How Many Prototypes Do You Make Till It Is Sellable?

[LumpenDoodle2]

I have bought a couple of very cheap split hides to try out my prototypes on. The quality of the split leather is actually good enough that I can then 'road test' the prototypes before using the good leather.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

"Mock-ups can be a cheaper intermediate solution, but with leather goods there won't be much difference between a mock-up, a muck-up, a f--k-up, and a prototype."

Thanks Art, you gave me my laugh for the day. And there's a lot of truth to that.

Like Electrathon, I usually get it on the second try. If I don't get it by the third, I bag the project, but I realize we may be talking about different types of projects and a custom situation vs manufacturing. With years of experience, I have learned to predict if a project is going to be good right out of the chute or take some experimentation. I tend to take fewer of the second kind unless the client understands they will pay for every minute of experimentation/tweaking/prototyping. With experience, you also get better at initial design work, so there are fewer second and third attempts.

[Jimdad]

For most of my simpler items, one or two. Often the first, as long as I have tested/practiced the individual steps separately. But, I started in on leather to try and make a wrist brace that was comfortable and better looking than "hospital beige". I've made at least a dozen variations on similar & very different ideas, and still never came up with one I'm completely happy with-- the attempts apparently were the extra physical therapy I needed though, and so the prototypes have been shelved for other leather work. My point is that it also depends on what you're making. A card wallet can have a stitch off by half a mm and you might not be able to tell, but half a mm off on where I began an angled cut on a wrist brace might make all the difference. So different items may have different tolerances.

[Aidanforsyth0]

With wallets I usually get it on the first try with very slight modifications afterwards. Usually I make a customers custom order and then tweak it from there and list it on my site. With other items like bracelets I have made numerous prototypes but have yet to post one because I just haven't gotten it to my liking.