Weekend

[catscradle]

Slept from after dinner on Friday till Saturday afternoon. Back meds had me out. But I think I needed the sleep as I averaged about 5 hours a night during the week with a low and high of 3/6.

Finally built up enough steam to go out for dinner Saturday night. Actually, it was more like I didn't have enough steam to actually cook. You've got to weigh these things. . . anyway - had sushi. Very good sushi. I'm going to have to go there more often. Also went to the Bali store and bought WAY too much. Lots of silver, some wood carvings and a cool pair of shorts on mega sale.

Sunday I went to a bead bazar. Very fun. Bought some cool beads there and got some ideas on things to do with them. Then I leafed through a wholesale bead magazine. Wow. Lots o' beads - good semi-precious stones & metals, along with glass and crystal beads, beading tools, and selling displays - pretty cheap prices.

I'm thinking about making rosaries and chaplets. As I was looking through rosary websites, I was pretty appalled to see how expensive they were in relation to how much it cost them to make. So, I'm gonna try my hand at it. Purchase the materials for one or two rosaries and if it doesn't look like complete crap or something that requires so much time it becomes a full time job, maybe I'll try my hand at making and selling them at prices which aren't a total rip off.

Comments

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

The cost of the rosary is going to depend on the materials you use. A rosary made from turqoise and 14kt gold chain is obviously going to cost more to make than one made from cord and wood, and the more ornate you make them, the more the cost, of course. Rosaries cost anywhere from $1-$1,000 (or if you don't mind super cheap plastic and/or wish to make your first Communion) with the median falling somewhere around $45. Though I've found nice ones (crystal type) around the 25 dollar range in most Catholic stores, and the one I use I picked up for $10 - but that was in Yugoslavia and I don't recommend going there to shop just yet. I can't remember what the ones in St. Louis cost, I just remember thinking "Damn."

Anyway - shopping online I came across, what looked like, HUGE markup for materials that don't really cost that much. Like a cord rosary made from round seeds and common silver (925). It was very pretty, to be sure, But you can get 500 of those seeds for about $2.50 a bag. The silver beads would run about 4.00 dollars and then you center metal and cross would be about $4-8 (could run more, but that's not usual for cord). Cord is about .50 per rosary. So giving a bit of leeway, about $10-15 to make the rosary. Chain rosaries can take a while to make, but cord ones take about 30 mins, so it's not too labor intensive either.

It was selling for $45 + shipping. Now, true, I didn't factor in things like the fancy website (it was really nice) and other overhead. I don't know if they had employees or if a bunch of nuns with arthritis were painstakingly making each one of these and it was going toward aspir-cream for an entire convent. So maybe it's justified. (Though I tend not to think so because they had rosaries priced at $500 that couldn't have cost them more than $50 to make). But it just seemed a bit steep to me, especially since I bought a really nice sterling silver blue crystal rosary for my mother at $25 - and crystal beads and sterling silver cost more than seeds and cord.

Anyway - this is why I'm thinking of selling them. Little overhead, lower cost. It's fun and the rosaries are pretty. I can see where it would be meditative to make them as well.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's amazing how much crafts can get marked up. It's not just with beading stuff too. I remember seeing these little "art" things at a Cracker Barrel that were, I kid you not, little poems printed on paper by a laser printer, the edges were then burned, then they were framed in regular frames with some lace and ribbons on the inside. All told this could not have cost more than 5 bucks to make (assuming the frames were not bought wholesale), yet they were selling for something like $20. Insane!

I was also flipping through a magazine yesterday and saw a blurb about beaded earrings. These things were so basic that I, with no beading skills whatsoever, could probably figure out how to make them in maybe an hour tops and they were selling for hundreds. I have absolutely no idea why. They didn't even have precious stones in them (that I could tell).

I've always wanted to try making jewelry. Based on that article I'm starting to think I need to teach myself how to make earrings, b/c even if those were precious stones being used, clearly there's a market for cheap knockoffs of these designs. Ebay anyone? ;)

What was the rosary website, btw? You've got me all curious to go see their web design now.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

It's at Queen of Peace Rosaries http://www.queenofpeace-rosaries.com/ (http://www.queenofpeace-rosaries.com/) - and I've got to admit, they piss me off for suggesting that it's difficult to pray if you have a "substandered" rosary. Yes, I can see it's difficult to pray if the thing falls apart on you, but the suggestion there is that unless you have one of *their* rosaries, you're gonna be too worried that it *might* fall apart and not concentrate on your prayers. Or maybe that your rosary isn't as pretty and Sister Agatha's and shouldn't you have a nicer rosary than a nun who took a vow of poverty?

I can't help but think that if you feel the need to spend $250 on a rosary, you've missed the point.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Wow yeah, seriously. Although that reminds me of that commercial - "I can't concentrate. Could I be pregnant?" Except in their case it's "I can't pray - could my rosary cost less than twenty dollars?"

ETA

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Okay, just glanced at their website. Read the schpeal about their rosaries vs others, was vaguely thinking that the extra work with the wire wrapping could justify the $45 vs $25 cost, then I looked at their chaplets.

WHAT??? WHAT???

How the hell are they justifying those prices?? That's insane!!

Re: ETA

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Oh no, the wire wrapping ones were in the 100s - I was only talking about the cord ones, which were $45. No wire wrapping there. Just knotting.

And the chaplets - yeah. I could believe what they wanted for those. No way in hell that 10 beads, unless they're diamonds, should cost that freaken much.

Re: ETA

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

I asked Mer, who works in Gifts & Dec, why they might cost that much just to see if there was something someone in the industry would know that we don't. Her guesses were overhead for any office/employees, a percentage of the profits being given to a church or charity and/or the fact that religious stuff just tends to cost more since it's a niche market. But that's all guesses.

I remember reading somewhere that when selling crafts you shouldn't be afraid to mark up the price b/c saying they're worth that much can, in some instances, add value to the item. So these rosaries may cost hundreds of dollars because being able to say "this rosary set me back four hundred bucks" is now a feature.

Speaking of which, if you're going to be selling this stuff yourself you may want to check - I'm guessing the name because I don't have it in front of me - Make it Profitable out of the library. It's a book by a woman who's apparently the person for advice on how to sell crafts. It's been a while since I read it so I can't give you the table of contents, but I remember it was very comprehensive.

Re: ETA

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

I was thinking overhead as well. I'm hoping it's overhead. I can get that there's a niche and craft people tend to markup to sell themselves and make a good profit, and I'm all fine with that but. . . there just seems to be something very wrong with that when it comes to religious items. I guess if someone wants to pay $500 for something that's worth about $50, then that's their outlook - and if the market will bear it then cool - but I still get this uneasy queasy feeling that there's something wrong with hyper inflating the cost of a rosary, or Buddhist prayer beads, or water from the ganges, or whatever the holy product is.

As for the book - I'd love to check into it, as while I can make the craft, not sure how to get the word out or market it. If you can remember the woman and the title, I'd appreciate the reference =)

Re: ETA

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm so there with you. Esp since they're giving that heaping helping of "If you really loved the Lord, you'd spend the extra money" to go along with it. Because frankly even if every cent then immediately gets given to blind, legless orphans it still squicks me that they are literally putting a price on your faith. Didn't some weirdo tack up a manifesto to a church door because of crap like that?

And I'm home now so I can give you the book info. Apparently in a fit of precognition I bought it =)

It's Make it Profitable by Barbara Brabec, ISBN 0-87131-903-9. According to the bullet points on the back cover it talks about:

Business planning and goal setting
Time Management and Organization
Finding a New or Additional Workplace
Design and Packaging
The Problem of Pricing
Supplies and Shipping
Sharpening your marketing skills
Production methods and strategies
Keeping everything in perspective

It's been a while since I've read it but I remember it as being very helpful. Heck, I may reread the chapter on pricing tonight just to see what it says ;)

I believe she's got other books too but I can't find a list inside of it. But it's a very easy read. It's thick but I wouldn't be surprised if you plowed right through it in a weekend tops.

Re: ETA

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly! I'll go check that out of the library =)

Re: ETA

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

I'"m happy to lend a hand! =)

I skimmed my copy last night and it's still good. The only thing I can think to say against it is that it's very geared towards those who want to make a living off of their crafts, so it may have more business-oriented stuff than you need, but OTOH it's uber-helpful with things like packaging, selling and whatnot so I'd still recommend it even if you're just doing the rosaries for pin money.