Disney Fantasy

[ladyjaneinmd]

People are the same with almost any trade. "Why should I pay you that amount, it didn't take you that long to do it".
They never take in to account your training, experience and ability. They think you should be paid solely on the time it takes you to do something.

You got it! I have had people ask me why they should pay a premium to me for something that looks so easy? Because it took me more than 50 years to learn how to make it look easy! (I am a seamstress)

[AkaiKitsune]

You got it! I have had people ask me why they should pay a premium to me for something that looks so easy? Because it took me more than 50 years to learn how to make it look easy! (I am a seamstress)

I know just enough sewing to be able to cut out a pattern and sew it together. I can do basic things like hemming (I’m short it was a skill I had to learn) but anything that requires more then that is beyond me. I can admire the people who can measure someone and just magically know how to make what a client wants based on those measurements but that is far beyond me. My grandma on the other hand can see like a pro and in fact did make my grad dress.

[AccountingDrone]

Also the theory that you can’t get lost if you keep land in sight only works if you are playing a video game.

Yes and no - I grew up sailing and swimming on a particular small lake, and by the time I was not really able to hang out at the lake all the time I could navigate by the profile of the hills around the lake as silhouetted by moonlight. Navigating by rutter [non map, a verbal and sketch of the look of the landmarks to look for] is one of the oldest forms of navigation. As long as you are not going through an archipelago of tons of tiny islands mixed with larger islands, but just bopping along a coastline it is difficult to get lost. Though at one time I could identify visually the islands needed to hop from Rochester NY to Kingston Ontario and find my way under sail or power.

I had variations on this same argument with my late mum when we used to go to craft fairs and the like. She'd moan about how expensive things like scarves and rugs were, and I'd point out that if they're hand made you can't just charge for the materials, you also have to charge for the time because the artists don't work for free. Depending on the item, it can take dozens or hundreds or even thousands of hours of work, all of which has to be included in the price.

ROTFLMAO - I had a short term roomie when I lived in Norfolk VA. He wanted me to make a con robe for him, a D&D sort of wizard robe. SO I got a copy of the Key of Solomon and for the next 100 or so hours killed time sitting at the security desk overnight [temping for a watch commander when I was a response guard] embroidering the seals and some funky latin inscription along the edges and scattered around the body. I did some sort of nonhuman alphabet inscription on the sash [I picked the seam and opened it so I could reclose the seam to hide the back of the embroidery. I knew it was not a for profit project, it was to keep from falling asleep, and I priced it at $100 .. he was protesting paying 'that much' when 3 other people he was trying to get to make it refused and were quoting around a thousand dollars for the project. I pointed out I was getting about a buck an hour for intensive handwork [silverish mylar thread] It did look great when I was finished, but I kept having this nightmare that someone walked up to him at the con and read the invocation and summoned demons =)

I know just enough sewing to be able to cut out a pattern and sew it together. I can do basic things like hemming (I’m short it was a skill I had to learn) but anything that requires more then that is beyond me. I can admire the people who can measure someone and just magically know how to make what a client wants based on those measurements but that is far beyond me. My grandma on the other hand can see like a pro and in fact did make my grad dress.

I do elizabethan gowns by hand. My first SCA arts and sciences contest entry was a linen [sourced from overdyed stained antique linen table cloths that my mom could no longer launder and get the stains out of] Italian renn gown complete with cutwork, color on color padded embroidery and handwoven lucet loom cord. I had been to 4 events, and spotted the gown in a museum that I liked so I made it to replace the bedlinen Roman gown I had been wearing. The winner of the competition was swen on a sewing machine using synthetic fabric and storebought trim ... didn't enter anything for another 20 years.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

The judge was blind, then.

[taxguykarl]

People are the same with almost any trade. "Why should I pay you that amount, it didn't take you that long to do it".
They never take in to account your training, experience and ability. They think you should be paid solely on the time it takes you to do something.

Don't forget the exposure if you screw up. The IRS assesses penalties of $550 per fraudulent return with no cap.

[XCashier]

I like horses but I don't even known the first thing about riding. I'm afraid I'd get too nervous and spook the animal. But feeding them carrots and hay? I'm all over that.

Same here. I might even attempt to brush one if I'm shown the correct way to do it.

The type of riding that mother/daughter wanted? No way. No way in hell would I be able to even begin that, no matter how many movies I watch . Unlike them, I know how reality works.

If I'm lucky, I might get some calm, muscular animal that can handle my weight and lack of experience and maybe go on a short ride around the paddock.

My first SCA arts and sciences contest entry was a linen ... Italian renn gown complete with cutwork, color on color padded embroidery and handwoven lucet loom cord....The winner of the competition was swen on a sewing machine using synthetic fabric and storebought trim ... didn't enter anything for another 20 years.

This was from the SCA? That must've been a rather lackadaisical group. Normally SCAdians, at least the ones I've met, are pretty strict on making sure stuff is "period". Synthetics would be right out. Sewing machine might be okay on inside seams, but hand-sewn would be better, and outside seams must be hand-sewn. One fellow even wrote and illustrated a funny zine about Bad Garb, showing the many pitfalls beginners and non-serious people make.

Now, I admit, my first SCA garb, I used store-bought patterns, made the chemise out of muslin and the vest and skirt out of slightly heavier cotton fabrics. And used a sewing machine (I was a beginner, plus lazy! ) Not really period, but at least I didn't use synthetics, printed pattern fabrics or -- good grief! -- zippers! I know it won't pass muster on closer inspection, but okay for a Ren Faire, and infinitely better than some fake fur bikini or a costume from last year's Halloween clearance.

[KuariKaydrith]

I'm only just getting back into the SCA after years away, and I'm glad that the group I'm in isn't fanatical about things having to be made almost entirely by hand. And I'm also finding that there is less insistence in general about having to be 100% period or having folks essentially tear you down because you machine sewed your garb - being an authenticity weenie is great when it's your own garb, but don't look down on others for not doing something the exact way you would. But even when I was in the SCA a couple of decades ago I wore machine sewn garb and used store-bought trim, not that I would ever have tried to enter that garb into an A&S contest!

[Stormraven]

The SCA I knew back when, as long as you made an effort not to look like you were wearing a halloween costume, you were okay - but the competitions were very strict.

[XCashier]

The SCA I knew back when, as long as you made an effort not to look like you were wearing a halloween costume, you were okay - but the competitions were very strict.

Yes, that's what I meant, strict for the competitions. AccountingDrone should have won that competition.