Inspired by Gisi and Kaspar

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This is just beautiful. I am continually amazed by the level of craftsmanship from the members of this site. Excellent work.
 
Stunning..... simply stunning and beautiful Randall! The patience and precision that this must of taken...boggles the mind.:bulgy-eyes:

I agree with Rollerbob...this should be a front pager!
 
As I was reviewing this thread, pages , not just rplies, were being added while I was reading. Deservedly so...Very fine craftsmanship indeed, I am certain Gisis will be proud of the inspiration they've provided. ONe question, who gets to keep it? Perhaps, you should have made two, so theres no fighting.
 
[FONT=&quot]Someone made the comment about this pen being too busy--- or is it. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The segmented art and craftsmanship of this pen is exquisite! The balance of the segmentation is handled as good as or better than any artists before. Busy NO The use of wood and acrylic intertwined in the design element breaks the rules clearly, yet it also develops intrigue --and then subtleness of beauty, grace and elegance. My friend you have a talent-- develop it run with it -- and do not look back. [/FONT]
 
Now here's the big question for all of you. If I start making more of this style pen and make it in postable and closed end non-postable formats (with roller ball or fountain options), how much can we sell them for?

We're getting much faster at making complex pens like this. I don't want to go into production with the exact same design on X number of pens, but I would like to make money selling them to those who want a one of a kind segmented pen.

This pen took 40 man hours. The next one won't take more than 15 or 20.

BTW, I saw the Gisi pen "arts and crafts" which I patterned this pen off of at the Dallas Pen Show yesterday. The guy said the owner bought it for $1000 or thereabouts and was letting it go from his collection for just $450.

The only think holding me back from buying it was the fact that I think I can make something very very similar myself for much less money and have the satisfaction of ownership.

So, back to thoughts on what I should offer these pens for at a show or a web site so as to not price myself out of the market...
 
Parson said:
Now here's the big question for all of you. If I start making more of this style pen and make it in postable and closed end non-postable formats (with roller ball or fountain options), how much can we sell them for?
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Whatever you can get.

Push come to shove, whatever you are willing to give it up for.

Objectively, the Gisi original from which yours is modeled has a lot more going on in it. Gisi's jewelers skills for one thing. You used a prefab kit. It's not closed-end, it's not got any original components. It does have some fine, fine segmenting work, but surely you're not thinking you can get $1000 for it? Even for Gisi, it comes down to what he can get for it. The choice is existential for both seller and buyer.

My philosophy is this. I don't have to sell my pens. I rather like being able to tell someone I give a segmented job to as a gift that I got "x" amount one like this, so they will know it's something special (though, if I'd sold the similar one for $500, they'd probably rather have the cash, so even there the price you get isn't really the price, is it?) But I'd as soon give one to someone special as sell one.

That being the case, the ball is in my court. I can set the price and really probably ask just a little more than someone else would. Pen "x" will be a certain amount of trouble and inconvenience for me to make. The person wanting such a pen is going to have to make it worth my while, or it's just not worth it for me to do it. There's nothing really objective about this price. It is a purely arbitrary estimate of what I feel it's worth to do it.

(This is why it didn't work for me to try selling on ebay. Folks who go there are looking for a bargain. I'm not 'a bargain,' or to speak metaphorically, "I date, but I cannot be 'picked up'." :biggrin: )

I'm getting to the point now where I will have some pens made ahead of time to sell. Once a pen is made, I might be willing to sell it for less than I would if it wasn't already made, because the time, trouble and frustration and a certain amount of fear and uncertainty that went in to it is now a distant memory and the real fact of the completed, salable, highly cool pen is here and now. In that case, if somebody said "I really can't afford that," I might say, "okay make me an offer," and then I might say "okay," or I might say, "No, it's worth more than that for me to keep it."

And that would be the truth. If the person who asked for quotes on the Homage a Gisi and the Zebra Composite Redux hadn't been willing to pay me what I asked - and I asked a goodly sum because they weren't made yet- I would have said, "no, sorry, I'd love to do them, get them out there where others could see them, but it's just not worth less than that to me."

These are non-essential, luxury items, like diamonds, bought with disposable, discretionary income. Worth is not a hard, fast number on this. The real price of the pen is "the amount greater than what it's worth for you to keep it / not make it." Over time, that estimation changes, thus the worth of the pen changes.

Especially for someone who might have to sell them. But very few of us here are actually doing this for a living. In this economy, I'd be pretty worried if I were.
 
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Personally, I've always found Gisi pens fascinating as a craftsman but repulsive in terms of design. The exact same reason I don't like Very Bradley's designs. I know a lot of people do, but to me they are just too busy. Now, that being said, you did some great segmenting work there. I commend you on that. I admire the work you did on the pen, and respect you as a craftsman for it. Just because it's not my personal taste, doesn't mean it's not a great pen that someone else will completely fall in love with.:embarrassed:
 
Kaspar said:
but surely you're not thinking you can get $1000 for it?
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Nope. I never imagined I'd get anywhere near that. But I have no idea what I could fetch for work like this and wondered what the forum members would charge on their web sites.

So Kaspar, if you made a pen like the one in this thread, how much would you list it for on your web site if it was not commissioned work?

That's the question I'm asking and the answer I'm looking for from you or any other pen maker on this forum with a web site and pens listed for sale.
 
You could take a look at this website http://www.lanierpens.com/ for some ideas about prices being asked for segmented pens. I have no knowledge of who owns this website or any affiliation with it. I just came across it when browsing for segmented pens.
 
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