As you may have seen on my commissions page, there are quite a few things that go into calculating the price of a tapestry. I've tried my best to make a system that's fair to myself, customers who purchase ready-made tapestries, and customers who commission a custom piece. Let's break it all down!
Is there an additional cost for customisation?
Indirectly, yes. Custom orders that are designed from start to finish with the customer's heart and vision involved are wonderfully meaningful, but it takes additional time and energy to meld expectations and dreams. That time element of customisation is included in the baseline price of a commission. Whereas for a ready-made tapestry, I may need less or more time to let my own ideas flow out into the world, so I view this holistically for each piece, rather than embedded as a set starting value - which is why you may see a ready-made tapestry that doesn't seem to follow the pricing formula exactly. But there are no surprises on custom orders, I've outlined everything below.
How is the baseline price calculated?
Size matters! The formula for the base line price averages the height and width of the tapestry, and multiplies that number by 10. Not every square cm of a tapestry has the same level of detail, but by including the dimensions of a piece in how the price is calculated, I make sure that I can spend time and energy on any and every custom composition. For example, it's faster to create a golden wattle blossom than a banksia. But golden wattles are much smaller, so I need more of them to fill a space. I don't want to have to skimp out on the energy and love that goes into one, two, three or five banksias in comparison to a small or ginormous field of wattle.
What is included in the baseline price?
Different methods of creating require various materials and time, but I pinpointed what makes each tapestry magic and wrapped it up into a package that everyone gets:
Painted background: One flower on a white background is nice sometimes, but to add dimension to busier pieces I paint faint plants directly onto the base fabric before adding detailed painted plants on top, and then fabric plants on top. This is one method of creating depth what is mostly a two dimensional artwork.
Painting on fabric: If you have a closer look at my tapestries, you'll notice that there are rarely pieces of fabric that are entirely one colour or shade. That's because I dye and paint details onto the fabric bits long before arranging them. Veins in leaves, shading of petals, crinkles of bark.
Variety of fabric types: This is honestly somewhat unavoidable... after all, I get my materials from people who are cleaning out their closet and find things that can't be donated anymore! After a good wash I end up with cotton, wool, denim, corduroy, polyester, satin, velvet, linen, lace, faux fur, anything! This is an amazing way to bring texture into a tapestry, and truly differentiate the feeling of each type of plant. I'm not kidding, choosing which of my second hand fabrics to use for which plants is hugely informed by touching and poking the leaves of every plant I see.
Embroidering on fabric: I often hand-sew bigger constructions onto the base. For example, if I sewed a bottle brush onto a sheet of fabric with my sewing machine it would look like it got run over! An out-of-place line of stitching is like tire tracks. But I still use my sewing machine for embroidering veins onto individual leaves, folds onto petals, texture onto wattle blossoms, spikes onto the edges of banksia leaves, and more. This is all included, because I'm in love with adding detail.
What does 'adding texture' mean and why does that cost $100?
Not all plants are created equal, and by that I mean they're all amazing but not equally large, voluminous, spiny, fluffy, or thick. As seen above, the golden wattles I make are flat pieces of fabric, whose texture comes from the type of fabric (towel vs t-shirt) or embroidery. However a banksia... those are made of layers and layers of different types of fabric sewn together, then meticulously torn in parallel lines, sandpapered, fluffed up and stiffened with paint. Textured plants tend to have multiple steps in their creation process. A great way to see those steps in action is checking out a video of how a Hakea is made start to finish, with all its loops.
What about 3D elements for $200? How is that different?
This is where we put our engineering hats on and even add metal elements to support the protruding structures. Taking texture to the next level, 3D elements aren't just a raised surface but entire branches reaching out of the fabric, supported by wires. I even stuff pouches of fabric like pillows to create volume, such as in my tapestry The Bouquet, which is a great example of many 3D elements side by side.
What's my final total?
Baseline cost which depends on size + add on elements + shipping which depends on size and location (or free pickup in Glebe, NSW). Simple as that, no surprises!
Rest assured, I'm comfortable with creating payment plans flexible to your needs. And of course, you can ask me more questions any time!
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