Do you think these will have a market

[LeldonMaxcy]

Hey all,

I have been thinking really hard about getting into making these picture frames. Picture is attached. There is a local store that sells monogramming stuff and alot of personalized things like that. I am thinking of making up some samples of these and asking if they would be interested in a partnership in selling them. I figure they would be great sellers for anniversary/wedding gifts, baby showers, and even for the parents of kids that play sports. Saying like "My little Eagle" and stuff would work great for these. Let me know what you think. I'm not sure what to charge for these either. Especially 'whole sell'. Any advice is welcomed!

Thanks,

Leldon Maxcy

[scrollpup]

I would try the commission route rather than wholesale Leldon. That said, I'm just a hobbyist, not in it for anything but pleasure... Good luck to ya!

Jerry

[Jediscroller]

Leldon,
There is definately a market for these types of items. I would take a look in the store to see the kinds of prices they're getting for different items. Basically think about how much you'd like to get for them and double it as that would be the price the store would likely charge (referring to wholesaling here). If they're just taking orders though, their markup may be significantly less. I would guestimate that these would retail for around $35 (purely a guess on my part). I've done a few custom frames but find that the scrollwork just takes too long to make them worthwhile for me personally. I can whip frames out in no time but scrolling one at a time adds quite a bit to the labor. I guess it boils down to is it worth it to you.

[ncsealeveler]

I believe they would sell good.You could cover so many occasions.Tony

[lucky788scroller]

Anything is sellable Leldon! Unless you use a plywood for building those though, it may cost you quite a bit in lumber to buy wood wide enough to make frames like that for larger pictures like 8 by 10's without having to do glueups. But, I suppose if you started with one wide board, you could use the center cut out for the next size frame, and keep doing that until the cutout is to small.
And, I can see why you have that big smile in that photo Leldon, you latched on to a beauty!!

[workin for wood]

It's nice. But, it's a special order type of item because you are putting specific names on it. The fact that you have to order it and the manual labor adds time on top of that, and then finishing over that..well, it's a labor of love, not profit. If I was the store owner, then it would be a bit different. You could cut and finish the frames in advance and then buy yourself a laser engraver. Then the customer could order the item and have the finished product an hour later with minimal labor on your end. Sucks..but if you want to make money, that's how it's done. Otherwise, it's a labor of love, and that's fine too.

[shwestley]

I love the way the frames look and it would be fine to do special orders, but it might help your orders if you make a frame or two that doesn't have a name on it, but a word or saying like friendship or love etc. so that way you can display all of the features of what it would look like and if someone really wants one right away you could sell the example.