#but im not cheap on others. i love spending well on ppl who arent me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

trickstarbrave · 5 months

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i saw some people bitching on tiktok about art/commission prices again and i feel like ranting

idk why someone got it in their heads all artists are upper class rich folk trying to scam you out of something that isn't hard at all for us to make. art takes time and energy--time and energy we could literally spend doing ANYTHING else. we could be spending time with our loved ones, working a regular job with reliable pay and better benefits, or even just making art WE want to see. most of us are working class or poor.

"but you could charge less and get more customers" who the hell wants to work more for less pay. genuinely. would you rather work 90 hours for 10 bucks an hour or 40 hours for 35 bucks an hour? like get real. past a certain point of popularity you will be literally unable to keep up with commissions bc you cannot physically make them fast enough and stay healthy so higher prices mean you can dedicate more time to people who want it more

"well your art isnt even GOOD" if someone's art isnt your taste or technically worth it to you then dont buy it. to really get good at commissions you do have to build an audience and if they havent then they'll figure out they need to improve or network/promote more. you bitching about it isnt helping them figure it out any faster, and you bitching to artists who DO reliably get commissions at that price makes you look like a whiny brat

"but you COULD charge less and still survive. that means youre scamming people" listen i know you are used to be catered to by large corporations who can use literal slave labor to make things dirt fucking cheap but ethical labor costs more. we are not large corporations with big art machines shitting out subpar garbage you can buy off the rack. you are asking for handmade, customized things from someone in a place with a higher cost of living. we cannot and will not bend over backwards to appeal to the lowest common denominator. see above: we have better things to be doing with our time and this shit costs time and labor to produce. if you dont want a handmade custom art piece or dress or jewelry consider buying from shein then you cheapskate and get out of this market.

because, see above: we have better things to be doing. you are the one asking me to spend my free time making you something because you want it supposedly. i could instead be making things i like. i have the luxury too where if i dont wanna do something i dont have to. i dont have to pick up extra work for you. other artists can find other customers that arent you. if YOU want something you should make it worth the artists wild. no i dont wanna do a full custom painting for you for 40 dollars. i would barely get out of bed for 40 dollars. if i told you to clean my whole house for 10 dollars and deep clean it you would probably tell me im insane and you're not gonna do all that work for 10 god damn dollars. 10 dollars wont even pay for the cleaning supplies.

i dont take commissions anymore specifically bc i kept getting burnt out. i felt i had to make it cheaper to get more when in reality all it did was make more work with little reward. i didnt feel happy making art anymore. it became a chore, and i didnt wanna make anything for myself after i spent hours and hours making other stuff for other ppl. im lucky enough now to have a corporate job with more free time so i can get paid enough to survive and still make art. if i ever decided to again i would probably price it rly high bc tbh. if you want me to make you a custom piece i dont rly wanna draw you had better make it worth the soul crushing work that is turning a passion of mine into a profit.

and lastily with the "you could charge less and still survive" artists deserve to not only survive but thrive. artists deserve free time to make what they enjoy and have other hobbies. artists deserve to not have to work overtime to have stuff in savings. you do too in fact as a non-artist, but attacking artists for wanting that and trying to make it a reality that they get paid not just a survival wage but a FAIR wage is not actually helping anyone.

#no one here btw this is mostly tiktok again #i see this on clothes and jewelry and dice and art #its ANNOYING

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trickstarbrave · 4 years

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Question, why are your dice so expensive? I could buy several chessex sets for the price of one set of yours and I don't see the appeal at all. Why are you making them so expensive and then expecting people to buy them up? If you wan't actual customers I just think you should pay more attention to the price dice actually go for than jacking them up so high. Not to mention this isn't a great time to be asking people to buy expensive things like that... It's selfish.

first of all these arent chessex dice. if you want mass produced dice go right ahead, i own a lot of them too. theres nothing wrong with buying and collecting just that and if you want a lot of nice sets theyre a good way to go. but mine are not mass produced, and the reason mass produced sets are so cheap overall is because they are, well mass produced. you make a lot of them. the molds to make them and the big machinery are investments larger companies make in order to make a lot of dice. when you divide up those costs between hundreds upon THOUSANDS of sets of dice its not that much.

my dice are handmade. im not saying you should buy them because theyre handmade if handmade means nothing to you. but because theyre handmade i can do a lot of things mass production cant do, like different effects, inclusions, and having sharp edges polished. again theres also a lot of effects only mass produced dice can have as well, so its not like i can do anything and there are pros and cons to each. but if youre asking the appeal, well then there are certain things youre only going to be able to get handmade.

and because theyre handmade theyre more expensive expensive. if i charged what chessex does for theirs done nearly fully by machine i would be paying myself 2 dollars or less per hour and thats not even factoring into costs of materials or equipment. i have to hand make the molds, hand mix and pour small amounts of resin, i have to hand place tiny little embeds, i have to cut sprues and sand edges all by hand (before i would use a power tool a bit and do for other things now). i had to buy custom masters 3-d printed. i had to buy a pressure pot and air compressor so i could stop having failed casts filled with bubbles because of temperature fluctuations. i had to invest in sandpaper, polishing papers, a dremel. i had to buy silicone, and failed at making molds sometimes and had to eat that cost. i had to learn how to cast resin, different mold making methods and why they worked, how to sand and polish epoxy, how to use different materials. i had to buy every inclusion, all the resin, all the pigments and mica powders. and this doesn’t include the time i have to take to make every listing, photograph dice, social media management, and more. this is something i like doing yes but i cant just spend so much money on equipment and then just give them all away for basically free.

and lastly i do know dice prices. i kinda have to. every single price increase was due to better equipment and learning, better materials, and done to try and adequately pay myself for my labor. i’m still, at best, getting about 10 bucks an hour which in many places isn’t that great and isn’t enough to survive on. im making what is barely a livable minimum wage from years of training and experimenting and honing a craft. and its not perfect, no! my dice probably arent the best you can buy handmade. there are people better than me and people who have been doing it longer. which is why mine are about middle of the road for handmade sets. ive seen them go as cheap as 25 bucks a set to 150 bucks a set. 60-70 is about where i feel rn is comfortable for the amount of time i put into it and my skill level.

again i also cant tell you to buy from me rn. i get money is tight. i get theres a lot going on. ive also made donations, ive been unsure of things during covid. many people have lost their homes, or dont have proper food. if you can afford my dice i am not mad at you or upset, right now shit sucks. maybe you can never justify that much money on a dice set, i get it. i dont know you and dont need your lifes story. i dont want to make you feel you need to sacrifice even more to buy them if you dont want to or even cant and im not trying to pressure you into it.

but i cant fix all of these problems and i am not some multimillionaire demanding you cough up as much money as possible so i can hoard more wealth like a dragon. im a disabled lesbian. i was trying to be employed before this though a work program and that was set on hold as most places closed down entirely, and i sure as hell am going to be one of the last people anyone wants to give a job to in reopening. this is basically all i have to make money atm. and while times are tough i feel for some people things like a want for art or entertainment wont die. theres still ppl buying video games and art commissions and nice clothes. just right now a lot of people who would probably love to cant. and since i have no money i cant buy any of that other stuff rn either (luckily my gf and roommate have jobs so we can afford things like, food and rent).

again buy chessex or any other brand of mass produced dice if you want to. if you dont care for expensive kinds dont buy them. im not going to force you to or guilt you into it. spend your money how you want to. the post was mainly so people who like that kind of thing and have the money for it can see it and make that decision for themselves. and if you personally dont like my stuff you can buy from another handmade seller if you decide you trust them more, i dont mind. im just... tryin to get by. making some dice. seeing if anyone will buy them so maybe i can make more bc there Isnt Much Else I Can Do Like This.

tl;dr: dont buy my dice then and buy cheaper dice it doesnt hurt my feelings if you dont want to/cant buy what i make im not your mom i cant tell you what to do???? i am just trying to get by im an artist and im disabled idk what u want ME to do exactly in this equation

#Anonymous

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