10/29/2026
OK, I can see how addicting these can become. Not mentioning the cost of materials that you could rack up in just one pot. I would like to include beaded potted plants on my website eventually, but i don't want them to be costly. The beads i used may not do that sparkle dance in the sunlight if hung in the window. Like many examples i have seen others make. Those type of glass beads can be even more costly. And then you have to decide how full you want your plant to be.
In this pot I use one strand of beads at the cost of $5.99 from Hobby Lobby. 43 leaf beads. I also used some green seed beads to take up space. Which i did not include in the pricing when I crunched the numbers on this pot alone. They wouldn't really change the number much. We're talking pennys on the dollar.
So, I just had to see what my numbers came out to be if i were to price these like i do my jewelry. The total come up to.... Outrageous!! 🤣 Seriously, I just about s**t myself to be honest!! There's no way in hell I could ever charge what they came out to be. I have a formula i follow. Works great for jewelry. I know my value & I know what my jewelry is worth. Plus it gives me a guideline when putting my jewelry on sale or even to sell it at wholesale prices to other boutiques.
In order to come up with a price, you must know the cost of your material. You must track your timing in making said item. Then there's the mark-up & overhead. Anyone & everyone who sells a product does this. Including all retail stores. And their mark-up & overhead are quite large. Being a small business, I'm thankful that I can set my own accordingly. I crunch numbers for x1.5, x2 & x3 mark-ups. My overhead is set at $1.00. I like to see the lowest & the highest numbers I can sell each product for.
With that being said, because the beads alone are $6.00 in just this particular pot, that can raise the total price significantly in the end. I could remove the overhead price, but it's only going to reduce it so much. I could apply less time than it actually takes. That might take off another $5.00. Yes, I have to charge labor, who doesn't? I only charge $10 per hr on almost all of my items unless it has significant weaving, including my sterling silver stack rings, then I charge more.
So, in order to sell these at a fair price I would need to find wholesale beads to reduce the cost of the beads, reduce my labor time & remove the overhead. Finding just the right beads at wholesale cost will be the hard part.
In conclusion, I will be re-crunching these numbers and looking for better deals on beads.
