Start & Run a Craft Business. William G. Hynes

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СКАЧАТЬ of some of the things you’d like to make and try them out. Start out with what most interests you. If you think you’d like making jewelry or hooking rugs, then start there. Look around at craft markets and in craft shops for products you think you would like to make or learn to make.

      Browse through some of the many craft books available. There are literally thousands of books on crafts and most likely your public library or a nearby bookstore has a good selection. If you don’t have any particular craft in mind, then get one of the A to Z books on the various kinds of handcrafted products being made in North America. Look at both traditional and modern crafts.

      You can get good ideas for products to make by looking around in craft and gift shops and especially at craft shows. At craft markets, some booths attract large crowds and certain items appear to be “hotter” than others. One season it might be patchwork clothing or wind socks, porcelain figurines or bronze jewelry. Be careful not to let current fashions influence you too much in your choice of a medium or a particular product. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to tackle something just because others are doing it if you think you can make it better or cheaper.

      Look carefully at anything for which you feel a particular affinity. If you think you’d like the feel of potter’s clay in your hands, then pottery may be your thing. Or perhaps you have welding experience and would like to work with metals. The best medium for you is the one with which you feel the strongest affinity.

      Obviously, some crafts require more equipment than others. Perhaps you already have some of this equipment and experience using it. For example, you may already have a band saw or sewing machine and like using them, so this may determine your choice of a particular craft.

      It is important to note in starting out in your craft business that some of the best-selling handcrafted products are often the simplest to make. You would be wrong to try making highly complex products at the beginning, no matter what medium you are in. As your skill and experience develop, you will soon be able to do the more advanced work and produce more sophisticated products. Even then you will often find, especially if you are in production crafts, that you are still selling a lot of basic things that are very simple and easy to make.

      In fact, some of the best-selling crafts are so simple to make you might wonder at first glance if they are worth making at all. Take, for example, certain wooden toys, or fabric items like place mats. If people wanted a product this simple and easy to make, they would make it themselves, wouldn’t they?

      In most craft fields, you can start marketing your work while you are learning.

      Actually, most of them wouldn’t. This is because most people don’t want to take the time and trouble to make something that they can buy from someone else. Craftspeople are successful in selling their products because they have taken the time and trouble to produce them and to produce them well — and because they know how and where to market them. This is where market research comes in, as we shall see in the next chapter. But first we need to take a look at ways of acquiring and upgrading your craftmaking skills.

      b. How to Learn Craft Skills

      Your goal is to achieve a mastery of the craft you have chosen. This is not something you will accomplish overnight. As your skills improve, you will set new challenges for yourself, and practicing your craft will become an ongoing learning process.

      This does not mean that you must study and practice for years before you can sell any of your work. On the contrary, if you have chosen a field in which you are particularly adept, you can produce marketable work within a short time. In most craft fields, you can start marketing your work while you are learning. You will naturally produce simpler pieces first, following traditional or already-popular contemporary designs. You should not strive for too much originality at this point, but aim to master basic techniques.

      Craft skills can be learned the same way most other skills are learned. There are a number of different ways of learning, none of which is inherently better than any other. Try the one that appeals most to you, or try them all.

      1. Courses

      Craft instruction is available in most large towns and cities. Formal craft study can range all the way from community evening courses at the local high school to the level of a university degree program. There are courses for beginners and advanced courses for experienced craftworkers. Some universities now offer a master’s degree in crafts. Contact your regional, state, or provincial crafts organization for information on the availability of craft courses in your community. (See Appendix 2 for a list of national, state, and provincial craft organizations.)

      But wait a minute, you say. I want to start making things, not go through a 12-month course, let alone a university crafts program. I want to set up a craft business, not enroll in a course of study.

      There is a widespread belief today that you cannot really know anything about a subject unless you have taken a course in it. This is, of course, utter nonsense. Craft courses have a valid place in the learning process, but they are far from being the only route to mastery of a craft.

      There’s no reason why you have to complete a formal training course. Formal training in a craft, whether a single course or a whole program of courses, is in itself no guarantee that you will master the craft. Courses also have very little to do with the degree of commercial success you will have. Some of the best professional craftworkers around are entirely self-trained.

      Whether or not you choose to take a craft course is very much a question of preference, depending partly on your own skills and partly on how you think you can best learn something new.

      2. Apprenticeship

      Perhaps you would rather work on a one-to-one basis with a professional craftworker. There are professional, working craftspeople who will provide apprenticeship training in their own studios. Some charge fees for the instruction, others offer training in return for help in their business. This can be an excellent way of learning about production as well as marketing and other aspects of a craft business.

      Apprenticeship training can provide you with valuable insights into the nature of your craft that are almost impossible to get otherwise. If your instructor is really good, the creative inspiration you receive can have a major influence on your career. Your reputation can be greatly enhanced by having been an apprentice of someone who is widely known and respected in a particular field.

      Unfortunately, opportunities for this kind of training are few. Most commercial craftworkers are too busy to provide training for an apprentice. Those who do usually accept only one apprentice at a time. Some craftworkers may be reluctant to provide training to someone whose main goal is to set themselves up in their own business in the same area.

      If you are interested in this kind of training, you may have to travel to another part of the country, but it’s worthwhile if you get the opportunity to learn firsthand from a professional who is tops in his or her field.

      No matter how you go about it, you will learn most about your chosen craft by actually doing it.

      Your local or regional crafts organization may have a list of the names of craftspeople who are willing to take on apprentices. Or, if you know a professional whose work you admire, you may want to approach him or her and ask to be taken on as an apprentice.

      3. Teaching yourself

      Perhaps you would rather teach yourself the skills you need. Many СКАЧАТЬ