When can you call yourself a craftsman?

[fredk]

20 hours ago, Hildebrand said:

If this individual is putting out sub par work and using the title "craftsman" generally the problem will take care of itself as he will run out of customers for sub par work. 

I differ; no he won't. In this 21st C age he will gain more and more business - that is my experience, not only in leather work but also in wooden toy making and furniture making with my father. Add the words 'Craft' or 'Artisan' to anything these days and the ordinary buying folk become blind to the quality of the product - in this I speak with knowledge. eg a coffee shop not far me; did coffees, teas and sticky buns. Was losing out to a big chain one newly opened. On advice the shop 'rebranded' as 'Artisan' Coffee, and pushed that their stickies were all home-baked, ie in shop. Turned their fortunes around inside 3 weeks! Still the same doing inside, they made very little changes to how they did anything - it was the branding 'Artisan'

2 hours ago, Handstitched said:

At first I felt a little threatened, and a bit peeved as business is hard enough as it is, but more  insulted than anything else  . I don’t even call myself a ‘ craftsman ‘, I personally don't feel I  have earned that title . I call myself a 'leather worker', but not a craftsman .  What people call me is their choice, mostly ' the leather man' . 

sorry, I'm going to hit you between the eyes,

Do feel threatened. Work to get rid of that threat. Call yourself an Experienced Craftsman or something. Push and push and push your quality over his. If you don't he'll be taking business away from you. I speak from experience, below a tale of woe;

I used to be the only leatherworker selling 'medieval' style leather goods at craft fairs here in N.I. Then comes along a guy, calls himself the 'Medieval Leather Crafter'. His work was .  . . rubbish. And dearer than mine. I made items to the patterns supplied by museums etc, his were literally just scraps roughly sewn together. I and my Mrs thought he'll drop way, so I basically ignored his rubbish. Guess wot happened. I was dropped by the craft centres and castles and museums as my stuff was not 'historically accurate' compared to the interloper. I lost out to him because I ignored the threat of sub-standard work but someone more pushy than me

[kiwican]

Just to add my 2 cents here. I think it's a mistake to confuse craftsmanship with marketing and spin. Many many fine and skilled people don't do well in any number of fields simply because they are not spin doctors or skilled in marketing. I love to go to fairs and such like. I was at one this winter and a lady was selling her father's hand made belts. Starting at about 120.00 for the plain ones and drifting north of 200.00 for the tooled ones. These belts were shocking. Uneven unfinished rough as guts. I asked how long the maker had been in business and was told he had been doing it for 39 years. I'm not skilled at leather work but the first belt I ever made was considerably better than these. These belts were selling like hot cakes too. Spin matters. Words matter. Seems that skill often takes a back seat 

[Handstitched]

You know, I had this little personal  saying , just for me, just for my own motivation I guess  , " the only person I compete with is myself"  sounds a bit silly I know,  but   I vowed never to try and compete  with anyone. 

1 hour ago, fredk said:

Work to get rid of that threat

But these days,  seems like I have to up the ante here . This thought went through my mind these past few days . I thought about putting a lot more of my ' fancier stuff'  on display at my stall  for people to see and make more ' fancy stuff '  than I normally would .  I've already started that. I shouldn't have to  and I have never done so in the past....but....times have changed .  We'll see how long  this " sub par" individual will last.   All this will inspire me to do my best work yet and make stuff I have never made before , like  ' fredk '  said " Work to get rid of that threat" . 

Thanks to all  

HS 

 

[fredk]

I'm not the best one to give advice on what you should or could do.

Perhaps signage saying how many years experience you have, something like  'Hand crafting leather since 2006' or  ' . . . for over 14 years' **  ~  'Every item carefully fully made and finished by hand by the craftsman himself' ~ 'Guaranteed made in Australia by a local expert craftsman of over 14 years experience'  Maybe?

Design and either get printed or print up yourself (computer printer?) some A5 sized handouts with photos of a few items and short concise explanations of how you see to quality. They will pay for themselves in the long term.

I don't think you need to improve your work or change what you make (as a member on here, I reckon we can take your quality for granted,  ) but you may need to increase your marketing and pushing yourself in the craft fair. 

When I was a working photographer I had a friend, also a photographer. He once said to me ' We are friends, but when it comes to business I intend to wipe you out and I expect you do the same to me, and we will both be wiping out every other photographer in the area' and he mean't it. Alls fair in love, war and business.

**Local home bakery near to me. Not long open, just about 1 year, has recently added 'Making quality home baking since 2014' ~ thats only 4 or 5 years yet I know some local women are impressed that the bakery has been producing for 'that long!' I think the people running the bakery shop started off literally at home.

[chrisash]

This is the answer by Fredk

Perhaps signage saying how many years experience you have, something like  'Hand crafting leather since 2006' or  ' . . . for over 14 years' **  ~  'Every item carefully fully made and finished by hand by the craftsman himself' ~ 'Guaranteed made in Australia by a local expert craftsman of over 14 years experience'  Maybe?

Design and either get printed or print up yourself (computer printer?) some A5 sized handouts with photos of a few items and short concise explanations of how you see to quality. They will pay for themselves in the long term.

I don't think you need to improve your work or change what you make (as a member on here, I reckon we can take your quality for granted,  ) but you may need to increase your marketing and pushing yourself in the craft fair.

 

Educate your potential customers to quality and what to look for

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by chrisash

[YinTx]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

But these days,  seems like I have to up the ante here . This thought went through my mind these past few days . I thought about putting a lot more of my ' fancier stuff'  on display at my stall  for people to see and make more ' fancy stuff '  than I normally would .  I've already started that. I shouldn't have to  and I have never done so in the past....but....times have changed .  We'll see how long  this " sub par" individual will last.   All this will inspire me to do my best work yet and make stuff I have never made before , like  ' fredk '  said " Work to get rid of that threat" . 

Last show I went to I was told by other vendors (many, actually) that my stuff was too nice, and too expensive ($50 for a Sedgwick's Modern Bridle Leather belt!?!?!) and would never sell.  And that I had to make lower quality lower priced goods and they would jump off the table.  I believe they may be on to something.  When people go by my table, it's like they are afraid to touch a $100 wallet or a nice belt!

YinTx

 

Too nice to touch?

[Silverd]

I'm dully impressed with the finish you have obtained and would encourage you to continue as well as exploring other venues that expose your work to more appreciative customers who are looking for and willing to pay for top quality products. 

 

Silverd

[bikermutt07]

3 hours ago, YinTx said:

Last show I went to I was told by other vendors (many, actually) that my stuff was too nice, and too expensive ($50 for a Sedgwick's Modern Bridle Leather belt!?!?!) and would never sell.  And that I had to make lower quality lower priced goods and they would jump off the table.  I believe they may be on to something.  When people go by my table, it's like they are afraid to touch a $100 wallet or a nice belt!

YinTx

 

Too nice to touch?

I certainly wouldn't back off, if I were you. Just add some more affordable items to your lineup. Keep those pricey ones handy though. 

Heck, slap a sold sticker on or two items. That will generate some interest.

[Handstitched]

@fredk thank you for your advice, that does make good sense. I don't have a web site, but I do have photo page on Yahoo ( that I need to update) . I also have flyers, business cards and flyers for the horse rug repair side of things. I have a photo album of my work on the table for people to browse through .  But I can safely brag that I  also have  lot of goodwill and repeat customers both at markets , fairs etc. as well as locally in my town, so I must be doing something right eh ? That  goodwill doesn't come over night, thats taken me years . But I have found that ' word-of-mouth'  has worked the best for me . 

I also have about ten years worth of ' first & second'   prize certificates that I've got from my local  country show. I'm thinking of putting them in  protective sleeves and putting them on display . 

21 hours ago, chrisash said:

Educate your potential customers to quality and what to look for

I agree . I often hear from so many customers that " I bought a cheap belt from a dept store only for it to fall apart....etc etc. " I wish I had a dollar every time I heard that. 

@YinTx Don't ever change . You do quality work and it shows   . I have  quite a variety of items that even kids can afford with their pocket money,  like bookmarks ,  key rings, small coin / change purses , barrettes  etc. Good way to use up odd scraps etc.  You may already do that, but just a thought. 

HS  

[Tugadude]

On 7/18/2019 at 6:41 AM, Handstitched said:

Okay, this is the reason I posed this question . 

At a regular market I’ve attended for 13 years,where I’ve been the only leather worker all that time,  I spotted someone making   ' hand made belts'  ,assembling belts on the spot,    but he is quoted as a ' highly skilled craftsman'   &  ' craftsman' .

At first I felt a little threatened, and a bit peeved as business is hard enough as it is, but more  insulted than anything else  . I don’t even call myself a ‘ craftsman ‘, I personally don't feel I  have earned that title . I call myself a 'leather worker', but not a craftsman .  What people call me is their choice, mostly ' the leather man' . ( however,  I' m happy to accept 'over weight'  or ' short & fat '     )   

 I felt  much better that evening when my gut instinct kicked in and  I took the time to check what he was making on his web page, (and some support from my good ol' Mum )  .  Sure, he was making some ‘nice belts’ with nice buckles etc. , but when I zoomed in, I could see that they were unfinished , IMO anyway  . Although the belts were cut out on a press, thats  normal, but  they  were un-bevelled , no burnishing,I could see fibres sticking out all over the place, (  my Mum spotted that  )   no edge dying,  2.8-3.0mm chrome tanned  leather thats not dyed all the way through on some colours ( you can clearly  see the blue/ grey along the edge) , and what belts did have patterns were done using a roller press, and twice the price of what I charge  for a well crafted belt using 4mm & 5mm  veg tan leathers  utilising skills I learnt from Al Stohlman  and other respected master craftsman and indeed  this web site   All he was doing was cutting them out and attaching a buckle…and that’s it.

And that deserves the title of ' craftsman ' ? 

I appreciate that when you’re making large volumes of belts it may not always be possible  to bevel , burnish etc.  each & every one. 

But forgive me if I sound like I'm just having a whinge or blowing smoke, but I also feel like I'm protecting the integrity of the craft. 

You hit the nail on the head. Thats pretty much what my Mum said .  

Thank you all so much for your input  

HS 

A couple of observations.  There is no need to feel threatened by competition.  Without competition maybe all leather belts would be rubbish.  In my business (not leatherwork) there is a trend towards the bottom lately.  Contractors demand cheaper and cheaper pricing on products and don't seem to appreciate the service aspect that they once did.  I believe in a value added approach.  I work hard to make sure that my customers are well satisfied and in order for that to happen there is an attendant cost.  That cost is added into the pricing.  Sometimes I will have a customer say, "Hey, I want to buy it from you but can you match so-and-so's price?"  The reason they are doing that is because they know if they buy from the other company they will get crappy service.  So in the end they want MY good service at the competition's crappy service price.  It doesn't add up.  So I generally stand my ground and defend my service and maybe give a little back, but never match the lower price.  Good service comes at a price.

So you have a choice.  Take the high ground and offer your customers finished goods, slicked edges, better leather, etc. or give them unfinished goods.  Maybe that is fine with them?  Maybe they don't understand the difference.  Then it is your job to educate them.  Make them a discriminating buyer.  Tell them what burnishing is and why it makes a difference.  Justify the difference.

If handled correctly, your competition will likely get wind that customers are demanding more finished product and will begin to raise the bar on their own quality.  That is how it is supposed to work.

There is always room for bottom feeders.  However, I've never wanted to be one.  Or buy from one either.