I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

[Denco]

I just sold 15 pens at work this morning!

Yesterday at work, I was carrying around a pen I made, someone took it right out of my hand, so I promised to bring my stock in for them to see. Sooo....I hollowed out a CD carrying case, lined it with felt, and brought in my pens. Thought maybe I'd sell one or two. People have been showing up at my cubicle all morning. People are buying in bulk for Christmas. The only thing I've ever sold was a coat hanger I made for a coworker and that was just in exchange for a nice lunch. I'm almost out and people are still saying that they're coming by later today. Y'know, I have to admit: I look at your postings and can definitely see why people would buy your stuff, but I never really thought I could sell anything. Feels great to get $$$ for doing something I love. [|)]

If ya'll have anything in your stock, take it to work. You might be surprised at the outcome.

Please excuse me for being excited, but this was my first REAL sale as a rookie woodworker.--Den

[Scottydont]

Believe it Den. I have several pen cases that hold anwhere from 2 to 24 pens. The one that always goes with me is this. http://www.jennibick.com/leather-zip-case.html I am getting one for my wife to do the same.

I have another type of case on order that has a clear presentation window for a business card or postcard to profesionally present it as a portfolio. I will let you what I think of them after I get it.

<edit> Here is a pic of the ones I have on order





And by the way, Congratulations!

[kwgeorge]

Man that’s great! I am proud for you! Keep in mind that we tend to be our own worst critics and far beyond what anyone else will do to us. I know I am on myself for sure but it is that perfectionist in me that I can seem to over come.

You should post some of your work here.

[tfischer]

Just out of curiosity, how much do you sell them for? How much do you have in them, both time & materials?

-Tim

[Denco]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer

Just out of curiosity, how much do you sell them for? How much do you have in them, both time & materials?

-Tim

Since I was selling to people I work with every day, I cut the price down to $15 a pen and gave discounts for volume purchases. Instead of buying blanks, I bought various wood pieces on sale (or grabbed scraps) and cut my own blanks. In most cases, I got my blank cost down to ~40 cents a blank. I grabbed a pine dowel that I bought for 79 cents at Walmart and made a couple of pine pens just as a test. They sold really fast. It was really interesting: The real exotic hoity-toity wood pens I sold did not sell any better than the good old standbys (pine, oak, walnut). Straight barrel slimlines sold just as well as custom shapes. The pens that didn't do so well were the bloodwood pens. People liked the "brown" colored pens more than the "red" colored pens.

Overall, however, this was just one morning worth of sales and I wouldn't put any stock into it as a pattern just yet.

I got the hardware from Woodturningz, so my cost was really minimal. Cutting one's own blanks saves A LOT of money. I don't figure in my time because I enjoy it too much. I'm mostly interested in covering my costs, happy customers, money for tool maintenance, and a little leftover for new tools and goodies. Makes it much more fun to sell. If I venture into a craft fair or something like that, I may be more particular about the sale price. I'm looking towards that in the spring of next year, Lord Willing.

One thing that really helped was the fact that it was the Christmas season. It seems that Folks here are looking for gifts that are pratical and yet have some uniqueness to them.

Hope that helps (especially since it was so long winded [)])

[Scottydont]

Hey Den. Try wine stoppers next. They go like hotcakes this time of the year.

[don_hart]

I don't have a lathe so of course I don't do turnings but ever year I make a decision on a couple of projects I will be making as christmas gifts. then I take a couple of samples to work and normally sell quite a few. I am making clocks this year (As if you couldn't tell from my recent finished project posts) and they have been selling well. I get between $50 - $75 for a clock depending on the design and the wood.

I pay about $5 for the clock inserts and many of the clocks are built out of small pieces I got off the cull rack or stuff that is left over from other projects. When I have built them out of new stock the price of the stock has been $2/bf or less.

[kwgeorge]

I tell you something else that may be a real good gift or sale item and that’s Pocket Watches. I made one quite some time ago and was asked a lot how much to make another one.

http://www.theturnersshop.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/DSCF2011.jpg

[Jim Boyd]

quote:Originally posted by kwgeorge

and was asked a lot how much to make another one.

http://www.theturnersshop.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/DSCF2011.jpg

I hate when they ask that about my segmented bowls[]