bid proposals - commission - art festival?

greyalien - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 9:50pm

Greetings all,

I have been retired from steel work for a few years now. I did wrought iron/steel, gates, security doors, furniture. Though always worked for someone else, I always had good design ideas. I recently acquired the shop space to start working my own designs and would like to receive extra income from these skills. I would like some advise for beginners on the business end. Where can I find local bids? Is art festivals a good place to showcase work? Whats up with commission work? I found this link regarding commission work, is it accurate?

http://www.artbusiness.com/privcom.html

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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It's always about the work

B.J. Severtson - Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 8:10am

Actually it's always about the work or the product you are producing. It's real hard to market a product that doesn't exist, yet. The product can exist as a sketch or finished drawing, but few customers are able to make the mental leap from paper to metal. They need to see metal to think metal. Examples of your work, an inventory. This inventory then needs to be seen. The goal of this in metal stuff is to create a conversation between you and the potential customer. They may never buy your sample product. But you'll be surprised what can result from the conversations it creates. Good luck. BJ

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Welcome to the AM site

warren - Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 10:12am

Welcome to the AM site greyalien.
Starting to do metal art work with the economy the way it is, not the best time. As Brad mentioned first you need to make some art and see if it is really what you want to do. Making metal art is a lot different from just working. You will have to remember that you are the boss of your work and that if you want to make money you have to be very dedicated.
Now where to make the money off of your art really depends the price range you are looking to sell and the size of your pieces. Commission work can be a lot of fun and challenging. There are a few websites that you can belong to (cost money) that will send you notification of bids for public art commissions. Right now not much going on in that area. Art fairs require a good amount of inventory along with all of the other items for booths. Here is a good site about art fairs. http://www.artfairinsiders.com/

I would suggest for now is just have fun making your metal art. Give it away to friends and relatives, let people see and enjoy. Word of mouth is the best advertisement.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

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