Recently I was invited to display my quilts that are for sale in conjunction with a high end furniture gallery. I am very honored, but it has led to an unexpected flurry of activity. Putting labels on everything, making sure they have sleeves on the back, where did I put those quilted pillows?, pricing...........PRICING!!!...How do you objectively put a price on your artwork? You can't figure it by the hour or the cost of the materials...how do you know what the market will bear...do you haggle or stay firm...do you use others work as a guide (hard to find someone that does the same things you do)?...when you allow for commission, the prices sound so unreasonable, yet what is the alternative?
Here's where I finally went with all this. I decided what it would take to part with each piece. The more important they are to me, the more someone must pay to get it from me. This seems logical to me as my better pieces are definitely my favorite ones and there comes a point where you just need to clean out your closet. I am also finding it very freeing....like letting some of them go gives me permission to create new and DIFFERENT pieces.
I am currently experimenting with fusibles. It is a new concept for me as I still tend to think BIG, as in each piece needs to fit a bed or have some similar function, and learning to make pieces that are 24" square and smaller is harder than it looks. Learning to simplify, changing the way I quilt (free form quilting is ANOTHER huge subject), being able to make more than one piece per year all are new to me. Big pieces are hard not just because of their size, it is the ennui that happens in the middle and the discipline of pushing through it to get to the end that I find the most difficult. It gets tough to keep your mind focused and not wander off into something new and exciting, so the smaller projects are definitely singing their siren song to me. At the same time, I love to doodle with my french curves and paper cuts to create plain wholecloth quilts. There is a quiet there where the simple complexity of curves and swirls without background clutter are exactly what I need. Cup of tea, some classical music and the not so quiet hum of my sewing machine calms my jangling nerves.
PIECE
Here's where I finally went with all this. I decided what it would take to part with each piece. The more important they are to me, the more someone must pay to get it from me. This seems logical to me as my better pieces are definitely my favorite ones and there comes a point where you just need to clean out your closet. I am also finding it very freeing....like letting some of them go gives me permission to create new and DIFFERENT pieces.
I am currently experimenting with fusibles. It is a new concept for me as I still tend to think BIG, as in each piece needs to fit a bed or have some similar function, and learning to make pieces that are 24" square and smaller is harder than it looks. Learning to simplify, changing the way I quilt (free form quilting is ANOTHER huge subject), being able to make more than one piece per year all are new to me. Big pieces are hard not just because of their size, it is the ennui that happens in the middle and the discipline of pushing through it to get to the end that I find the most difficult. It gets tough to keep your mind focused and not wander off into something new and exciting, so the smaller projects are definitely singing their siren song to me. At the same time, I love to doodle with my french curves and paper cuts to create plain wholecloth quilts. There is a quiet there where the simple complexity of curves and swirls without background clutter are exactly what I need. Cup of tea, some classical music and the not so quiet hum of my sewing machine calms my jangling nerves.
PIECE
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