How I make my mosaics and are they worth it. - Part 2

Hello to you all. Well its been along time since my last post! Since then I have moved back down to Edinburgh and have been involved with a lot of craft fairs here. I will tell you what I've been up to another time but I want to finish this post! Sorry its taken me so long!

 

After filling in the gaps with the glue I am ready to grout. I must say its the least of my favourite bits to do. It takes ages but with a small item its not to bad.

 

This but gets a bit messy and I use latex gloves for it. You can get a pack cheaply from most discount or pound stores. I use them because my fingers were getting cut up and the grout was drying my hands out like sandpaper!

 

I clean up the grout and leave it to dry a but before I use a toothbrush to clean of any excess grout and it picks up the features of any beads I have put it. I'm a bit O.C.D. about this.

 

Once its dry I paint the back with normal emulsion paint since it will be an indoor item. I just give it the one coat because the style is a bit shabby chic.

 

 

I then choose a ribbon which will bring the best out of the item.

 

 

 

And then I buff it down to make it shine and there you have it!!

 

So how much did it cost to make? Well this one was a tad more pricey because the butterfly shape was about a pound each which included the price of the postage.

 

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So this is the interesting part. With all the little things like the tiles, glue, beads, ribbon, wooden blanks and the time to source and buy these things, many crafters DONT make their costs if you think about it. We are encouraged to cost everything, give yourself minimum wage, then double it and that should be what you should charge. So I should be charging about £18 for this wee butterfly but I'm selling it for £7 on etsy.

 

I think the moral of the story is, PLEASE BUY HANDMADE! As for me I love what I make. A bit of my heart goes into my creations. We are not mass producers and you are getting something special with a story behind it. I hope many crafters can relate to this and I hope you can take the time to comment because I would like to hear what you think.

 

All the best until next time!!

 

Wee butterfly on etsy. Click here to view.