Does size matter?

In my experience, small, fancy bowls are "art" or "pieces", and larger bowls are to eat or serve salad and things out of... and of course, art demands a higher price than utility..

My best selling items are small boxes, irregular or natural edge change dishes, but vases, etc...

People look at and touch the big stuff, but if it's a large bowl, it won't sell for much in my market..

I pretty much quit turning "bowls" shortly after moving to Mexico and getting serious about selling my stuff... What sells well here is the things that people display in the coffee table or whatever....

Goblets and wine glasses sold well for a while but now seldom sell..

Small (6 or 8") wing bowls have been selling well at outdoor shows, for some reason..

Some folks sell a lot of garden dibbers or whatever, or honey dippers.. neither sell well for me..

Surprisingly, I've sold qui tea few mushrooms in sets of 2 or 3 in different sizes, for table decorations... never expected that and turned my first one after about 20 years of turning..lol

Market and locale make a huge difference... are you in an art or utility market?

BTW: I sold a piece last week for $150.. I think that was a high for me, and it was about 8" tall and maybe 9 or 10" diameter..

mac

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"JD snipped-for-privacy@wku.edu" I was wandering this morning, do small bowls sell better than large bowls?

If people want them, certainly. The key is whether the piece is to be used or viewed. Pieces for uses like salad or popcorn are marginal at ~11", while something to look at depends on viewing distance, and can be as huge as a wall hanging or as petite as will sit on a knick-knack shelf.

If you go to a venue where people already own the necessities, like the colony in Baja, you'll sell more pretties than useful types.

Besides bowls, what do the rest of

Turn/carve some salad sets, or make some boxes, centerpieces, candle holders, ornaments or goblets. Lots of good things to test your skill against.

Hello JD,

I think that it will most likely depend on the type of shows that you attend. I spent three years selling and local craft shows and found that hardly anything priced above $25.00 would sell. As a result, I sold lots of smaller bowls. I finally came up with a size that nearly always sold that took only a few minutes to turn that I called "pill bowls" they measured 2 inches in diameter and about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches high. At one time, I had a six foot piece of white pine 2" x 6" and turned it into little bowls. There were priced under $10.00 and the whole lot sold at the next show. If I were going to sell at craft shows again, I would make all of the stuff small and inexpensive. Today, I sell maybe a dozen items a year ranging in price from $50.00 to $500.00, but not at craft fairs or galleries. I sell items when people ask me to show them some my turnings that they want to purchase for gifts.

Fred Holder

I just turned my first really large bowl on Friday. The half log was

24x26x10 inches thick. Had to have help getting it into the truck. After rounding with a chain saw it was about 22.5 inches in diameter. I used a hoist to get the piece of hard maple to the lathe.

The finished bowl is 21 inches in diameter. What a rush. It is the reason I bought a larger lathe. Can't wait to do more that large.

By the way...I don't know if I will get a chance to sell this one. My wife already has a place for it as the center piece on the dining room table.

Ted, Please tell me that you cored that Maple, and got 4 or 5 bowls out of it. I will shed a tear or two if you didn't.

I sell mostly at a local Saturday Market. I have bowls from $5 to $300 or so. I will usually sell one or 2 bowls in the $100 range, and some for $30 or so. At Christmas, or for weddings, I can sell some of the $150 and up bowls. You never know, but people do remember, and will come looking for you.

Mac, do you sell to tourists, or locals. I read once that the only time people spend as much, or more money that they do at Christmas is when they are on vacation. My best sales at the Market are during the summer vacation months. Some are looking for trinkets, some for bowls, which are cheap here compared to the east coast. This summer, we have the Olympic Track and Field Trials. That should bring the tourists in.

robo hippy

Most of my stuff is at art shows, and when I'm lucky, local (gringos) who are decorating personal residences or rentals buy the nicer stuff for decorations..

Mushrooms, which it took me over 20 years to try, sell surprisingly well here.. Sort of a local joke here in the desert.. Buy 3 or 4 in assorted sizes and put them in your cactus garden.. lol

I have some stuff in the $15 to $25 range, but I stay away from the trinket thing, especially anything that the real locals sell... Imitating their stuff or competing with the locals is a good way to get turned into the tax folks.. I'm technically on a "retirement or tourist" visa for another 3 or 4 years, when we can apply for the next level of visa..

Some tourists buy small bowls and stuff like that, but a complication that you don't have that is a major factor here is an international border to cross after buying stuff and the chance of paying duty on it..

Summer sucks here.. most folks go to your neighborhood in May or June and come back in October... The last few months have been "snow bird" season, and I've been doing pretty well, especially on the ironwood stuff..

The nice thing is that when they come back, a few of them bring me WOOD.. Some folks from Lake Tahoe came by yesterday with about 10 or 12 nice oak branches, great for mushrooms and small boxes..

mac

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reading all the above made me wonder how you establish which bowl is worth stepping over to the three digit price. Does it have to be an exotic wood meaning the material itself cost a few tenners, or a relatively long time spent completing the piece? Or perhaps, none of the above - simply looking at the finished piece and thinking "wow! This one came out better than most. More artsy. It shoul command a higher price. hmmmmm...

I have trouble setting my prices, so my wife and neighbor do most of the pricing..

To me, it's a chunk of wood that I put on the lathe and had fun with, so I sort of gasp at the prices some of my stuff sells for..

I just finished a sort of "artsy" ironwood vase about 11" tall and maybe 6" diameter with one very rough side and the rest smooth and polished.. I was thinking of pricing it in the $75 - $100 range and my wife said "$300 and the neighbor said "maybe $250"...

They say the combination of style, size, weight and material all increase the buyer's decide????? Also, ironwood is very popular here (Baja California, MX)

I've never sold a "conventional;" bowl, no matter how big or what wood, for $50..

I've sold some really bugly (to me) pieces that were in the small range for much more, I guess because they were "art".

mac

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