Bead making - do you do it professionally or just for fun?

[flowerjasper]

i could answer that i make beads to sell and i do it for fun!  but i cant answer more than one 

[julieHB]

I think my DH sometimes feels that I am a "kept" woman who only has fun, and do no useful work at home at all  I don't know where bead making will take me at all, only that I enjoy the ride - I'd love to make some money, but am not overly fussed about it at the mo. I suppose closer to my innermost desires would be to be recognised for my work/art some day (as I used to be when I had a well-paid job).

[mariag]

I voted "just for fun" but hoping to be selling soon while still working part time

[Redhotsal]

2 mins commute  - Sal are you taking the scenic route!!! I thought you just tripped out the back door!

We-llll........two minutes allows for parking the cuppa on the window sill whilst closing the back door, scrabbling around on the floor for dropped mandrels, inclement weather, unlicking the shed door and um, parking...my expansive arse on the bead stool.

What is this - some kind of time and motion study?   I may have to sack myself for slacking off.....!

[Redhotsal]

er......"unlicking" the shed door - clearly a spelling mistake but sounded so funny I don't want to change it!

Crikey - this is an interesting survey. I wonder, of the money making beaders, how many can actually support themselves on it as opposed to contributing to the household bills, or even just "playing" at running a business while being fully supported by a significant other? By the way - didn't mean the latter in a derogatory way but couldn't think of a better way of putting it.

[astringofbeads]

I am in the first category, Mine is a business, and has provided me with a reasonable income for the last 2.5 years. It is both a blessing and a pain in the arse frankly! Lots of my friends think how lovely just a few steps to the shed, can start/finish when you want, answer to no one but yourself etc..and yes it is lovely to be my own boss but in reality I am still working now at 10.30pm, and I often start as soon as I get up! Weekends have often been taken up with fairs or prep for the forthcoming week, and then there's the paperwork to fit in. Sometimes the pressure to come up with inspiration for new designs and new business is a pain but I usually get there Don't get me wrong, I love it but I do sometimes wish I could just do it as a hobby, without the pressure to perform, as it were

[lemon kitten]

I went for the second option....but it does'nt support me in any way shape or form....but I love it and get so much satisfacion when someone else likes my beads and buys them for that reason.

Janey x

[sparrow]

Sal, I don't know if this helps your survey, but by torching in the evenings and about 4 -5 hours in a week-end, I have found I make enough to equal one day a week in my job (and I guess I have a reasonably well-paid job). I could also still live on working just four days a week in my job - hence the thinking that if I worked two days, the rest of torching might make another two days' worth (and would allow me to teach and build up stock for fairs). I do work full-time (more than full-time, actually), and torching is more of a relaxation exercise than a job...if it helps, I blogged something along those lines yesterday (fortuitous, eh?)

http://littlecastledesigns.blogspot.com/

[Redhotsal]

Great blog Sabine. I remember making beads for a hobby and thinking enviously at work how wonderful it would be to spend whole days making beads - I suspect that's a thought that many would echo on this forum.

The reality of being a full time bead maker, for me at least, is actually, thinking enviously how wonderful it would be to spend whole days making beads, because I  suspect I spend an increasingly greater time on the computer, answering emails, admin and financial. And while I love teaching I'm still not making beads! I would think that to seriously be able to live off beads alone you would almost have to teach to supplement your income. It would be interesting to see if there are people who are professional beadmakers but are only bead makers, not teachers.

[Kaz]

I am sure it is not an easy option to choose to be a full-time beadmaker with no other income to rely on. Especially if you have days like my last 2 days where nothing goes right and at the end of several hours torching you have barely a handful of measly beads to show. And it must be so much worse if the pressure is on to EARN. If I hadn't immediately spent all my January income from beads, jewellery and teaching on more glass, silver foil, frits, silver, stuff for the studio, books etc. etc. that I don't really need, I guess the profit on it would have paid about a third of my mortgage. So there's a long way to go before I could consider doing it full-time. And in some ways, I am not sure I really want to - if I analyse the income I get from the consultancy work compared to the effort expended and the fact that it means I come into contact with lots of people and have a broader outlook, then maybe more of a balance will be exactly right for me until I move into the semi-retirement phase!
Kazx

[garishglobes]

As a 'paid hobby', you can mainly do sets you like and explore new directions if the mood strikes. As a full-time job, I would suspect you'd have to spend much more time making sets that sold, which may well be more "boring" to make. Its possibly one thing to dream of spending more time at the torch - another to have to do it, and make it pay..
Sal, I agree - I think it would be very hard to make a living out of beadmaking without teaching, or selling supplies. This is going to sound desperately cynical, but experience tells me that there is much more money to be made selling things for other people to create with than actually doing the creating.

[Helen G]

I've voted for two, but I don't exactly fit into that category!  I'm a domestic goddess whose DH brings home the bacon, so don't have another job - but am hoping in the future I will earn something to at least cover the amount I have spent (will have to sell a lot of beads!) and my DH is hoping that too

Steph x

This is exactly where I am at, would love to make the set up costs just to keep im indoors quiet! Hope I've posted this in the right place, still finding my way around!

[astringofbeads]

I don't teach so my income is purely from my beads. I would like to teach though but as you say Sal teaching time is not beading time So it's a difficult balance to do the 2 together. Plus the extra set up for students and not to mention the room, my summer house is a bit cosy wih just me in there let alone anyone else!!

As a 'paid hobby', you can mainly do sets you like and explore new directions if the mood strikes. As a full-time job, I would suspect you'd have to spend much more time making sets that sold, which may well be more "boring" to make. Its possibly one thing to dream of spending more time at the torch - another to have to do it, and make it pay..
Sal, I agree - I think it would be very hard to make a living out of beadmaking without teaching, or selling supplies. This is going to sound desperately cynical, but experience tells me that there is much more money to be made selling things for other people to create with than actually doing the creating.

The above is very true! Especially the bit about making what the customer wants rather than what you want, bot you have to take the rough with the smooth, for every customer who wants a particular style there's another who wants something unique. One piece of advice that business link gave me right at the very beginning was know your market, and this has stuck in my head ever since! it's not always about what you're selling but how you sell it!

[Margram]

I'm with Helen - it costs so much to set up it would be nice to recoup some of that
by selling in the future (when I can make decent beads, that is  ). Perhaps Helen
and I should get one of those progress tickers to keep our OHs happy!

Marg x

[Lloki]

I just voted - I do it for fun

However a new years resolution for me was to wear at least one piece of my "handmade" jewellery every day, no matter what I was up to! This has proven to be very interesting.

I have had many comments - mostly complementary and quite a few commissions and "sales!" - I'm still rubbish at pricing stuff, because I LOVE doing it, I tend to charge just for materials and don't take into account my time, running and set up costs. I'm never going to be rich!

As it's my hobby, I'm happy to sell at "mates rates", but my "mates" are starting to get orders from their "mates" etc..... so I spent four hours in my shed this afternoon creating beads of a certain style for birthday bracelets instead of "playing" - it just didn't feel the same

I want to keep it fun, but I'll still be buying at the FlameOff like it was my only job in life, after all - glass doesn't have a sell by date! LOL