Yellow Acrylic X's and O's

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W.Y.

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I have never had much luck selling yellow pens in my area . One of my suppliers that I get quantities of kits and acrylic blanks from sent me a couple yellow blanks in appreciation of my order. Being a gift I had no choice in the color. I spent the morning in town but kept thinking what I should do with those yellow blanks to jazz them up a little .
So after lunch I made a couple X and O pens from those blanks hoping that it would make them a little more sale-able.
The blanks were free and the slimline kits were only $1.49 so if I price them at $19.95 they will probably sell at a decent profit seeing as it took 1.5 hours to make both of them right from scratch. If they don't , then I still have lots of room for dickering and negotiating . . lol

The top modified slimline is called yellow swirl and the bottom one was called Bumble Bee.
Same pens with one picture shown 1/4 turn from the other to show both the X's nd the O's

XandOpens1.jpg


XandOpens2.jpg
 
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W.Y.

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After doing the X and O's yesterday I realized this afternoon I was out of "swirl" pens again so I made a couple more and made them modified slim-lines. Then I thought . . heck . . that didn't take long so I made a couple more Celtic knot pens. One is a Sierra and the fatter one is a Sierra Vista.
Nice enjoyable little afternoon of turning .


KnotsandSwirls1.jpg
 

W.Y.

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They sure look like more than $20 to me. Maybe we should be buying them.

Jeff.
That is only for the yellow ones that nobody seems to want so I jazzed them up a little with hopes of getting rid of them for $20.00 each.

Any other color whether in wood or acrylic goes for $29.95 around here with either X and O's or swirl patten and I get $39.95 for all my Celtic knot ones . Believe me , I have tried higher prices like some claim to get but it isn't going to happen in my particular area.
 

W.Y.

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William, I much prefer your "wood" pen collection vs. yellow "plastic". I'd purchase from your second grouping in a heartbeat.

I appreciate your comments and if I was making them for just myself or for give away gifts they would all be wood.
But I have sold hundreds of pens at craft sales and I do believe that the ones that only make wood pens simply because they like wood better themselves are loosing out on a large share of the market if they are in to selling them.
I am finding they are close to 50/50 for sales of wood or acrylic.
I let the customer choose what material they like best.

I try not to keep all my eggs in one basket :biggrin:
 

mtgrizzly52

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For what it's worth, I hate yellow, but I love the yellow pen with the green in it. Actually I like both, and I'm intrigued with how you did the X/O segmentation. I don't get it.

Just as information, I don't sell many pens because of not having the time to really get a lot turned, but I've discovered that in this area, the acrylics are the only thing to have if you are dealing with the ladies. They seem to love the plastics, but have a ho-hum attitude about even the most sweet looking wood pens. Men on the other hand lean more heavily toward the wood, but in the right combinations of acrylic and pen kit, especially the Wall Street/Sierra type pens, the men will grab onto the acrylics pretty quickly.

Very nice job on all of the pens shown. I'm still trying to do my first successful knot, but it has eluded me so far!

Rick (mtgrizzly52)
 

W.Y.

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Rick.
Apparently you are having about the same results with wood and acrylics as I am.
Some women would not buy a wood pen even if it was the most expensive and exotic blank on a high quality kit at a low price but would grab up an acylic one right beside it on a basic kit .
My wife's favorite color is purple but purpleheart wood does nothing for her. When I got a nice purple acrylic blank and made a pen , that got her quite enthused with the difference in wood and acrylic so that one is hers from a couple years ago and she shows it proudly wherever she goes.

Yes, men have more of a tendecy to buy wood but some buy acrylic just as a few women will also buy wood.

Gotta have lots of both if you are in to selling them . Variety is the name of the game. :wink:
 

maxwell_smart007

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Maybe it's a Canadian thing, as I cannot sell a pen priced above $25 or $30, no matter how nice it is...

I have yet to sell anything fancier than a Sierra...which is why you'll never see me buying those $100 woods. Small town Canada just isn't a high-quality pen area...

Andrew
 

OKLAHOMAN

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Andrew I agree that small town Canada as well as small town America its hard to sell a pen for over $50, if I had to sell in Shawnee only, I would be the proud owner of every pen in my inventory for ever .
Maybe it's a Canadian thing, as I cannot sell a pen priced above $25 or $30, no matter how nice it is...

I have yet to sell anything fancier than a Sierra...which is why you'll never see me buying those $100 woods. Small town Canada just isn't a high-quality pen area...

Andrew
 

W.Y.

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Maybe it's a Canadian thing, as I cannot sell a pen priced above $25 or $30, no matter how nice it is...

I have yet to sell anything fancier than a Sierra...which is why you'll never see me buying those $100 woods. Small town Canada just isn't a high-quality pen area...

Andrew

Same here and you will seldom see me buying a kit over $10.00 a pop . In my area it's just not going to be profitable.

Slim-lines , RT Euros . Sierra's etc are my mainstream sellers. No fancy expensive finishes over gold and chrome. The average pen buyer could care less about those other grossly over priced finishes. I have sold quite a few of the circuit board pens at $39.00 and just received some more kits but that is as high as I go in kit price.

ANY pen that is two piece and has to have the top unscrewed before writing with it WILL NOT SELL in my particular area.
I started with with these six over 4 years ago ( the six in the forefront) for $79.00 like others "claim" they get. Kept coming down and down every year . They are a mixture of acrylic and wood . Finally gave three away to family and friends to stick in a drawer and I have three left now priced at $25.00 each. Maybe next year $15.00 each in the clearance box if I still have them
I hate to see some rookie pen turners get caught with expensive pen kits on a basic wood or acrylic barrel regardless of what the hooplaw is about the particular acrlyic they are using with the hopes they will get the same price as is seen in some sites. . A big brand name stuck on a blank normally will not bring a cent more than a nicer looking run of the mill one sitting beside it with a nicer pattern. Most people could care less about a high priced brand name blank compared to a down to earth everyy day one when they are looking at hand crafted pens. I have seen that happen just lately here and there .

And fountain pens ? ? I cannot GIVE one away in my area. I actually tossed one in the garbage after replacing three ink cartridges over the years due to evaporation even though it had a good sealing O ring. But of course that was also a 2 piece pen that had to unscrewed before using it.

The magic limit for me here is $39.95 for my most intricate pens but my real money makers are the $15.00 to $29.00 ones and working in volume sales

PenDisplays.jpg
 

jttheclockman

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It is called the internet. Why not use it. Branch out and sell to the world. Try it you might like it. :):biggrin::rotfl:
 

W.Y.

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It is called the internet. Why not use it. Branch out and sell to the world. Try it you might like it. :):biggrin::rotfl:
Not at all interested .

It is a hobby that pays all tools and supplies and expenses and makes a few extra bucks on the side. . I have had enough years of full time job.
I give local service through local sales and also get my share of email orders from all over North Ameraica and some countries as far away as Australia and China and Europe and a few other countries. Don't have to go through the hassle of paypal and credit cards etc. Cash and money orders and certified checks works just great . Never ever get caught up to production with the way it is forever increasing . Everyone gets the same price as I get locally.
That's plenty for me.


But then I have seen you posting on other sites that you sell your limited number of pens for $70.00 or more right away after making them when showing them to the first person that sees them .
Good for you :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :eek: :rolleyes:

I prefer to be realistic in my statements.
 
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jttheclockman

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Not interested .

It is a hobby that pays all tools and supplies and expenses and makes a few extra bucks on the side. . I have had enough years of full time job.
I give local service through local sales and also get my share of email orders from all over North Ameraica and some countries as far away as Australia and China and Europe and a few other countries. Don't have to go through the hassle of paypal and credit cards etc. Cash and money orders and certified checks works just great . Never ever get caught up to production with the way it is forever increasing .
That's plenty for me.


But then I have seen you posting on other sites that you sell your pens for $70.00 or more right away after making them.
Good for you :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :eek: :rolleyes:


See Bill I read you like a book. I knew you were refering to me when you made this statement.

[ I started with with these six over 4 years ago ( the six in the forefront) for $79.00 like others "claim" they get. ]

The problem with making statements like that on this site is they are true. You can get away with statements like that on your site. I sold pens for more than that. If you remember the aluminum one it went for $125. We all don't live in an area such as you claim to. If you don't believe what others are getting for pens than that is your problem. What motive would anyone have to say they sell a pen for alot more than they did. This is a hobby along with my scrollsawing to me also. I have a full time job.
 

W.Y.

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The problem with making statements like that on this site is they are true. You can get away with statements like that on your site.

Yes my statements are true on this site as well as ANY site including my own. .

If you remember the aluminum one it went for $125.

Yes, I certainly got a chuckle from that one too as well as the price you got "right away" for your first circuit board pen.

Hey . . they're just pens :wink:

Must be great to get ridiculous high prices like that . You will soon be able to quit your full time job and just make a few pens every month. It's easier than working :laugh: :biggrin::laugh::biggrin::laugh:

When are we going to see your first $400.00 one ? ? ? ? ? ? /
 

jttheclockman

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Must be great to get ridiculous high prices like that . You will soon be able to quit your full time job and just make a few pens every month. It's easier than working :laugh: :biggrin::laugh::biggrin::laugh:

When are we going to see your first $400.00 one ? ? ? ? ? ? /


I am working on it as we speak. .:wink:

I am sure you get a chuckle whenever anyone other than yourself says they made a 3 figure amount on a pen. Glad to keep you laughing because we are laughing all the way to the bank here. I better get back to making that $400 pen now. Have a great day. :island:
 
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