This whole self-employed artist bit has me in a bit of a spin as I learn the ropes and try to keep myself together while maintaining an Internet presence and keep on stitching! So many details and so much to keep track of - whew! Sometimes it's good to take a moment and take stock, so let's do some of that!
News:
In hot Nimble & Quick news, we are pleased to announce the first Nimble & Quick Threadcraft exhibition - it'll be a part of a group show in June entitled "Sew Nerdy" taking place in the Palm Beach, Florida area! Exciting, exciting, exciting! Keep a weather eye out for new nerdy designs!
What's Happening:
Speaking of nerds, here's the hottest piece off the hoop from the workshop!
In a 5" frame, this little beauty is composed mainly of hundreds of colonial knots surrounded by a whipped stem stitch in purple and pink - the colors of the original Nerds candy. While one might expect that I'd submit this for the "Sew Nerdy" show, I don't know yet - I had this piece in the works before the invite ever came! Serendipity, I guess.
In other news, I've been involved in a couple of stitching swaps and am having a riotously good time! In the first, folks over at the
Phat Quarter at Flickr are in the midst of a Spring-themed Fifth Friday Swap. Inspired by Easter, here's the design my swap partner received:
A fusion of traditional themes and zombie culture, this lovely piece (a Nimble & Quick original) was stitched in two- and three-strand floss in stem and outline stitching.
I'm also involved in another stitchy swap with a circle of stitchy friends including the always irrepressible Bascom Hogue, for whom I stitched a Facebook profile photo:
It's my first attempt at portraiture, two-strand antique yellow floss on green linen, outline, stem, long & short, and back stitching. I consider this some of my best work to date.
Also, for myself, I did a little stitching of my very own on a thrifted Dickies workshirt:
I've been asked about the font on this one - it's my very own handwriting! You'll be seeing more of it, methinks!
Stitching has been happening, I've not been very good about updating - but as you can see, Nimble & Quick can handle pop art designs, portrait work, traditional stitchery, and we can do custom embroidered customizing at reasonable prices! Email nqthreadcraft@gmail.com for details.
How I Price It:
Like all folk who create with their hands and sell the fruits of that labor to the public, I struggle with how to price my work. You can see the entire gamut of pricing for stitchery out there in the world, so how does one decide where the price point falls? The struggle is finding a balance between offering the work at a reasonable price without opening yourself up the possibility of becoming an underage Nike sweatshop worker in Asia. So I price based on what I think my time stitching is worth and this is how it works:
I price my work at roughly $10 per hour for production time, some pieces less. You pay me for my
stitching time only. Because I do derive some benefit personally from the work itself and I understand that the economy is in the crapper and we all have money issues, I only charge for my actual time putting needle through thread. You don't pay for concept time, design, layout, stenciling, transfers, material gathering, ironing, washing, prepping, finishing, or mounting. Those take time too, but those are my gift to the customer because I love the work and I hope you do too.
Is it worth it?
In our 21st century world of high tech and mass production, it does my heart good to see a movement back to things that are handmade. When you buy a piece of stitching, you're buying a work of love. Another human being held that item in their hands for hours, days, weeks sometimes, patiently thinking of where to put the next stitch, conceiving the final picture, struggling to give life to the concept in their mind struggling to get free. Not only that, you're buying an heirloom. Chances are with a little care and forethought, a stitch piece will still be around when it's time for you to give your stuff to your grandkids. I doubt we can say the same about our smartphones, tablets, laptops, or big screen TVs. I've seen centuries-old stitching on Antiques Roadshow but I've yet to see even a transistor radio yet.
Give the gift of love, handicraft, and
history. Give a stitch and buy some stitching - you'll be glad you did!
Until next we meet - keep your needles sharp and Happy Stitching!
