It has arrived!

I did indeed get it done today. And it is indeed made of pure awesome.

( Here it is! )

And as some of you might actually care about why I did it, and also how I did it, I shall explain all.

( SPark explains all. )

Hang onto your hats...

...it's rant time!

So I was posting pictures of my flame gryphon everywhere that would allow such a thing to be posted. It's awesome, I must show it off! And, of course, I got a couple of inquiries about my making such a thing for somebody else. I gave my pricing (around $100 for the paint job, $30 for the gryphon. I really ought to charge a bit more, given how long it takes, but painting is a nice break from sewing, so I'm willing to give myself a slightly lower per hour for it than for a fursuit. Should I get enough orders for gryphon paint jobs that it compares in income, things would change, but it's not going to happen.)

Anyhow, the guy who asked originally on one particular forum had the response I expected, which was pretty much "YIKES! Expensive! No thanks." Which was my response exactly upon first seeing Windstones, but eventually I started buying them anyhow because they're just that awesome.

And a guy who I am rapidly starting to despise chimed in with a whole thing about how that's way overpriced. I explained that I must make a living, and painting takes a long time, and said that anybody who doesn't like my prices is more than welcome to go elsewhere. He showed me a photo of some rather nicely painted miniatures of the gaming variety that a friend of his had done him for a mere $50 for a set of five. And, he told me, that painting those took at least as long as my gryphon did! Just so I know, he said, just so I know, I'm not going to sell anything much at those prices when other people are selling for less.

To which my response is pretty much "so what?" I don't want to spend all day painting and drawing. I faced that prospect some time ago, and threw it out the window. That's not what I want to do with my life. My artwork is very, very deliberately overpriced compared to market rates among amatures like myself. (It's dirt cheap compared to a real pro, but I can't pretend to be one of those...) Any decent furry artist can draw you up a character sheet. A few will do it for free! Some rather talented ones will do it, with full color, for as little as $15. I charge $50. Not because I'm better, but because I don't really want to draw character sheets more than once in a blue moon. So far I haven't gotten any, which is fine by me!

Now sewing, that I'm happy to do all day, and in fact I throw in free character art with any fursuit, should the customer need it. Because I want my business to do well, and the small touches, the free extras, really make a difference in repeat business and reputation spreading.

Same thing with painting. If I sell a PYO gryphon once every few months, I'll be quite pleased. That's about right, really. If I wanted to move a lot of them, I could probably go for $50 a paint job, and get a lot of business, but I'd have to slave away painting all day in order to make the same profit I now make from sewing on a non-slaving schedule. And as every minute I'm painting is a minute that I'm not sewing, why shouldn't I price my time comparably? Sure, I'll get very few orders that way, but that's not exactly hurting me. There are other things I like more, and can get more for.

It's something I think of a "personal economics." The price I charge for an item is based on my own personal sliding scale. Materials costs go in there. Time goes in there. Market rates go in there too, and what I know others of my skill level are charging for a thing, but the biggest factor is my personal enjoyment of a task. If I don't like doing it, I charge more, plain and simple.

And it really annoys me when people fail to grasp this. I do not "have to" compete. I don't "have to" price my things so they'll sell if I don't want to! I don't have to price match with other fursuiters, or other artists. I'm not Wal-Mart! "Lowest prices" is not my motto. "Unique" is. There are a few people who enjoy my specific style enough to pay my prices for it, in costumes or in painting, and that's good enough for me. I'm not forcing anybody to buy anything of mine. Of course it's nice when somebody buys something, and I'll be quite pleased when my flame gryphon goes up on ebay. But you can get a billion bucks that I'm not going to start the auction at once cent less than I'd be willing to take for it. I'd rather just keep it than sell it for less than it's worth to me. And frankly, that strategy has paid off time and time again. Every time I've been faced with "sell it now cheap or keep it and wait" eventually the right person, the one to whom it's worth what I'm charging, has turned up. So why should I sell it now cheap?

Considering that I am actually making a living doing this now, I think I know what I'm doing!

(That has really got to be the biggest pet peeve I have. Or at least in the top three. People who do not make a living in my feild, telling me how to run things! Shoo, idiots, I know better than you do!)

It is done!

Halleluja, Amen!

*falls over dead*

This is, more orless, the last little bit of Project TCU, which was originally supposed to get unveiled last year at BC, but got put off because it was fricking impossible to do in time.

But now it is done! (Well, okay, the glue must dry, and the whole thing must be unpinned and prepared for transit, but I call it done anyhow. Actual construction is finished.)

After the unveiling I'll share pictures, but until then, it's still hush-hush.

I just had to say, it's done!

*sigh*

If I were rich... If I were rich I would buy this.

Though actually, if I were rich I'd also buy this guy. *drools* So pretty! And it's purple! (sorta)

I really do intend to get an old warrior dragon someday, but what I wouldn't give for one of the prototypes... even this fellow. There's a little voice in the back of my head that says I could buy him, hang onto him for a year or two, until the prototypes are all gone and there will be no more, then sell him for scads. Truth is I'd probably never sell him unless I got desperate. But the voice still insists... If he were anywhere NEAR as cheap at end of auction as he is now, I'd be all over that, but... *shrug* He'll go for four times that.

Though *cough* my offer to do a partial for any of these guys is still open... You'd have to wait a bit, at this point, as I'm full till Halloween, but after that...