A Way to increase your sale price on turned item.

[Breck Whitworth]

A good friend who owns 400 acres of land in central Ala. Told me he would give me my choice of one of his walnut trees. I of course took him up on the generous offer. I picked a stunning old Walnut tree. I asked him why he would give me one of best trees he had on his property. He told me, it like him, it will die one day and rot like many others have. I want to honor this tree and I can't think of a better way than to have you make as many beautiful bowls from it as possible. Then they will last a lifetime or two in some ones family. He did a presentation to our wood turning club honoring this tree with the facts he knew about it. It had 161 rings, It was growing when the civil war began and was there when when it was over. It would have seen the Yankee raiders in 1865, who captured and burned the city of Selma, destroying the confederates biggest armory, that at time employed he said many thousands of people. This tree would have seen Martín Luther Kings freedom march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama. It was growing and overlooking the march that became known as bloody Sunday. Now to the point that most of you already know people, love a story behind a piece of work. I made 66 bowls from this beautiful tree, some of this wood of course went to our club members. When I begin selling these bowls this story will be told and the price will reflect all this. I've already sold a couple bowls from this tree and at a much higher price than I would normally get here in MS. Find the story if there is one and use it to your advantage. Hope this will bless some one using this idea.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

Oh I agree with you 100% Breck. The most I ever got for a turned piece was from wood harvested at Taliesin, the Wisconsin home of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was bought by one of the directors of the non-profit that runs the place now. I know there's other great stories out there too. Some years ago one of the AAW chapters got wood from Mt. Vernon, from a tree George Washington was thought to have planted. I'm sure somebody here can add to that story.

 

[Richard Coers]

Legacy turning has always been profitable.

 

[Donna Banfield]

I’m in complete agreement. A good story will always help sell a piece. And if you are good at story telling, you can sell almost anything.

 

[john lucas]

My friend Pat Matranga made a successful living selling what she called memory wood. She would get wood from historical locations and turn that. It all started when her neighborhood was hit by a tornado. She turned bowls and other things from trees downed in her neighborhood and made items for her friends from trees in their yard.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

I’m in complete agreement. A good story will always help sell a piece. And if you are good at story telling, you can sell almost anything.

I agree about the ability to tell a story well is just as important as the story.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

My friend Pat Matranga made a successful living selling what she called memory wood. She would get wood from historical locations and turn that. It all started when her neighborhood was hit by a tornado. She turned bowls and other things from trees downed in her neighborhood and made items for her friends from trees in their yard.

Sure makes sense when people ask me to make them a bowl from an old family tree, there is always the opportunity to raise the price a little, even though almost never do.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Yep. Having the story of the tree, if not the exact location it came from, will pretty much always make a turned item worth a whole lot more. I try to keep track of all the trees I get in so I am able to explain where the wood came from. (I.E. Small box made from my mom's lilac tree she planted when I was born, or sold a black walnut bowl to someone that grew up climbing the tree it was made from - She gave me a "tip" on venmo that was almost double the asking price of the bowl! - , and so on..)

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Yep. Having the story of the tree, if not the exact location it came from, will pretty much always make a turned item worth a whole lot more. I try to keep track of all the trees I get in so I am able to explain where the wood came from. (I.E. Small box made from my mom's lilac tree she planted when I was born, or sold a black walnut bowl to someone that grew up climbing the tree it was made from - She gave me a "tip" on venmo that was almost double the asking price of the bowl! - , and so on..)

Yes the story behind an art piece is it's greatest selling point. I consider a beautifully turned bowl a functional art piece.

 

[Karl Hansen]

The satisfaction that comes from having the ability to create something from a special piece of wood should not be overlooked either.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

The satisfaction that comes from having the ability to create something from a special piece of wood should not be overlooked either.

I agree completely Gibbs.

 

[hockenbery]

if you are good at story telling, you can sell almost anything.

And often the more outrageous and unbelievable stories sell the best.
We got a lot of people out there that want to believe more than know.

 

[hughie]

I sell or endeavour to sell through a couple of galleries that I rarely visit due to the distance. The bottom line down-under is that wood-turned art isnt really considered art and with that there is only a handful of collectors across the country. Contests national or otherwise are few and far between and if you win you can make a sale. But the major National contest closed down a few years ago, leaving a void. The biggest city of 5 million where I used to live has seen the annual woody show close down as well. I have since moved and there is an annual show in the district which when I'm set up I will take part in. There is some work to be had in reproduction work, such as house finials, stairs and general repairs to furniture etc, not everyone likes spindle turning, especially production spindle work.
For those who do it to make a living its demos , videos and or visits to the USA for demonstrations, which is a shame because we have some very talented turners, added to that there is an amazing amount of good turning wood, not to mention burls.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

I sell or endeavour to sell through a couple of galleries that I rarely visit due to the distance. The bottom line down-under is that wood-turned art isnt really considered art and with that there is only a handful of collectors across the country. Contests national or otherwise are few and far between and if you win you can make a sale. But the major National contest closed down a few years ago, leaving a void. The biggest city of 5 million where I used to live has seen the annual woody show close down as well. I have since moved and there is an annual show in the district which when I'm set up I will take part in. There is some work to be had in reproduction work, such as house finials, stairs and general repairs to furniture etc, not everyone likes spindle turning, especially production spindle work.
For those who do it to make a living its demos , videos and or visits to the USA for demonstrations, which is a shame because we have some very talented turners, added to that there is an amazing amount of good turning wood, not to mention burls.

Hughie, I have to agree with you on "most don't even consider wood turned art, ART". I gave up Galleries down here due that fact that most want my work at a craft price but I refuse to sell it unless it is a serious art price. I have won awards for excellence at our largest annual art competition here on the MS Gulf coast, 5 out of 6 years in a row, which is a $300.00 award Once a year if my piece is selected. Most of the pieces that won had made the cover of WOW but a few were not chosen. It always depended on the judge which is usually a painter or a potter. It's impossible to finance a woodturning business' on $300.00 a year. The way I have been able to make better is My art inspires me, but rarely is any of them actually purchased. My Bowls on the other hand do sell. So I do the art for myself and the bowls to sell. I've become a shadow of a real production turner. I make a couple hundred bowls per year and sell most of them on a good year. I have to sell them at art festivals (never at craft shows). I pray you find the perfect venue to sell your work.
'

 

[John Tisdale]

Breck,
Thanks for sharing.
An old gentleman allowed me to take as much as I wanted from an old walnut coming down in front of his Dallas home - all he asked was for one item from the tree.
I presented him with a large open vase about a year later - while sitting on the front porch I asked when his youngest was born and then proceeded to count down from the bark. Proceeded to mark his first born, when he was married, his wife's year of birth, and finally his. The price stayed the same - it was a gift. But the value rose considerably
it's not too much of a stretch to ascribe a tree with the persona of watching over us and witnessing our histories. Maybe George Nakashima had an insight when he wrote "The Soul of a Tree"
John

 

[Alan Weinberg]

I must inhabit a different arena. I’ve collected bowls for 40 years—Ron Kent, Vesery, Moulthrops, Dunn, Mode, Cutler, Hunter, to name a few—from various galleries that seemed to have no trouble selling even expensive art bowls. I get emails often from www.woodsymphony.com, currently with a showing of Alain Mailland, previously one of Jackofsky. Recently an auction house sold a collection and prices wildly exceeded estimates. There’s a market . . .

 

[JeffSmith]

A story accompanies most pieces I sell. People like to know something about the piece - the wood, where harvested, how the concept came about - virtually anything that reinforces their decision to take that one home. I sell only through studio tour weekends here where I live. They only happen three or four times a year. It’s a joy to talk with those who come in to see what I do. Often a story turns a looker into an owner. What really amazed me is that telling the story can often draw a crowd as they all gather to hear the why, how or what from of a piece. For utility pieces like kitchen ware, salt vaults, grinders or chops they don’t always know what the use is until it’s pointed out.

 

[hughie]

I must inhabit a different arena. I’ve collected bowls for 40 years—Ron Kent, Vesery, Moulthrops, Dunn, Mode, Cutler, Hunter, to name a few—from various galleries that seemed to have no trouble selling even expensive art bowls. I get emails often from www.woodsymphony.com, currently with a showing of Alain Mailland, previously one of Jackofsky. Recently an auction house sold a collection and prices wildly exceeded estimates. There’s a market . . .

Yes I agree, however my research suggests 60% of the collectors live in North America, whereas in Australia I really couldnt find any stats. But putting that aside, the wood turned market here is dominated by production turned pieces from Asia of ugly and often poorly turned utility pieces and this has set a perceptive value on all wood turned pieces and of course with that galleries are few and far between as are the craft shows.
I have an annual craft show nearby and as its a commercial enterprise it has high costs involved such as a substantial public liability insurance, Stall fees etc all this often runs to several hundreds dollars. Needless to say, wood turning is rarely represented.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

that would be what we call a "witness tree" environment folks and history fans get upset at the prospect of cutting them down unless dead. i have 2 big chunks of a red elm from President Buchanan's home place it was over 52 inches in diameter. I also have a piece from a ship that wrecked in Virginia in the 1870's

 

[Pat Wisniewski]

Bowls with stories are great, though I haven’t sold any ‘storied’ bowls yet.

I have a section of the Maryland state champion white oak from when I organized a volunteer group of arborists to remove dead wood and maintenance prune it. I have not turned it yet.

Having worked both in arboriculture off and on over 39 years, and as a hospice nurse I have several times taken trees down for friends who were suffering a loss and happened to have a hazard or dying tree in their property. I made gifts of ‘memory bowls’ from the wood for the family.

A few years ago I purchased a milled cherry tree from a couple who were moving to Virginia to be near their children, as he was declining with dementia. The tree had grown in their yard for fifty years when a storm toppled it. He no longer was able to do any woodworking, so I made a bowl for them to have as a reminder of their years here in Delaware.