Post by engineerone on Aug 25, 2008 20:41:18 GMT
spent the afternoon at stonor park near henley. the house looks worth the visit, but spent the time at the craft fair.
5.60 to get in so not too expensive, but gives you an idea of the kind of audience it might attract, and near to henley, marlow, high wycombe and reading, so allowing for the joys of the credit crunch, a reasonably affluent society, and audience.
saw about four cabinet type makers, including two who are "bespoke" makers. one of whom makes a lot of stuff at this time, for churches.
anyway to the point of seeing what is made and at what kind of rate it can be sold.
had a chat with martin stephenson who lives near barnstaple. his target market is interesting, those who want to have something that is not quite factory made, but not totally handmade. he had a couple of nice smallish tables, which were around 300 quid. oak, ash, and elm are the woods he specialises in. he admits to making the tables as batches and uses dominos and biscuits rather than hand m/t's and with the finish he achieves it is difficult for "normal" people to see it is not hand made in toto. but i do not think that he makes a "profit" of more than about 50 quid per table. martin also makes boxes, and wooden statues. the statutes sell for about 100 quid, and are also wood.
in another corner, there was a group that are in the bespoke business and made a 600 x600 approx table which they retailed for 250, but with a drawer they wanted another 150 mind boggles.
there were a couple of people selling turnings many of those under 20 quid, and a guy selling cd storage towers these were the square of a cd package with the plastic inserts, and about 400 to 600 high. in oak they were allegedly retailing at 119 and selling at the show for 89 quid. doubles were about 189 and at the show about 139 quid. didn't see lots of them leaving the premises.
then there were a couple of people making some green furniture and turnings. one youngish guy, had a nice john brown like chair which he hoped to sell at around 900 quid. seemed to me a decent price for the product.
another guy was selling garden chairs which were based on the american idea of having gliders. these were actually using the armrests to hang chains from and the actual seat kind of rocks. nice idea.
also there was a guy who makes for instance a wooden motorcycle which is a rocker that sells for around 200 -300 quid depending on the spec. not sure how he makes a profit.
so my feeling is that many of these people only survive because they are semi retired, and have a guaranteed income which then allows them to go into this add on.
the "full time" makers seem to have a decent but not extravagant lifestyle, and have to spend many weekends during the year travelling great distances and staying overnight (maybe in their vw campers ;D) and then dealing with the general public
so although it is possible to make a living, it is quite hard work, and will take at least 2 years i think to start making money at.
what was interesting though was the number of sort of paintings i saw going out of the grounds, and none of them were cheap.
so maybe becoming a painter is better ;D
still an interesting day out, and some nice food to try.
paul
5.60 to get in so not too expensive, but gives you an idea of the kind of audience it might attract, and near to henley, marlow, high wycombe and reading, so allowing for the joys of the credit crunch, a reasonably affluent society, and audience.
saw about four cabinet type makers, including two who are "bespoke" makers. one of whom makes a lot of stuff at this time, for churches.
anyway to the point of seeing what is made and at what kind of rate it can be sold.
had a chat with martin stephenson who lives near barnstaple. his target market is interesting, those who want to have something that is not quite factory made, but not totally handmade. he had a couple of nice smallish tables, which were around 300 quid. oak, ash, and elm are the woods he specialises in. he admits to making the tables as batches and uses dominos and biscuits rather than hand m/t's and with the finish he achieves it is difficult for "normal" people to see it is not hand made in toto. but i do not think that he makes a "profit" of more than about 50 quid per table. martin also makes boxes, and wooden statues. the statutes sell for about 100 quid, and are also wood.
in another corner, there was a group that are in the bespoke business and made a 600 x600 approx table which they retailed for 250, but with a drawer they wanted another 150 mind boggles.
there were a couple of people selling turnings many of those under 20 quid, and a guy selling cd storage towers these were the square of a cd package with the plastic inserts, and about 400 to 600 high. in oak they were allegedly retailing at 119 and selling at the show for 89 quid. doubles were about 189 and at the show about 139 quid. didn't see lots of them leaving the premises.
then there were a couple of people making some green furniture and turnings. one youngish guy, had a nice john brown like chair which he hoped to sell at around 900 quid. seemed to me a decent price for the product.
another guy was selling garden chairs which were based on the american idea of having gliders. these were actually using the armrests to hang chains from and the actual seat kind of rocks. nice idea.
also there was a guy who makes for instance a wooden motorcycle which is a rocker that sells for around 200 -300 quid depending on the spec. not sure how he makes a profit.
so my feeling is that many of these people only survive because they are semi retired, and have a guaranteed income which then allows them to go into this add on.
the "full time" makers seem to have a decent but not extravagant lifestyle, and have to spend many weekends during the year travelling great distances and staying overnight (maybe in their vw campers ;D) and then dealing with the general public
so although it is possible to make a living, it is quite hard work, and will take at least 2 years i think to start making money at.
what was interesting though was the number of sort of paintings i saw going out of the grounds, and none of them were cheap.
so maybe becoming a painter is better ;D
still an interesting day out, and some nice food to try.
paul
