"How long did it take you to make that?" How many of you have heard that question when doing an in-person show? In some cases, the inference is, "why are you asking so much for that when it looks so simple and probably only took you an hour to make it..." I'm guessing that those of you who make your wares from scratch, and charge accordingly, hear that question frequently. I've been working on hinge-lid copper boxes yesterday and today. They're still not done. It is a tedious process, cutting the copper for the box portion; measuring/scribing for the sides; cutting out corners; sanding where the solder will eventually go; bending the sides to form the box; matching the corners and making them air-tight (omg); soldering the corners; pickling; grinding and sanding corners; squaring up the box; sanding/steel wool inside; 3M'ing the outside - now it's ready to solder on the first part of the tube hinge. That is just half of the finished product. Next comes the lid - except for the bending of the sides, it's the same process. So as I'm doing all of this, I'm becoming slightly defensive with my internal dialog with a customer asking me, "how long....." I'm wondering what your responses are to similar questions? I'm wondering, when somebody asks you, "Why is that so expensive", what is your response? Mine is (sometimes), "30 years of experience and $10,000 worth of tools". Hah. Okay, time to move on and finish these boxes. FOCUS, Shirley, FOCUS!!! 🙃😜😵

Posted by Shirley Walle at 2022-05-30 00:05:45 UTC