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How To Get Started

Perhaps you are already making handcrafted products as a hobby and you want to turn your hobby into a business. Or perhaps you have had no previous involvement in crafts, but have experience in some other kind of business. Either way, you have already acquired some of the knowledge and skills necessary to set up a successful craft business.

But what if you have never made anything handcrafted? What if you have had no previous business experience of any kind? What are your chances of successfully setting up and operating your own craft business?

Your chances are as good as anyone else’s. If you are prepared to work hard at mastering the techniques of your chosen craft and if you go about the business side of it in a professional way, you are almost certain to succeed.

a. What to Make

Even if you have no previous experience in crafts, you may have definite ideas about what interests you. If certain types of handcrafted products have a special appeal to you, or if you feel that you have a special flair for something, that’s the obvious place to start. You may feel a strong attraction to a particular medium such as leather, stone, or wood. Perhaps you are interested in a particular field such as small gift items, clothing, toys, or tableware, but have no really clear idea about a medium. Wherever your interests lie, there are opportunities for selling your work in most of the traditional and contemporary craft fields.

Start out with what most interests you.

If you have no previous craft experience and haven’t the faintest idea of where to start, make a list of your skills or talents, your hobbies, and your job experience. You’ll very likely discover that you are more versatile than you first thought.

Think of the things you’ve built in your basement workshop: the furniture for the children’s rooms, the bookshelves you made last winter, and all the other bits and pieces you’ve made for the house. You’ve always liked working with wood in your spare time. With a little more experience, you could make almost anything in wood.

Or perhaps you enjoy knitting and crocheting and are pretty good at it. Think of all the things you make for the children or as Christmas gifts for friends and relatives. Why not try offering some of your fine handknitted sweaters for sale? You’ve seen similar products in craft shops at prices of anywhere from $100 to $250, and many of them were not half as nice as yours.

If you’ve never made anything at all, think of some of the things you’d like to make and try them out. Start out with what most interests you. If you think you’d like making jewelry or hooking rugs, then start there. Look around at craft markets and in craft shops for products you think you would like to make or learn to make.

Browse through some of the many craft books available. There are literally thousands of books on crafts and most likely your public library or a nearby bookstore has a good selection. If you don’t have any particular craft in mind, then get one of the A to Z books on the various kinds of handcrafted products being made in North America. Look at both traditional and modern crafts.

You can get good ideas for products to make by looking around in craft and gift shops and especially at craft shows. At craft markets, some booths attract large crowds and certain items appear to be “hotter” than others. One season it might be patchwork clothing or wind socks, porcelain figurines or bronze jewelry. Be careful not to let current fashions influence you too much in your choice of a medium or a particular product. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to tackle something just because others are doing it if you think you can make it better or cheaper.

Look carefully at anything for which you feel a particular affinity. If you think you’d like the feel of potter’s clay in your hands, then pottery may be your thing. Or perhaps you have welding experience and would like to work with metals. The best medium for you is the one with which you feel the strongest affinity.

Obviously, some crafts require more equipment than others. Perhaps you already have some of this equipment and experience using it. For example, you may already have a band saw or sewing machine and like using them, so this may determine your choice of a particular craft.

It is important to note in starting out in your craft business that some of the best-selling handcrafted products are often the simplest to make. You would be wrong to try making highly complex products at the beginning, no matter what medium you are in. As your skill and experience develop, you will soon be able to do the more advanced work and produce more sophisticated products. Even then you will often find, especially if you are in production crafts, that you are still selling a lot of basic things that are very simple and easy to make.

In fact, some of the best-selling crafts are so simple to make you might wonder at first glance if they are worth making at all. Take, for example, certain wooden toys, or fabric items like place mats. If people wanted a product this simple and easy to make, they would make it themselves, wouldn’t they?

In most craft fields, you can start marketing your work while you are learning.

Actually, most of them wouldn’t. This is because most people don’t want to take the time and trouble to make something that they can buy from someone else. Craftspeople are successful in selling their products because they have taken the time and trouble to produce them and to produce them well — and because they know how and where to market them. This is where market research comes in, as we shall see in the next chapter. But first we need to take a look at ways of acquiring and upgrading your craftmaking skills.

b. How to Learn Craft Skills

Your goal is to achieve a mastery of the craft you have chosen. This is not something you will accomplish overnight. As your skills improve, you will set new challenges for yourself, and practicing your craft will become an ongoing learning process.

This does not mean that you must study and practice for years before you can sell any of your work. On the contrary, if you have chosen a field in which you are particularly adept, you can produce marketable work within a short time. In most craft fields, you can start marketing your work while you are learning. You will naturally produce simpler pieces first, following traditional or already-popular contemporary designs. You should not strive for too much originality at this point, but aim to master basic techniques.

Craft skills can be learned the same way most other skills are learned. There are a number of different ways of learning, none of which is inherently better than any other. Try the one that appeals most to you, or try them all.

1. Courses

Craft instruction is available in most large towns and cities. Formal craft study can range all the way from community evening courses at the local high school to the level of a university degree program. There are courses for beginners and advanced courses for experienced craftworkers. Some universities now offer a master’s degree in crafts. Contact your regional, state, or provincial crafts organization for information on the availability of craft courses in your community. (See Appendix 2 for a list of national, state, and provincial craft organizations.)

But wait a minute, you say. I want to start making things, not go through a 12-month course, let alone a university crafts program. I want to set up a craft business, not enroll in a course of study.

There is a widespread belief today that you cannot really know anything about a subject unless you have taken a course in it. This is, of course, utter nonsense. Craft courses have a valid place in the learning process, but they are far from being the only route to mastery of a craft.

There’s no reason why you have to complete a formal training course. Formal training in a craft, whether a single course or a whole program of courses, is in itself no guarantee that you will master the craft. Courses also have very little to do with the degree of commercial success you will have. Some of the best professional craftworkers around are entirely self-trained.

Whether or not you choose to take a craft course is very much a question of preference, depending partly on your own skills and partly on how you think you can best learn something new.

2. Apprenticeship

Perhaps you would rather work on a one-to-one basis with a professional craftworker. There are professional, working craftspeople who will provide apprenticeship training in their own studios. Some charge fees for the instruction, others offer training in return for help in their business. This can be an excellent way of learning about production as well as marketing and other aspects of a craft business.

Apprenticeship training can provide you with valuable insights into the nature of your craft that are almost impossible to get otherwise. If your instructor is really good, the creative inspiration you receive can have a major influence on your career. Your reputation can be greatly enhanced by having been an apprentice of someone who is widely known and respected in a particular field.

Unfortunately, opportunities for this kind of training are few. Most commercial craftworkers are too busy to provide training for an apprentice. Those who do usually accept only one apprentice at a time. Some craftworkers may be reluctant to provide training to someone whose main goal is to set themselves up in their own business in the same area.

If you are interested in this kind of training, you may have to travel to another part of the country, but it’s worthwhile if you get the opportunity to learn firsthand from a professional who is tops in his or her field.

No matter how you go about it, you will learn most about your chosen craft by actually doing it.

Your local or regional crafts organization may have a list of the names of craftspeople who are willing to take on apprentices. Or, if you know a professional whose work you admire, you may want to approach him or her and ask to be taken on as an apprentice.

3. Teaching yourself

Perhaps you would rather teach yourself the skills you need. Many craftworkers have learned this way. Even if you have undergone formal training, you will find that the only way you can perfect the skills you have learned is by practice.

Books are an invaluable source of information on techniques, products, ideas, and markets, but don’t just read. Try out the techniques and experiment with the methods described. You don’t have to read a book from cover to cover for it to be of use to you. Get in the habit of using books to dig out just the specific information you require.

The Internet is another rich source of information on crafts, including product ideas, craft techniques, and outlets for your work. If you do not have your own computer or if you are not online, you can access the Internet at most public libraries.

c. Conclusion

No matter how you go about it, you will learn most about your chosen craft by actually doing it. Follow closely the techniques that you have read about or that you have learned from your instructor or craftworker friend. Don’t expect to produce a masterpiece at the very outset. Chances are you’ll spoil some materials in the beginning and make a bit of a mess without having a lot to show for it. Don’t be discouraged. Keep trying.

If you’ve chosen something that you like, the learning process can be a lot of fun. As you progress, you’ll be rewarded by the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment that come from creating something.

You have now taken the first big step on the way to setting up your own craft business. The next chapter will tell you how to make things that will sell.