and the wives we all too happy to spend and spend to deck their homes. I always remember a particular customer at one show; I had to tell her she'd bought enough.... can you imagine... I must have been stupid. But it was the time of great excess and 13 lampshades was enough.... I love my Conn. customers; they were my perfect customer demographics and many had 2nd homes in Vermont. The good part was that they thought my prices were CHEAP... and my Vermont customers thought my prices were expensive. But all in all I thought the prices were fair.
                               HOW DO I PRICE MY WORK????  or yours   ???
           I consider the price of my materials + my time (free, not...anymore) + expenses= lampshade
When I find my choice vintage fabrics I need to consider if I am able to make a profit. I know.... that IS the point, but at times I don't. Once in a blue moon I find a fabric or embroidery that is dynamite and damn expensive, but being the fabric lover I HAVE TO BUY IT.  Sometimes it's more than a blue moon, but what the heck: it was pure joy to work with. Think of it, would you rather work with some cruddy fabric from the chain fabric store down at the mall or a beautiful piece of linen or vintage fabric.
        I'm just thinking of the red, white and blue stars fabric.... gives me goose bumps to think of the terrible quality and needless to say terrible job on my part. I didn't laminate well, looked all too patriotic. Lets see, where am I going here. I guess what I am trying to say is that we all work harder on things we love. In my business I strive to  go BEYOND just good. I usually try for that place just over the top. Why would I make lampshades that you could buy in a lighting store. I can't compete price wise with China or India. SO, do something they DO NOT DO and do it BETTER. Somewhat brilliantly I figured this out very early in my lampshade making. I worked in The Store in Waitsfield, VT. My boss, friend and owner of the shop,Jackie Rose always said if she had unique products that were hard to find and really special, customers would buy them no matter what the cost; if the LOVED them, they HAD to have them. This was pretty valuable advise for a 21 year old, just college graduate that had no idea where the heck she was headed, BUT I heard it and remembered it.
          This brings me back to pricing and GOOD or GREAT DESIGN. Are we designing something super great or just so so. Yes, sometimes I hit so so, but I shoot for GREAT.... and the GREAT work can be priced accordingly. Not sure this was helpful, but I think you get my drift.
          The question of profit. I'm sure my successful businessman dad is squirming in his seat now, but even he knows there are LOST Leaders...is that the word? I think so. I think of a few things in my shop that are over the top awesome and are just about break even on profit. When I find fabrics I need to consider how many shades can be made out of the piece of fabric. Usually vintage fabric is found in odd lots, maybe a small piece 24" x 30", not too big, but maybe I can make 3 small shades out of it. Sometimes I'll find a whole vintage curtain panel, that can be a better deal. My other favorites are a vintage crewel piece, I will have to round up other fabrics to match or also vintage needlepoints. Vintage Needlepoints are relatively expensive to buy... so I need to make a shade that is more expensive, ie a more complex frame that will garner a higher price.My other favorites are vintage French fabrics are usually small, choice cotton treasures.
            Today I was on a designing roll, which is my MOST favorite kind of day. I'd pulled a bunch of fabrics and embroideries off the shelf a few days ago; they were to be my next projects. It is fun to design. I love to design, if everyday could be a designing day, I'd be happy as a clam. My day flew by... FAST, FAST. I was steaming along, making great shades.... a very good day. I probably put 4-5 shades together today and finished a few of them and prepped a few more,  5 pm arrived before I knew it. So basically today was a profitable day or at least if I sell all the great stuff I made today. And I think everything I made today will sell in the next month or 2.
           Both of these 2 issues are ones that  all creative people need to grapple with. With time and practice we find our target audience and what the market will bare. The times we are currently living in make us all try a little harder to please our customers and make the sale.

P.S. May you find that customer that you need to tell her that she has bought enough!!! and I hope I find her again....
xoxo,
judy

Labels: Finding our Niche, Pricing our Art/Craft Work

Thanks so much to Potter Craft and Crafter News

A big huge hug of appreciation to Potter Craft and Crafternews


        I was featured in The April issue of Crafternews, the newish blog for Potter Craft and Watson Guptil. Check out their blog for all things fresh and crafty. 
         I'm just back from a week away. All geared up and rested to jump back into  a busy spring. I have loved this early spring here in Vermont. Lettuce, arugula, and cilantro seeds have sprouted. Early lettuce starts survived my trip away and flowers are coming up fast and furious. 
         Isn't the time of year that you just don't know what direction to turn. Okay, I'll rake for a bit, then run around to pull a few weeds, and then start painting the windows, then a little hula hoop, ...... pure joy of spring. I wish it would always be spring. Now it's time to focus back to my business and tidy up the shop and dig in for some fresh new lampshades and filling orders. 
       The April 17 workshop is full up! And reservations are coming in for the 2 day workshop Oct. 1 and 2. 
         The best thing of my first day back is to change my OPEN sign. I have one of the rainbow ones and have never liked it... so I cut off the rainbow part... kept the OPEN part and glued on turquoise pom poms. Yipee, now it's very cool and the ugly rainbow part gone for good. Good design wins the day. 
now its time to get moving and hit the ironing board and start in after a week away and make good stuff.
          Check out the Potter Craft blog and make a nice comment to them
           And the last note, my son Duncan (proud mom) is headed to Sweden today to take part in the JOSS Supersessions in Are, Sweden. I am very proud of Dunc. He was invited to take part in the great event way up there in Northern Sweden. It is a pretty wild event with freeski teams from many countries. They'll be filming their team's skiing for the week and ending up with a 5 minute film. A great opportunity for a talented group of skiers and videographers.
go for it Dunc! 


okay, now it's back to work
xoxo,
judy