The Rising Cost of Doing Business

Have you noticed how much groceries have gone up over the last year?  We sure have in my household. And I've got a 6'4" teenage boy, which only compounds the expense.  I think here in Western Washington I've seen an increase in weekly grocery cost of 50% over the last 12 months.

But it's not just food that has gone up.  Framing materials have also increased drastically.  2 years ago I could buy a box of UV glass for $90, and then in 2010 it jumped to $120 per box.  I recently called the shop for a price quote, and found that glass is now $140 per box.  That's not all that has gone up.  Acid-free alphamats went from $11 each to $14 each. Then there's my favorite mouldings, the nice raw oak that I take home and stain myself and then join.  That has increased by $7 per frame.

What's a painter to do? I have worked for a number of years as a professional framer, so I have had the blessing of being able to cut that cost by doing this work myself. Doing my own framing not only saves substantial cost, but I can also have total control of the quality of this process. There is no guessing, I know what goes into my framings.  Painted feathers are a very unusual size and shape, so a custom job is necessary for a professional presentation.

My desperation to keep costs lower brought me to my friend Karen at Lucas Art and Frame.  I told her of the costs I was facing in frame moulding.  She had just received a new shipment of moulding samples and already had her eye on a particular style for me, and she would build the frames.  This particular moulding is $7 more than what I would be paying for raw moulding that still needed to be stained and built, but saving time and miles is saving money so the difference really was nothing at all.  I no longer would need to do the extra work in building a frame, and will be saving an hour and a half per frame in the end because I could go straight from painting, to matting and glazing, to dropping it into a frame that is ready and waiting. That is certainly worth $7 more per frame to me, as that is now an hour and a half each that I save in frame production. What a win!

I cannot show you the new frames yet, but I can describe them to you. It's a fairly wide one, two-tone wood, and of a dark walnut on the outer and the inside is more blond. The styling of the blond is like wormwood, but it's beautifully finished. Natural, yet elegant. We tried the sample against all my pieces in the gallery and it looked great with every one of them.  The new beautifully finished frame will definitely add to the quality of each finished piece.  Framing really does have the ability to make - or break - any finished art.

So regrettably I will need to raise the price of my painted feathers. It's a decision I've held off on doing as long as I can. I am only taking it up by $20 though, which is going from $275 to $295 each.  All of you who have requested work from me, don't worry, you are still at the previous agreed-upon price of $275. Any new orders will fall into the new price.

I am working on two pieces that will be bound for Germany. These will receive the new frames, so when they are done I will photograph them so you can see how nice the new presentation really is. You won't be disappointed... I'm thrilled to be able to offer these and elevate the quality to the next level.