Thanks to Tia for lending me a book called LOVEWORKS by Brian Sheehan, this book is about how to create an emotional connection with the audience, which just happened to be related to my project, so I utilized the concepts from it to integrate with my project.
Lovemarks theory, source:LOVEWORKS, p17
Based on this theory, I applied to my project based on physical, embroidery, virtual concept map
Direction of “melding experiment”
Based on this direction, I will think and find my embroidery pieces, based on this aspect, I can develop later to see how to combine sensors and animation or even virtual reality with this concept.
# AC Knowledge # AC Enquiry # AC process
Bibliography
Sheehan, B., 2015. Loveworks. New York: PowerHouse Books, U.S.
The participants in this meeting include Zhenzhe Lin(graphic designer), Zaihong Jiang(embroidery craftsman), Xin Di(programmer), and Binxia Liu(embroidery research experts in Hunan museum)
Evidence of meeting
In this meeting, based on the first “melding experiment”, the following directions for improvement were summarized.
Highlight handcraft techniques, such as mao stitch.
More improvement of art forms, can add animation projection
Determine the theme of the embroidery work
Next step
Wifi module (to figure out how wifi controls the computer to play specific animations)——Programmer
The concept of interactivity in the visual arts became popular in the 1950s, as people realized that interactive art could serve as a bridge to connect artists and audiences in new ways.
What is a interactive installation?
According to the Tate Museum, digital art includes artworks that are either made using technology or shown in a digital format. Interactive art relies on audience participation. Thus, digital interactive installations showcase and activate a large physical space accompanied by mixed-media compositions, engaging viewers with responsive technology. In interactive art, it is presumed that the viewers will no longer be passive onlookers, and that they will be the ones to complete the purpose of an artwork or to participate in its realization, but it does not only aim to be physically appealing or intriguing, and it seeks for people’s interference instead.
Why I need make Chinese embroidery interactive installations?
Today, many artists have discovered technology as a new medium not only to create art, but to transform traditional artworks into innovative, immersive events.
Artists have long explored the use of technology in their craft, such as the utilization of lasers and video projection, in order to improve the quality of audiences’ interactive experiences, which means I’m dealing with creatures of emotionn, not dealing wih creatures of logic, if I could use these art form into Chinese embroidery.
As a tool and point of interest that promotes tradiontional handcraft education in younger generations.
Making a deeper impact on audiences through allowing personalized expression and the creation of memorable, poetic, and immersive experiences.
How to make interactive installation
The four components that make a work a form of digital art installation
Art work
Audience
Artist
Environment
Interactions in a Digital Art installation. Source: Research Gate
In addition to the four components of digital art installations, there are four categories in which these artworks can be placed:
Static (The category static describes works wherein the art object is mostly static and does not adapt itself to the context. In other words, there is no interaction between the audience and the artwork).
Dynamic passive (Dynamic passive describes when the artwork remains inactive in response to audience interaction, but changes with time).
Dynamic interactive (In dynamic interactive artwork, audiences play an active role and are given the ability to change the artwork when interacting with it).
Artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, architects, web and print graphic designers, and editors
# AC Knowledge # AC Process # AC Enquiry
Bibliography
Widewalls. 2022. How Does Interactive Art Create Meaning? | Widewalls. [online] Available at: <https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/interactive-art-meaning> [Accessed 24 May 2022].
Zhou, H., 2022. Artistic Futures: Digital Interactive Installations — AMT Lab @ CMU. [online] AMT Lab @ CMU. Available at: <https://amt-lab.org/blog/2021/10/artistic-futures-digital-interactive-installations> [Accessed 24 May 2022].
“Melding experiment” is a experiment testing through combine the embroidery and technology together
I worked with a programmar in the first “melding experiment”, used a piece of ready-made Chinese embroidery to be the sample of this intervention.
The original Chinese embroidery
We have a discussion before this experiment, we talked about what sensors can be added in and why used these kind of sensors.
“Melding experiment”
Tools:
Mp3 player
Arduino Uno
MPR121 touch sensor board
Conductive fiber line
speaker(4 ohm 3 watt)
Crane sounds by touching embedded conductive fiber wires that have been connected to touch sensor board and speakers
The reason why we use touch sensor + sound is to hope that participants can touch the Chinese embroidery to feel the emotion behind the embroidery（Embroidery art work has always been looked up by the audience, we hope it can be closer to people）, andtouch the surface of the piece, such as touching a crane, it will stimulate the sound of the crane, and touching flowers and grass can make the sound of forest appear, thereby creating an emotional connection between the embroidery artworks with audience by technology.
On Thursday I’ll be organizing an expert meeting with this demo to get feedback and set the direction for my project.
# AC Enquiry # AC Knowledge # AC Process # AC Realisation
I have been reflecting on the answers of these stakeholders and all feedback I received in the past few days. The common point in their answers to the current Chinese traditional embroidery questions is that they feel that traditional Chinese embroidery needs innovation and needs to keep up with the pace of the contemporay society, such as the content of traditional embroidery (embroidery content) It can’t be old-fashion , it must be combined with the current mainstream art forms (such as contemporary art or surrealism ）and contemporary aesthetics(such as Bauhaus designs，a lack of ornament, the use of clean lines, smooth surfaces and geometric shapes）. Some feedbacks is that traditional Chinese embroidery and technology need to be integrated together, such as sound, light and shadow and other elements into the static embroidery screen.
Chinese embroidery (Hunan embroidery)
Diana also gave me some useful feedback on Monday. She said that my topic can have 3 directions. The first direction is to change the traditional embroidery education or training mode. The second direction is to do some handicrafts. The third direction is that these two directions can also be combined at the same time. And when I asked her how she would do intervention if she were me, she said she would probably revolve around some combination of embroidery and technology. And she thinks the most important thing for my project to focus on is how long and how much my embroidery work will cost. Maybe for personal reasons, I will let my mother participate in embroidery, because I don’t need to spend money because of this special relationship, but I will also consider, how can I make up for the embroidery time? Or how can I make this craft work in a short period of time. I hope that this project is the best in both creative expression and embroidery craftsmanship, so that it can be attractive enough and be instructive and futuristic in how traditional craftsmanship develops. I want to express my concept of the future of Chinese embroidery based on this project, so that more people can discover that this thing has never been seen in traditional embroidery, or they were inspired by my project and thus influenced by traditional Chinese culture. I’m very happy to be a pioneer in this tradional culture industry.
‘Rhythm of Matter’ explores the dynamic relationship between physical and virtual hand gestures through programmable interactive embroidery (Ganit Goldstein)
To sum up, based on these feedbacks, I personally have great enthusiasm for this project to make an embroidery interactive installation combined with technology. This technology has interactive elements in it. I need to consider how to add the feelings of these human factors to the interactive technology. What type of sensors do I use, how to use these interactive devices, and how to combine these interactive elements with hand embroidery are also the directions that I need to explore with relevant coding or programming experts or companies in the next step.
In this blog I used structured online interviews to 6 stakeholders.
Due to the time difference between China and the UK, I asked 6 stakeholders five questions in Wechat for this action research.
Source: Wechat chat history
The following is their personal introduction.
Professor Yu Binxia (YBX), born in of Changsha, a researcher and embroidery committee expert of Hunan Museum, and as a professional embroidery curator.
Gan Sheng (GS) who is the Director of Changsha Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center.
Liu Aixun （LAY）, female, born in of Changsha , Hunan , a master of Chinese arts and crafts, engaged in Hunan embroidery for more than 50 years.
Liu Bin （LB）, Director of Industrial Development Bureau of Jinxia Development Zone.
Hou Ying （HY）, born in of Changsha, Director of the Cultural and Creative Center of Changsha Museum.
LI Zhenzhe (LZZ), born in of Changsha, a graphic designer who loves Hunan embroidery and has his own graphic design studio.
Questions
Q1:With the development of technology, do you think machine embroidery can replace hand embroidery?
YBX：In the case of embroidery, the definition it gives us is a handicraft, emphasizing a handicraft. It is two dimensions, one is handicraft and the other is art. your mother have known handicraft skills, stitching skills, color matching skills, embroidery thread processing skills and color matching skills, right? I just feel that if you consider from these aspects, I think there is no way to replace hand embroidery with machine embroidery.
GS: First of all, it is necessary to find out the source of machine embroidery. It is the result of human creative labor. Even if machine embroidery AI reaches a certain height, it cannot replace the agility, thinking, creativity and uniqueness of human beings in embroidery.
LAY: With the development of science and technology, I think it is difficult for machine embroidery to replace hand embroidery. Traditional machine embroidery production lacks the cultural connotation and artistic value of hand embroidery! Whether it is embroidery thread material or Hunan embroidery stitching, it is difficult to achieve. In the future, hand embroidery + artificial intelligence can be used to simulate the artistic effect of hand embroidery production.
LB: To be honest，machine embroidery and hand embroidery are not a relationship of substitution and substitution, but both exist at the same time and develop interdependently. Hand embroidery is the memory of traditional culture. Each piece of embroidery has a unique quality, which better preserves the embroidery mother’s handicraft inheritance and precipitates her “temperature”. This type of embroidery has cultural value and collection value. . Machine embroidery came into being to meet the needs of the industrialized era. Embroidery products can be standardized and mass-produced, suitable for production and life-oriented works, and have the characteristics of popularization and popularization, such as shawls, scarves, cheongsam and so on. From different perspectives, you can choose different production methods. In the future, in terms of market demand, the two will be compatible and develop together.
HY: Machine embroidery can never replace hand embroidery, just like digital can never replace film, because the emotions of people mixed in handicraft can never be replaced by machines
LZZ: No, the value of emotion.
Q2: How do you think hand embroidery uses its artistic attributes to give full play to its commercial value, and what are the difficulties?
YBX：This involves the cost of hand embroidery, because the cost of hand embroidery is very high. In the case of machine embroidery, it is a programmed thing, and it takes very little time to complete some embroidery items, while hand embroidery takes a lot of time. I think this is also a bottleneck for sustainable development, and it is also a bottleneck for its development. How to play its commercial attributes, this problem may be what we call intangible cultural heritage. Not only the embroidery, but all the intangible cultural heritage involves the handicraft. It is a problem of survival. The first show will give full play to its commercial value. It may take the way of high-quality products and personalization to develop high-end products. However, in this case, its price is not close to the people, and it is generally difficult for the public to accept it, so this is actually a contradiction, so why the government pay attention to it, it may also be aware of such a problem.
GS: People’s needs are divided into several levels, the highest is spiritual needs, the pursuit of beauty, hand embroidery as a work of art, its commercial value has existed for more than 2,000 years, and it is completely continuous.
LAY：Hand embroidery should make use of its own hand embroidery spirituality, superb techniques and artistic style of individual masters, so as to realize the transformation of works from handicraft attributes to works of art attributes, and give full play to the commercial value of their works of art!
However, we are currently facing difficulties in manual embroidery: in the future, there will be no successors, product homogeneity, and high labor costs for manual embroidery, resulting in high prices and low production efficiency. It takes more than 10 years to train a young Hunan embroidery inheritor. It takes more than 30 years to become a Hunan embroidery master, and the non-standard of the inheritance of the master-apprentice system.
LB：Commercial value depends on the value and use value of the commodity. Hand embroidery is not only affected by the embroiderer’s own technology, social influence, brand value and other factors, but also has a long production cycle, time-consuming and labor-intensive reasons, and even a large cost investment. Therefore, higher value means that the price should be sold higher. However, there are many works of art in hand embroidery, and it is necessary to match the aesthetic value with the businessmen in order to discover its artistic use value, which leads to a narrow audience, which is the reason why most embroidery products are “valuable but not marketable”. Embroidery products that are not sold have their commercial value “hidden”.
HY: I think the ultimate trend of hand embroidery is the luxury goods and high-end gift market. The biggest difficulty is the problem of publicity. Only by letting our own Chinese people fully understand our own culture can we export our culture to the world and make Chinese hand embroidery become the world’s famous luxury
LZZ：In the new consumption era, brands and consumption patterns are being upgraded and iterated. Generation Z will gradually become the main force of market consumption. The traditional offline business model can no longer meet the needs of new consumers. Hand embroidery has its inherited cultural value and artistic attributes. , but must upgrade iterations
Q3: What do you think the future of traditional hand embroidery will look like?
YBX：There are still bottlenecks, and in the future, it will be high-quality products. Small ones are high-quality products, and large-sized ones are also high-quality products, because their prices are not close to the people.
GS:The future of hand embroidery still requires continuous innovation, continuous integration and creation.
LAY：In the future, there will be fewer and fewer people who inherit traditional hand embroidery, the price will become more and more expensive, and there will be fewer and fewer good and exquisite handicraft works. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate the younger generation of compound talents to inherit Hunan embroidery and innovate Hunan embroidery; Only crossover each industries with cooperation , culture + technology can better inherit Hunan embroidery and carry forward it!
LB：The time has come, and the future is promising. It is necessary to keep pace with the times, reform and innovate, and combine the traditional beauty of hand embroidery with the aesthetics of modern young people, so that the aesthetic trend is contemporary and modern. The inscription of “Rich and Noble” was even unacceptable to the post-90s audience, and this aesthetic taste remained in the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, the display form should be more diverse. Electronic light, sound, shadow, etc. can be integrated into hand embroidery, so that the traditional hand embroidery can be rendered three-dimensional, dynamic and alive.
HY:In the future, we must take the route of high-end customized gifts or decorations, and we can cooperate with international famous brands to enter the luxury industry.
LZZ：The future of traditional hand embroidery lies in the innovation of products and the renewal and iteration of consumption patterns. First of all, it is necessary to combine modern mainstream aesthetic trends, combine traditional craftsmanship with new tracks, and present conceptual and simple graphic images with traditional methods. . The second is online promotion. We must make use of content traffic platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Tiktok, Weibo, etc., so that embroidery culture can enter the vision of new consumers.
Q4: Now traditional Chinese hand embroidery needs more innovation in the expression of artistic themes (artwork) or does it need more hand embroidery combined with the commodity market (art goods)?
YBX：Nowadays, many people in China think that they embroider what they think is ethnic embroidery. They think that the embroidery in this place is ethnic embroidery, or what ethnicity does the embroiderer belong to, then what he embroiders is ethnic embroidery. This embroiderer may imitate the outer layer, but he does not have the indigenous stitches, techniques, patterns, and spirit that are unique to his own nation. He has not shown it, so this is actually a process of homogenization, including the present There are actually four famous embroidery in China (Xiang embroidery in central China’s Hunan Province, Shu embroidery in western China’s Sichuan Province, Yue embroidery in southern China’s Guangdong Province and Su embroidery in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province), and there is such a problem, so more personalized ethnic embroidery is needed.
GS:The purpose of innovation and creation is to reach new heights in art and new creations in business to meet the needs of different levels of consumption.
LAY：For the better inheritance of Hunan embroidery in the future, both are indispensable, that is, it is necessary to innovate in the expression of artistic themes to improve the value of Hunan embroidery works of art; at the same time, it is also necessary to combine manual embroidery with the commodity market to commercialize art and let some Cost-effective and youthful Hunan embroidery life products have entered the homes of the common people! Enter thousands of households! Let more young people love Hunan embroidery!
LB：This question has some similarities with the first question. To put it bluntly, it is the problem of art commercialization and commercial artization. It is essentially the same thing, but the focus and starting point are different. The expression method of artistic themes is innovative. The expression method is craftsmanship and technology. This knowledgeable person cares more, but the public aesthetics care more about the innovation of content, using the technology of Hunan embroidery to express the works they want with a modern vision. These works are then traded to convert the use value into value, which also caters to the commodity market.
HY:I think first of all, on the basis of maintaining the inheritance of traditional themes and patterns in terms of themes and forms, keeping pace with the times, and constantly updating and developing themes and contents, so as to better match the modern business society.
LZZ：Personally, I feel that hand-embroidered artworks are relatively mature, including Master Jiang’s works selected for the World Expo, Olympic Games and other existing products, in fact, they already have the attributes of artworks, and they need to be changed according to the market. How to make artworks become commodities is the key. For example, after the brand upgrade and iteration, co-brand with the Guochao brand? Combining embroidery craftsmanship with clothing and other peripheral products, no longer let the picture frame canvas become the carrier of embroidery, and naturally convert artworks into art commodities
Q5:What problem do you most want to solve in the current Chinese traditional embroidery industry?
YBX：I hope that the traditional embroidery industry will still take its own path of personalization instead of homogenization. You are like our Hunan embroidery. In fact, lions, tigers, and leopards can’t be embroidered by other embroidery types among the other four famous embroidery types. Right, this is our characteristic, including Taoyuan embroidery is also the same, why he achieved such high achievements in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period is actually related to the application of this characteristic needle method.
GS:The standardization and rectification of the industry should focus on distinguishing machine embroidery and hand embroidery, and embody the value of hand embroidery artworks.
LAY：I think what needs to be solved urgently is the production problem, talent problem and product innovation problem in the traditional Chinese embroidery industry! Let more young people inherit and innovate Hunan embroidery, and let the world fall in love with the beauty of Chinese Hunan embroidery!
LB：The first is to avoid the problem of involutionary competition. Hunan embroidery originated in Shaping. The people engaged in this industry are all villagers. However, in the face of the wave of marketization, vicious competition and disorderly operation are inevitable, which leads to the social disapproval of Hunan embroidery. The level of understanding is uneven, and its value has also been discounted. Then there is the issue of speeding up the training of newcomers, so that the traditional craftsmanship can be passed down from generation to generation, and when necessary, a “big database of Hunan embroidery craftsmanship” is established to store these memories. The third is continuous brand promotion. In the reception and communication of government affairs and business, the use of embroidery as a medium of emotional connection is encouraged, so as to gradually increase the popularity and brand effect of the embroidery industry.
HY:I want to solve the problem of popularization and publicity of embroidery knowledge, and let the public know that embroidery is also an indispensable part of the broad and profound traditional art of the Chinese nation. What is its craft technique? Where is the difficulty in it? How to appreciate it all need publicity and education from the media, self-media, and the society, so that more people can understand embroidery, and let every Chinese become a promoter of our traditional embroidery to the world.
LZZ：Product Innovation
Through this action research, I have benefited a lot, because the interviewers have different job positions, but there are certain similarities in some aspects, such as the difficulties faced by traditional Chinese embroidery and the problems they want to solve, but they also have similarities. According to my social position, I have different opinions, and what they say is a real problem. I am trying to find a way to absorb this information and try to combine this information to find a breakthrough for my own project.
# AC Knowledge # AC Communication # AC Realisation #AC process
In this post I will use my action research to objectively analyze hand and machine pricing in the embroidery industry
The phenomenon that mechanization has diminished the role of folk arts significantly is global. Let’s start by asking why there are duplicates of hand embroidered apparel in the market in the first place. Well, for the simple reason that machine embroidery costs much less when compared to hand embroidery as it uses a machine to do the embroidery work and can earn larger profits if sold as handmade.
I asked the price of hand embroidery and machine embroidery for the same pattern （Below) , and controlled the variables. I set the quantity of the asking price at 50-100, and the size was 26x22cm.
This pattern is inspired by “Liu Hai cuts the woodcutter”, the flower drum opera in the traditional culture of Hunan Province, which is the pattern used by my friend to create it in the himself fashion brand.
hand embroidery
I asked my mom directly about the price of this pattern for hand embroidery because she owns an hand embroidery company.
According to the quotation provided, the price is according to the craftsmanship level of the embroiderer and the title in the industry. If these prices are only used as art collection or personal feeling, it is okay, but if the pattern is used in a large number and is used by the public products, such as clothes, bed covers and other daily necessities, only a few people are willing to pay this price. Pay and afford, whether it is for consumers or companies that want to apply hand embroidery to the brand, unless it is advanced customization or luxury, the cost of hand embroidery is unacceptable to ordinary consumers and ordinary companies.
And when I asked if there is a standard embroidery time, such as how long does hand embroidery take per square meter? She replied that there is no estimate for this, and it depends on the customer’s pattern. The degree of craftsmanship required for each pattern is different, and then the production cost is determined according to the time spent by the embroiderer.
But I think if the hand embroidery is applied to the fashion field, such as earrings, rings, necklaces, etc., because the size of the embroidery of these objects is relatively small, it does not take a lot of time, the price of hand embroidery may be acceptable, but how to control the quality It also requires thinking. And whether people might also take into account factors such as their brand value when buying items that are priced above average.
machine embroidery
I asked about a company called “Minghong Embroidery”, which specializes in machine embroidery.
Source: WeChat chat history
English translation version: digitizing fee + sample fee totaling 800 yuan, and the price of each piece of machine embroidery is 20-30 yuan (2.5-3.6ponds)samples will be produced around 10.10（And all quantities can be delivered within 5 days）if I need over 500 pieces within one year for this pattern,he will refund the digitizing fee 600 yuan.
Because this pattern is monochromatic, it does not involve the processing of shadows and gradient colors, and it cannot express some unique stitches used in hand embroidery. Therefore, the difference between hand embroidery and machine embroidery in this monochromatic pattern is not obvious. big.
Take a look at the pictures of two similar shawls above and try to figure out which one is Hand Embroidered and which one is Machine Embroidered?
So I then asked the machine embroidery company, what is the standard they charge, is it based on the number of stitches required for the pattern? He replied that this is just one of the factor. The price is calculated according to the production capacity, how much a machine can produce in a day. For example, some customers will ask them to make patterns according to the fineness of hand embroidery, and then the size of the pattern, how many colors are needed, etc. Therefore, why some people like machine embroidery, I have summarized the following points.
For company
Less cost (machine embroidery is almost always more cost-effective than hand embroidery, whether it is small-scale(unless it’s one or two,and this price does not guarantee the craftsmanship of hand embroidery) or large-scale.
Uniform and error-free Design. (Higher Rate of Productivity and Accuracy，Especially for group types that need to be on workwear, socks and hats.)
Speed (according to this research, if 50 pieces of hand embroidery are required, the time required is within 1 month, while machine embroidery only takes 5 days).
In this post I will summarize any information online to explain why people like hand embroidery.
What are the differences between hand embroidery and machine embroidery
Below are two photos taken from one part of the embroideries, one is hand embroidered, the other machine made.
The left one is traditional Chinese hand embroidery , and the right one is machine embroidery.
We can fully see the detail of the work of hand embroidery, the gloss is much better than machine embroidery. Next, I will explain why hand embroidery is better.
Material. Chinese silk embroidery is made with silk threads on silk satin. Silk threads are very delicate. It is very difficult for a machine to use silk threads to make embroidery because silk threads can get broken very easily during embroidering. Machine embroideries normally use artificial fibers or artificial silk threads that are much stronger than natural silk threads.
Size of threads. Machine embroideries use full threads, but a fine quality silk embroidery painting use split silk threads, silk threads split from one full silk strand. To show the embroidery effect well, embroidery artists often use different sizes of silk threads when making one silk embroidery work. For example, the face part of a portrait embroidery is the most exquisite part that often use silk threads much thinner than the ones in other parts. Embroidery done with thinner silk threads is more smooth and has more colors mixed so it will look more realistic. But in a machine-made embroidery, all the threads are in the same size, all threads not split.
Stitches. If you compare two machine embroideries of the same design, you will find their stitches are the same. But handmade silk embroidery is different from each other even if the design is the same. Due to their nature of being handmade, there are not two handmade silk embroideries that are 100% the same. Also in one machine made embroidery alone, if you check it carefully, you will find that its stitches have a regular pattern.
Colors. The hand embroidery looks more brilliant while the machine embroidery looks a bit dull. Also when you check the enlarged photos, you will find hand embroidery looks neater while the machine embroidery looks rough.
# AC knowledge
Bibliography
Suembroidery.com. 2022. differences of hand embroidery and machine made embroidery. [online] Available at: <http://www.suembroidery.com/articles/hand_embroidery_machine_embroidery.htm> [Accessed 14 May 2022].
In this post I‘d like to find out in terms of the pricing of these two items from the Etsy Community.
Pricing on hand embroidery & machinery embroidery
Although my final project may not be some embroidery products that sell for money, I think based on this question, I try to understand why some people are willing to buy hand embroidery and why some people are willing to buy machine embroidery, which can help me undersand gradually hand embroidery between machinery embroidery in terms of pricing, there must be many reasons behind these.
I did secondary research from the website ETSY, which mainly focus on the sale and purchase of handicraft products（But a lot of embroidery is machine embroidered）. What’s interesting to me is that many people in ETSY/COMMUNITY are confusing about the pricing on hand embroidery which made by themselves，and they want to know how to make their hand embroidery be competitive when machine embroidery is cheap.
This person asked if hand embroidery should be sold at the same price as machine embroidery(figure:Community Etsy).
There are a lot of replies to this post, so I’ve picked different replies that make sense to me （These replies including the identities of post crafter, reader and community maker etc).
It’s hard to price handmade items because they need consider it both value them time and make the price attractive to customers.
People who spend the money on hand embroidery and appreciate the skill and time that goes into it, seem to be more likely to spend that money on beautiful heirloom items, such as birth/baptism gifts, wedding gifts, and other special occasion keepsakes. So you might keep that in mind when deciding what kinds of products to spend your hand embroidery time on.
Buyers of truly hand-embroidered items may be a fairly small market, but if that’s what you love doing, then that’s what you should do! Your love of your artwork will show through in the way you describe yourself, your shop, and your items.
You could flesh out these sections and tell more of your story to lure in the interested buyer. I can go to Walmart and get a machine-embroidered hand towel, but only on Etsy can I find a woman who hand embroiders quality linen towels with a pattern handed down from her great-grandmother, using Egyptian cotton embroidery floss, and who will send me photos of said great-grandmother while she’s working on the piece. That’s added value!
I think it also depends on what you are making. If you are trying to compete with those who buy robes and dolls and things and just embroider on initials or a name…don’t bother. People who buy these things aren’t looking for handmade. But if you are doing beautiful, decorative, creative charge full price.
There you go! Etsy shoppers are, as much as anything else, buying your story and the process behind the product. Maybe even show some photos of you while you’re doing the hand work. (Advice I need to take myself.)
No, I would not price it likes it’s machine made. It’s a totally different thing.
I’d go with an hourly rate, personally. Makes it a bit easier to ensure you’re being paid fairly for your time. And it would make it easier to price fairly if the complexity is different from piece to piece.
etc………..
Who will pay for hand embroidery?
Consumers who love hand embroidery and are willing to pay more money on it for collections, gifts, beauty, bridal and story, etc.
Who will pay for machinery embroidery?
Buying robes and dolls and things and just embroider on initials or a name, which means they are willing to pay less money on it, especially there are no special requirements for daily necessities.
How to make hand-embroidery more competitive than machine embroidery?
Tell more of the story and the process behind the product to lure in the interested buyer.
Conclusion
Through this post, I think the value of hand embroidery lies in the time spent by the embroiders behind it, as well as the story and process. It has certain humanistic feelings in it, and the target groups are willing to spend money first. And recognize the aesthetics of embroidery, and then they will be moved by the story . This is not like cold machine embroidery. Although it is cheap, it has no culture, no humanistic feelings, and less emotional value.
For hand-embroidered works of art, especially for unknown embroiderers, they do not have a complete system to regulate. In China, embroiderers can participate in being rated as national, provincial, and municipal levels from the competion goverment hold, and the price of artworks is based on their level and the collecter. For embroidery products, it will also be priced according to a series of factors such as the size of the embroidery, the degree of embroidery craftsmanship, the material and the level of the participating embroiderers. Most embroidery products range from 30 pounds to about 1,000 pounds, and embroidery products over 1,000 pounds are based on the embroiderer, different levels of price increases.
How to get quality feedback? (for external verification, stakeholders, target group and gatekeepers.
Be concise in our communication.
Consider this project as an overall plan (work backwards)
Need the deadline(Everything has to be done)/pre-deadline (The period of time that I have time to change anything)
Maurice Ashley is a chess grandmaster. He uses working backwards technique to solve chess problems. Watch this excellent video in which he explains the benefits of working backwards.
Reflecting
Pricing on my project (handcraft vs machinery) for who? fow what? what quantities?
why would people pay handcraft rather than machinery one? How much is it going to cost? For a small run lower or higner or the same?
let’s take into fashion? (e.g headwear & jewelry)
why handcraft at a high price point ( a limited amount / a limited range)
Explore the resean why heritage, techinque and history context and culture behind it.
Is it 2d,3d? What is it an object or a piece of artwork? put that in my timeline for a deadline to decide what it is because so much is going to be pinned on that, it can change what we’re talking about originally what where…
