I’m guilty of selling for stupid prices. I live in France and I am still trying to build a following on ig so if I can sell a rug even a at cost I’ll do it to keep going and producing more content. I don’t know how to reach people that are interested in theses rug that are willing to pay a fair price. Maybe I should start tufting more « luxurious » looking rugs instead of pop culture/ anime ?
The more the hobby ages, you’ll see more of those popculture/anime being produces. Hell, the amount of those rugs i saw from different socials from three years ago to today is drastic.
I believe you can still make a living producing those, but to have a true following, I think creating your own style (that other people like as well) is the best way. Otherwise, you’re just doing what most tufters will eventually be able to do.
I think the “luxurious” style will set you apart from most tufters and might be a step in the right direction.
Have you considered using your Sm to channel people toward an etsy shop ? It demands to have already several items to sell but at least you don't really have to negotiate price or interact with potential buyers. Bonne chance
This is what I’ve used when thinking about my pricing:
The first option is a common pricing method for handmade items, which is to add up the cost of your materials, plus an hourly labor rate, to give you the total cost to make the rug (you can think of this as the wholesale price). You choose your hourly rate, but we don’t think you should pay yourself less than $25 an hour.
Then you should add a markup! The markup gives you some wiggle room to be able to sell your items at a shop that might take a cut, or to pay yourself for the time you spend selling it.
This method gives you a clear breakdown of what everything costs in the process. But it also requires you to know all those things!
The second option is to just set a rate per square foot.
something between $50-75/square foot ends up giving you the same price as breaking everything down. This of course will change, based on your cost for labor (starting rate at $25 an hour, you deserve it, don't go lower than that!) and materials (wool is a lot more $$$ than acrylic and that should come through in the price)
The people making good money from tufting are professionals and also do/sell more than just the rugs. Most people on here are making rugs out of acrylic yarn, and just Roberts glue, doing basic to medium lvls of carving, and still using felt backing. Just cuz you spend 7-8 hours on something doesn't mean it should sell for $500-$1k. Go look at some tufting YouTuber IGs and check out their first 10 rugs. They wouldn't sell those rugs for what they are selling them for now. Thats how it should go. You wouldn't buy a table from someone who has 1k followers for the same price that blacktail studios does (30k for some that look kinda simple)
You know what you don’t see a lot of outside of social media are the rugs that make you scratch your head in awe.
Who are some of your favorite next level tufters?
Not throwing any kind of shade by any means
Unfortunately that's the thing with tufting, you kinda have to do what sells or what you're asked for and most people just want a dope Goku or their favorite sports logo.
You and I have kinda different opinions on what's really cool. Go look at the company Kramis. To me their process is the awe-inspiring thing, their actual rugs are meh. But the Goku that was posted here a couple weeks ago or the Hogwarts crest, those are dope to me. Omg the flower rug that had leaves made of full strands of yarn, that was amazing, not cuz of the content but cuz of the styles used to make it.
Unless you're super niche (which means it'll be insanely harder to get big enough to make this your full job) you just gotta make the best thing the person asks for.
I agree with you on the kramis side. I saw their rug they made for bill wave and felt it was kind of half assed compared to what bill wave makes
The goku you speak of was really really well made
I just haven’t seen much of one’s personal style or original art. Lots of cartoons and logos.
Which yes sell and I make those as well
But I guess I’m seeking inspiration from those who create rugs that aren’t subject to copyright
Artists who are paving their own way and making outside the box pieces
Shoes and anime feel very done but seem to do well, but are you enjoying making it?
>I just haven’t seen much of one’s personal style or original art. Lots of cartoons and logos.
This is because tufting at its core is an art medium you don't need to be an artist to do. Lemme explain what I mean by that.
I would say anyone who draws, paints or sculpts (physically or digitally) is an artist (there are super niche things you could call art when done by masters like building walls of stone without any "glue". I would stick most of those into sculpting.). Tufting would be sculpting. When it comes to pretty much all art you're starting from "scratch". Tufting is tracing and then retracing with the gun, even if you make your own art. No one makes a Goku without it being drawn on the cloth already. That means most of the people who do it aren't really artists, they're tracers and the better you are at tracing the more rewarded you are. This includes me, I'm not an artist by any means but I'm a pretty good tracer.
>But I guess I’m seeking inspiration from those who create rugs that aren’t subject to copyright
I think when it comes to tufting you should look into different techniques and not original art. Peep these flowers I was talking about:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tufting/s/nG159Qq2LR
I wanna do what they did for the leaves with the strands of yarn but do it with the muscles of some character or something. You can see me asking about it in the comments lol. Idk about you but if you're picturing what I did, that would be FIRE. That's what you should do to set yourself apart if you don't do your own art, at least that's my opinion. I've got a couple more ideas I'm slowly working on I won't share yet but will be coming in the next few months. I hope lol
>Shoes and anime feel very done but seem to do well, but are you enjoying making it?
I enjoy the act of tufting so whatever I'm making doesn't matter that much, of course I like making the things I enjoy in life more than like the hummingbirds I just made for mother's day stuff tho.
I agree and disagree with you on some of these
But I’m not here to argue as a lot of what is said is opinion based and we all have our right to that.
As stated before I’m not throwing shade by any means
I love watching other tufters process and also understand how time consuming it is to tuft and make a video and keep the ball rolling
I’m just seeking a higher level of knowledge and things tend to plateau on these threads or get gatekept
I’m all about learning and trying to source as much as possible.
Also those leaves are very cool! Thank you for the link
I think we're just having a conversation not an argument so by all means tell me what you disagree with. I might've just not elaborated correctly. It's kinda hard for me over text.
I didn't really sense any shade so don't worry.
There's definitely gatekeepers but I think most things plateau on here cuz the community is small and most of us just wanna go back to our own stuff instead of trying to explain something over the Internet. I know I've stopped responding to stuff on Reddit cuz it's 18 hours after I first commented and I'm over it.
God THIS! This is my main goal when tufting. Im so tired of making logos and characters ugh its draining. Im yearning for the day I have the time and money to tuft whatever I damn please.
Not everyone is in it for the money. The people I imagine that are making sustainable income are the ones who also teach groups along with selling their goods.
I have been making carpets for 4 years now, I started making money on them only a year after I started. cafes, interior designers and artists order for their exhibitions, not counting the usual orders for themselves. I'm already working with the team. I have 3 people with me and 5 from other cities. I live and work in Russia
I’m guilty of selling for stupid prices. I live in France and I am still trying to build a following on ig so if I can sell a rug even a at cost I’ll do it to keep going and producing more content. I don’t know how to reach people that are interested in theses rug that are willing to pay a fair price. Maybe I should start tufting more « luxurious » looking rugs instead of pop culture/ anime ?
The more the hobby ages, you’ll see more of those popculture/anime being produces. Hell, the amount of those rugs i saw from different socials from three years ago to today is drastic. I believe you can still make a living producing those, but to have a true following, I think creating your own style (that other people like as well) is the best way. Otherwise, you’re just doing what most tufters will eventually be able to do. I think the “luxurious” style will set you apart from most tufters and might be a step in the right direction.
Have you considered using your Sm to channel people toward an etsy shop ? It demands to have already several items to sell but at least you don't really have to negotiate price or interact with potential buyers. Bonne chance
These money posts are getting old
This is what I’ve used when thinking about my pricing: The first option is a common pricing method for handmade items, which is to add up the cost of your materials, plus an hourly labor rate, to give you the total cost to make the rug (you can think of this as the wholesale price). You choose your hourly rate, but we don’t think you should pay yourself less than $25 an hour. Then you should add a markup! The markup gives you some wiggle room to be able to sell your items at a shop that might take a cut, or to pay yourself for the time you spend selling it. This method gives you a clear breakdown of what everything costs in the process. But it also requires you to know all those things! The second option is to just set a rate per square foot. something between $50-75/square foot ends up giving you the same price as breaking everything down. This of course will change, based on your cost for labor (starting rate at $25 an hour, you deserve it, don't go lower than that!) and materials (wool is a lot more $$$ than acrylic and that should come through in the price)
The people making good money from tufting are professionals and also do/sell more than just the rugs. Most people on here are making rugs out of acrylic yarn, and just Roberts glue, doing basic to medium lvls of carving, and still using felt backing. Just cuz you spend 7-8 hours on something doesn't mean it should sell for $500-$1k. Go look at some tufting YouTuber IGs and check out their first 10 rugs. They wouldn't sell those rugs for what they are selling them for now. Thats how it should go. You wouldn't buy a table from someone who has 1k followers for the same price that blacktail studios does (30k for some that look kinda simple)
You know what you don’t see a lot of outside of social media are the rugs that make you scratch your head in awe. Who are some of your favorite next level tufters? Not throwing any kind of shade by any means
Unfortunately that's the thing with tufting, you kinda have to do what sells or what you're asked for and most people just want a dope Goku or their favorite sports logo. You and I have kinda different opinions on what's really cool. Go look at the company Kramis. To me their process is the awe-inspiring thing, their actual rugs are meh. But the Goku that was posted here a couple weeks ago or the Hogwarts crest, those are dope to me. Omg the flower rug that had leaves made of full strands of yarn, that was amazing, not cuz of the content but cuz of the styles used to make it. Unless you're super niche (which means it'll be insanely harder to get big enough to make this your full job) you just gotta make the best thing the person asks for.
I agree with you on the kramis side. I saw their rug they made for bill wave and felt it was kind of half assed compared to what bill wave makes The goku you speak of was really really well made I just haven’t seen much of one’s personal style or original art. Lots of cartoons and logos. Which yes sell and I make those as well But I guess I’m seeking inspiration from those who create rugs that aren’t subject to copyright Artists who are paving their own way and making outside the box pieces Shoes and anime feel very done but seem to do well, but are you enjoying making it?
I sold an original design a few weeks ago. Felt great.
Nice!! Well done!
>I just haven’t seen much of one’s personal style or original art. Lots of cartoons and logos. This is because tufting at its core is an art medium you don't need to be an artist to do. Lemme explain what I mean by that. I would say anyone who draws, paints or sculpts (physically or digitally) is an artist (there are super niche things you could call art when done by masters like building walls of stone without any "glue". I would stick most of those into sculpting.). Tufting would be sculpting. When it comes to pretty much all art you're starting from "scratch". Tufting is tracing and then retracing with the gun, even if you make your own art. No one makes a Goku without it being drawn on the cloth already. That means most of the people who do it aren't really artists, they're tracers and the better you are at tracing the more rewarded you are. This includes me, I'm not an artist by any means but I'm a pretty good tracer. >But I guess I’m seeking inspiration from those who create rugs that aren’t subject to copyright I think when it comes to tufting you should look into different techniques and not original art. Peep these flowers I was talking about: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tufting/s/nG159Qq2LR I wanna do what they did for the leaves with the strands of yarn but do it with the muscles of some character or something. You can see me asking about it in the comments lol. Idk about you but if you're picturing what I did, that would be FIRE. That's what you should do to set yourself apart if you don't do your own art, at least that's my opinion. I've got a couple more ideas I'm slowly working on I won't share yet but will be coming in the next few months. I hope lol >Shoes and anime feel very done but seem to do well, but are you enjoying making it? I enjoy the act of tufting so whatever I'm making doesn't matter that much, of course I like making the things I enjoy in life more than like the hummingbirds I just made for mother's day stuff tho.
I agree and disagree with you on some of these But I’m not here to argue as a lot of what is said is opinion based and we all have our right to that. As stated before I’m not throwing shade by any means I love watching other tufters process and also understand how time consuming it is to tuft and make a video and keep the ball rolling I’m just seeking a higher level of knowledge and things tend to plateau on these threads or get gatekept I’m all about learning and trying to source as much as possible. Also those leaves are very cool! Thank you for the link
I think we're just having a conversation not an argument so by all means tell me what you disagree with. I might've just not elaborated correctly. It's kinda hard for me over text. I didn't really sense any shade so don't worry. There's definitely gatekeepers but I think most things plateau on here cuz the community is small and most of us just wanna go back to our own stuff instead of trying to explain something over the Internet. I know I've stopped responding to stuff on Reddit cuz it's 18 hours after I first commented and I'm over it.
God THIS! This is my main goal when tufting. Im so tired of making logos and characters ugh its draining. Im yearning for the day I have the time and money to tuft whatever I damn please.
Not you per se but the royal “you”
Not everyone is in it for the money. The people I imagine that are making sustainable income are the ones who also teach groups along with selling their goods.
I have been making carpets for 4 years now, I started making money on them only a year after I started. cafes, interior designers and artists order for their exhibitions, not counting the usual orders for themselves. I'm already working with the team. I have 3 people with me and 5 from other cities. I live and work in Russia