Wife started pricing her nativity scenes when solder was 3.95 a one pound roll and glass was priced from Hobby Lobby for 1 square foot of stained glass was 3 to 4 dollars.

 

Now a one lb roll of 60-40 solder is over 28.00  and the one square foot of stained glass is averaging upwards of 18.00 and for certain colors like red is shy high....

 

This 12 piece set she started charging 120.00 for a 12 piece set or 10 dollars per each piece and thats including the painted display thingy I build for her. I have to cut the slots different widths to handle each completed stained glass character. 

 

Sizes range about 5 inches for a sheep up to about 12 inches for a standing wise man. 

 

How about an honest figure for each character  for some of the sets are only two characters as a starter set then that can go easier on the folks that don't have pockets full of money so this was each year they can add more characters to their sets.

 

I have tried to figure how much time each character takes to completion so a guess of two hours of marking and cutting each piece of glass then wrapping each piece with copper foil then soldering all pieces together.

  I then take each character to the grinding table and me and the dremel using a Saburr 1/8" burr try to shave off enough solder to give me a one width size from one end to the other of the base. Then I cut slots of different sizes for each character then put a name on each bottom of the wood for match up. I then cut small pieces of wood for each end of the slots of each base and glue them in before putting on a requested color. I have found if I don't do that the wood will warp in or out changing the width of the wood slot so nothing we sent will fit right. Ho ho  hoe

I love my nativity set. I love that you both contribute to it. I think the price should be $500, but I live in Austin where things are more expensive. 

old rule of thumb:  price is 4x material costs.  more if it's very complicated, like 6-8.

 

you won't find many takers at those prices, so she has an expensive hobby.  a hobby that produces no net income.

 

An eBay search showed some prices but may not be comparable in quality

 

https://www.etsy.com/market/stained_glass_nativity

I was thinking like Sherri 500 plus or 50 to 60 per item. But even that does not totally take into account inflation with the solder alone up almost six times. Another way to look at this is pick the year she started and look up inflation index for $ since that year.

 

Just noticed Lew's post and will add a caution. I see people with bowls on Etsy maybe 15 to well over 300 for a plain wood. All this also changes with location also.

Edited September 9, 20223 yr by Gerald

I'm with Sherri and Gerald. Price it at LEAST $500 or $60 per piece. In a good art gallery, you'd see that set at $750+. 

 

My SC neighbor used to say so much per piece of glass, plus so much per hour.  I don't remember his exact figures, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't apply now anyway.

Things like this fall in the hazy grey area between craft and art.

As such, production style pricing calculations like 3x or 4x material costs don’t really apply.

When you have a situation like this, marketing and branding are everything.

If you place it with production style items like cutting boards, people will not value it as art and will not pay well for it.

If you place this with high end stained glass pieces, it will be viewed as art and you can charge a lot more for it.

 

If you market these as hand-crafted by a local artist specializing in stained glass and explain that she does a very limited number of these per year you can charge a premium an no one will bat an eye.

 

 

 

Location location location:  WHERE you're selling is going to be important.  If you've chosen seasonal craft fairs at the park, or garage sales, those crowds grinch at anything over $20.  This is not a product that should be priced on the basis of production cost.  Go big or go home...well, I guess you're already home, but you get the idea.

   I guess you might say these are special ordered pertaining to the color of glass, the color of the bases, which characters and how many of each.

  They are not displayed at craft fairs or garage sales.  The two daughters are involved on letting their friends and their  friends know what she has to choose from..