I've been struggling for three weeks now on developing a lower-priced version of my wall hangings.
It isn't working.
I've actually been struggling with this for years now. I started out with a "big art thing" from the very first time I made these embellished fiber collages. I've been trying to work backwards to a mid-range product ever since. With limited success, I might add....
It's not hard making smaller pieces, although I find it difficult to make SIMPLER pieces. Something in me just doesn't feel right until the fabric "fragment" is embellished with enough handmade artifacts, faux bones, vintage buttons and tiny beads. It just doesn't LOOK right to me until it's densely stitched and carefully embroidered.
It's the presentation that's sticking on the way down.
I've checked in with other fiber artists (basket makers, surface design artists, etc.) and they all shake their head in sympathy and murmur, "Ah, yes, presentation....." We ALL struggle with it.
The problem is, there are many different ways to finish off a small piece. But all of them take as long to finesse as it does to actually make the artwork. No matter how big or small it is, it still takes time to get it all just right.
In my case, it's especially hard because I finish off most of my wall hangings with a beaver-chewed stick. It's dramatic, it's mysterious, and to me, again, it just LOOKS right.
But I can't tell you how many times I've been told by experts, "Lose the sticks. They scare people."
So I struggle to lose the sticks in many ways.
The first "simple" versions of my hangings were framed in attractive store-bought frames. It took me ages to find similar frames (especially for wholesale orders) and I decided to find a wholesale source. It took weeks of research to find a company who would deal with me and had frames I thought would work, but I finally found one.
The finished pieces were beautiful. (I still get compliments on one I kept.)
They didn't sell.
An art consultant said the fragments needed more white space around them. So I took a chunk of money and had them mounted and custom-framed in white linen-lined shadow boxes.
They were beautiful. But they didn't sell.
The custom framing added too much to the cost, so the framing gallery showed me how to do it myself. It took quite an investment in frames and time and the learning curve was excruciating. I had to buy special order mat board, accurately cut all the pieces to fit inside the box, and get everything put together just so, but the new versions were lovely.
They didn't sell.
People worried because there was no glass and they might get "dusty." So I took some apart and I put in glass.
Then people said it was too bad they were under glass because it detracted from the fiber.
I went in for another consult and got a wonderful idea. I could mount the fragments on simple square panels of painted Masonite (like oil paintings) and attach simple hanger on the back. Quick, cheap, easy.
So I've been mixing paints and experimenting with color backgrounds. I've tried different substrates for the panels. I've played with different ways of attaching the fiber pieces to that, experimenting with different glues. (Some will glue fabric but not velcro, velcro but not wood, wood but not paint, etc.) I've made sure the glue is strong enough to adhere to the velcro attachments but not so strong it pulls the paint off the panel. I'm trying to standardize the sizes of the fragments so I can streamline my production. And in the back of my mind is the question, "And remember you have a booth with draped walls, so how are you going to hang the damn things so they hang flat and straight??"
Quick? Not yet. Simple? Well, they LOOK simple. Easy? Hoo boy....
All this energy and time and thought—and it's not going into the actual artwork.
I was talking with an artist friend a bit ago and we were moaning about presentation. She mentioned a famous fiber artist, a weaver, who did huge pieces. He had sold his most recent piece—unfinished. I mean, the work was DONE. But he hadn't done any framing/hanging/finishing of the piece. It was the customer's responsibility to have it professionally prepared for hanging in their home.
We both decided we wanted to be so famous, we could do that with OUR work, too.
Late last night, as I finished embellishing a few fragments, it hit me. If I want to take full advantage of this show, to introduce my work to a different collecting audience (including the stores and galleries I'd like to exhibit with and be represented by), I shouldn't necessarily be making my MOST AFFORDABLE work.
I should be making my BEST work.
(sigh....)
I hope it's not too late to go back and turn those pieces into real wall hangings.
