Carving Out Your Opportunities
By Perry A Reynolds
As we continue our passion for wood carving many of us may desire to explore additional opportunities in wood carving related activities. Many, if not most, eventually choose to begin selling their work. This choice can be for many reasons. From simply seeking additional income to support our carving habit, to reducing our abundance of carvings or may be to eventually seek woodcarving as a full time occupation. Even if a person is not an accomplished wood carver there are still plenty of opportunities that exist for the artistic, creative or energetic individual that wants to participate in carving as an vehicle for additional opportunity.
Lets take a look at various opportunities that a carver or artist may choose to explore. Broken down into clearly defined aspects and categories of carving, the following ideas are simply basic choices.
All wood carvings can be divided into two basic aspects: Abstract and Realism. Many carvings also bridge these two categories. One good example is caricature carvings. Though we can easily recognize them as a human, animal or other figures they are abstract interpretations of those entities.
Types of Carvings
A brief description of the types of most commonly found wood carvings include:
This can come in many forms but for the sake of time and space this can be best defined as carvings meant to be placed on a shelf, displayed on a pedestal or hung on a wall, tree, door or other place of display for visual enjoyment. The vast majority of woodcarvings fall into this category.
Things meant to be used in daily life. Spoons, Bowls, Jewelry, Hunting Decoys, Display Shelves, Furnishings and other carvings that are provide not only beauty but also function.
This aspect incorporates both decorative and functional. Examples include Fixed Furnishings, Door and Window Moldings, Doors, Mantles, Cabinetry, Staircase Components, Signage or any other carving that provides decorative function and except for moveable signage is usually a fixed entity that becomes an integral component of a home or a commercial building.
As a carver, artist, crafter or any other occupation in which a person chooses to participate for profit it is imperative to structure your products or services so that they will make money. Here is a basic formula if you are seeking to market your work as well as survive in the carving related business (or any business). Material + Labor + Overhead = Cost. Cost + Markup = Sales Price. If you undercut your labor you walk backwards. Overhead encompasses the indirect costs such as supplies, transporting the products, packaging, advertising, business cards, entry fees, displays, etc… It is also imperative to add a profit (of whatever percentage you choose). Disregarding any of these factors is a recipe for failure. If you are interesting in marketing your work as a profitable hobby and you adhere to those simple formulas then as your customer base grows you will be afforded far more opportunities!