I started another crochet project a couple days ago... around Sunday-ish? It was inspired by a friend asking for something similar but from another video game. (Well in truth, a reminder of something I was sitting on for a very long time in chart-minder. At least 10 years now...) She wants to commission me, but I don't do commissions. I don't really know how to charge for them all that well. If I charge appropriately so that I'm not being taken advantage of, taking into consideration my skills, my time, and the cost of materials, nobody these days seems to want commissions because it's "too expensive." Or they feel like they're being taken advantage of... Sighs...
And on the opposite end, if I undercut myself, only charging for materials, then my time and my skill get taken advantage of, as well as undermining every other artist or craftsman on his planet. Thusly contributing to a narrative that art is not a luxury but a cheap commodity to people. Which is bullshit.
Traditionally arts and artisan crafts, if not gifted and shared freely through a gift or trade economy, they were highly expensive and paid for by people of wealthier means, or created by those in meager means for themselves and their families to enjoy.
Today, we live in a society where everybody wants everything discounted or free because they got used to the Chinese economic model (and other countries) which comes from indentured servitude and slave labor. Labor up until recently was invisible to the world at large. People these days do not have an appreciation for actual labor and / or skill, and it reflects in our economy and has devastated our societies globally. I'm not pointing a finger at you like I'm on a high horse. We're all so very guilty. Including myself. We've been groomed to be that way. It's everybody's fault and nobody's fault at the same time, we are a product of an old system and an environment we both created wittingly and unwittingly as a society...
Anyhoodles... Artistic skill can be developed and this idea of talent just popping out of nowhere is complete b*******. Talent comes from skill. Just like doctors have to learn how to do surgery or a pharmacist has to learn chemistry, artists oftentimes spend years and decades learning and honing their craft. So we need to really change the way we see our world, our friends, family, and our community in the creative pursuits departments.
That said, I want to keep this particular thing (crochet) as a hobby, and gifting my time is my prerogative. I'm probably just going to make the thing for my friend at materials cost anyway, because she does things for me from time to time, and there seems to be a good balance of reciprocity here, in a mostly healthy relationship. (Albeit it's a new friendship still.) For example she gave me some toilet paper last night because she had extra. So there's obvious reciprocity there.
There's nothing wrong with doing things for people for free or cheap, but we need to do so under a mindset of gift giving without expectation of reward, and definitely not under a mentality of harming small businesses and artists. This means educating people on the cost of craft sometimes. It's not a bad thing, because honestly, you might just appreciate that thing someone made you even more.
If you look at the cost of doing something in crochet with time and the labor involved, and appropriately charged for it. You find that very few people want to pay for that skill and it's why so many creators only sell patterns and not the actual creations. (Yet people will pay for a brand name like Nike or Prada. Over priced garbage made by slave labor. Not in anyway, a jab at the people doing the slave work.) Why people choose to gift art wisely to people close to them who they know will appreciate the work.
Onto my project, which is a tapestry. I'm actually working on two projects, because I'm waiting for her to buy supplies for hers, and I am going to work on mine and dial in technique before working on hers which is slightly less difficult but also detailed. I needed a refresher on techniques...
I've frogged mine at least 8-12 times. Various variations and testing are teaching me how to make the graphic’s phrase look cleaner and clearer. I had to stray from the original font to a degree, that stitch fiddle and chart-minder both automatically fill in. I can see why tons of people have this image saved in their apps but no one has ever done it. It’s advanced level tapestry. (Not an official endorsement of either product. I am not sponsored.)
Mind you steeeeep learning curve for me because I went from only ever doing one tapestry as a beginner to picking it up almost 2-3 years later after forgetting techniques...
It’s been a tedious project to say the least, with a lot of a testing, rapid color changes - sometimes every stitch, and you have to make sure the tension is consistent with those changes, etc… A lot to keep track of. I looked online to see if anyone else had done my particular game's design idea. I got the sense rather quickly that there are a lot of folks with aspirations to do this particular image as a project, but perhaps felt daunted by it or gave up? (I almost threw in the towel myself.)
I noticed someone tried uploading this graphic to etsy for sale, hopefully no sales because holy hell scammolla, that and selling fanart... It was taken down or expired, thankfully and is just page remnants. I find it to be quite a**h*lish that they just tried to sell the chart without showing a finished product example from said chart. To me that's a red flag sale not testing to see if their chart even worked. (Fine if it's free, whatever, but you were trying to grift!!! *ssh*le.)
I found out with mine really quickly, I had to redo my chart at least 8-12 times during development, deciding on how to execute the phrase with actual testing and frogging, and then changing stitch counts, the width, and the length of the chart overall, to see if it would work better. You can't just design something without execution and expect it to work, especially something that complicated. In other words you can’t just slap this f****r into either app and go. I had to delete pixels and add pixels to fix this chart to make the tester clearer. I tested different stitches between single crochet and a half double crochet. I had to troubleshoot wavy material, had to troubleshoot how to pull and tug on my tails, and where to keep or carry them. I troubleshot intarsia and stranded floats even. A lot of work goes into pattern development and testing and I think a lot of people do not realize the work that artists who appropriately charge for their work, are charging for. Many folks don't sell patterns at the cost they should for compensation and take losses in order to get their work out there, hoping to make back enough money through sales eventually. Whether they do or not is up for debate.
Ultimately I decided on single crochet, it was the best and most consistent for what I was doing. I also had to make sure to test proper turning procedures with either stitch, because obviously if you’re using single crochet, you’re going to want to chain one before turning. Apparently, with half double crochet none, one, or two, it didn’t matter I got waving… It also stands to reason that with an HDC and because the stitch is wider and taller, which that’s kind of what I wanted to go for earlier on for a broader easier cleaner viewable image- the wider stitch causes the tension issue in a sense because it starts to fan out over the tapestry. It causes the foundation chain to feel like it shrunk and it feels too tight. I even tried when I was testing the HDC using a larger hook for the foundation chain, and one size smaller for the actual tapestry but that didn’t work either. Each test came with more calculations, and it's own headaches, and literal physical pain... (I'm stiff, sore, and I threw my back out...) I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn at one point, as I’m using what’s already on hand. It’s been a difficult process. I’m about midway, half way point in the actual tapestry at the time of writing this, and about 45 percent if you consider fringe and attaching the dowel.
I was trying to write written instructions but this pattern required my full attention, and I had to drop my writing in favor of testing. Notes have been made, I probably could write it down very easily now that I’m seeing results.
All in all I would rate this graphic I am working on as advanced level for tapestry crochet and not for the faint of heart. Doing it will require a lot of patience, and time, slow methodical approach, and full attention. Perhaps a lot of frogging and adjustments too for even the most experienced of crocheters.
If I were to charge for something similarly complex and original, at minimum wage: $7.25 per hour where I live, plus projected 80 hours time, plus materials at around $15. I would still severely be undercutting myself... My projection on the low end came out to be $595.00 for the tapestry... You're probably choking right now... On the high end and what's probably closer to appropriate would be $1215 for lower end but still skilled labor at $15 an hour. This of course including pattern development, testing, and finishing the product, because many people come to artists with a raw artistic vision they want to bring to fruition which causes there to be a lot more involvement time wise, and a lot more iterating. And I don't know about you but I can't afford that. I barely survive on $10 a day if that, sometimes $5... Being in poverty is a super power...
In the meantime, I'm keeping this project(s) vague. I might share the chart for the one I'm currently talking about? I am unsure as of yet... I might just make it and post my results though too. I'm not going to promise anything. What I have learned is that I will be able to do my friend's tapestry, although also with a lot of color changes, will hopefully be easier even if only slightly so.
Sorry if I ramble... I'm exhausted.
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