Ornament pricing?

[dubdrvrkev]

I think I have some ornaments sold already but I am a little unsure on what I should be asking for them. Do you think they should be priced different according to the wood or to the designs (hollow bulb w/finials vs. birdhouse) or both?

Also does anybody have a source for boxes that would be appropriate for ornaments. I looked at the ones from CSUSA but I don't think I want to stand them on the finials, the size may not permit anyways.

Any thoughts on what to use for the hangers? I'm not real happy with the standard wire ornament hangers.
Thanks for any input.

 

[penhead]

For ideas/info on ornaments, I would recommend checking out this link:

http://www.woodcentral.com/newforum/ornaments.shtml

 

[JimGo]

Thanks for the link John! Those are cool!

 

[dubdrvrkev]

There are some really nice ones there. In doing a little surfing I found some as high as 50 and as low as 15. The $50 ones looked to be done on a duplicator though, all the finials were the same and bulbs were mostly the same.
I was thinking $20 maybe a little more for the birdhouse because they are a little more involved.

 

[ryannmphs]

I just sold 2 bird house ornaments for $25 each. I think it all depends on your market. Set a price you feel comfortable with and go with it. I've got each ornament down to about 45 min from start to finish, so at $25/ornament that makes it worth my time IMHO. (my first ornament took almost an hour and a half to make [:0])

Ryan

 

[dubdrvrkev]

I won't mention how long my first one took me [8)]. Now I try to make 2-3 bulbs out of one blank then make the finials for them in the next set-up (now I see why people own more than one chuck). I think I spend more time cleaning chips than hollowing.

 

[ryannmphs]

Originally posted by dubdrvrkev
<br />I won't mention how long my first one took me [8)]. Now I try to make 2-3 bulbs out of one blank then make the finials for them in the next set-up (now I see why people own more than one chuck). I think I spend more time cleaning chips than hollowing.

Ya, I'm looking at getting another chuck for Christmas (with my bonus money from work). I want one chuck with the #1 jaws and one chuck with #2 jaws. Of course I was able to speed things up a bit by making some threaded glue blocks. I have 1"x8tpi tap, used some scrap hard maple blocks, drilled a hole, and tapped them. So now have several threaded glue blocks that I use (one for the birdhouse body, one for the roof and one for the pearch)

And the tap was $6.00 at Enco (Enco p/n 311-6182, http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=311-6182

 

[dubdrvrkev]

Thanks for the link.
I have been considering making some of those for other projects. I was thinking that'd be good for roughing bowls. I was also considering an additional chuck, maybe a less expensive one from PSI or a "companion" SN2.

 

[ryannmphs]

OK, Chuck Ludwigsen and I just got in some #2MT drill bits, these are going to help speed things up a little more for me! I got the 5/8" bit and chuck got the 3/4" bit. We can now put the drill bit directly into the MT in the tail stock to drill our holes for hollowing ornaments [] Here's the URL to the one I got: http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=303-1240

Ryan

 

[dubdrvrkev]

I've been using a 1/2" forstner for the bulbs and 1.25" forstner for birdhouses. I have been looking for the mt2 bits for another projoect though.
Are you using pen blanks for finials?