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How to Start a Career in Crafting

Love creating hand-crafted gifts for friends and family? Have a good business sense for what the crafting market will demand - and pay you for - unique handmade works of art?

For amateurs who have a talent for making clever and beautiful craft pieces, there are a variety of ways that may one day lead to dropping the traditional 9-5 job and pursuing a fulfilling career in crafting.

Wood & stone carvers, jewellers, potters, stained glass artists, and textile workers all employ unique skills to shape their materials so the skills necessary for a career as a craft artist vary.

However, a creative mind combined with a good work ethic generally holds great promise for any crafter. And, since many of them are necessarily self employed, a natural head for business and a special feel for marketing and public relations are also absolutely essential for building a successful career.

In fact, a good business sense can be the determining factor in how much a craft artist can make. Displaying their work at craft fairs and studios (and increasingly in online crafts directory sites and galleries), a craft artist's salary is almost entirely dependent on their ability to show and sell their work before appreciative audiences.

Selling your crafts

A crafting career is just that, and entails not only finding quality time to create, but organizing your day to schedule the equally-important business of crafting.

This may include networking with other professionals in online craft forums, for instance, or for buying materials and supplies, bookkeeping and accounting, developing sales leads, or for keeping on top of upcoming venues.

The good news is that the job outlook for craft careers is surprisingly high, compared to other 9-5 industries, but this doesn't change the fact that there is, and likely always will be a high amount of competition. A craft artist will have to work hard, and match their creative talents with a passion for handcrafting a successful business and reputation within the industry..

More about the crafts business around the Web:

Starting and Running a Successful Crafts Business - About.com guide with helpful tips, tricks and resources including pricing, sales and marketing techniques, craft show reviews, suggested publications, forums, trade shows.

Craft Marketer.com - An extensive video library of craft business how to's, including marketing and promotion, tips on the best selling crafts, places to sell your crafts online, and related tips.

Craft Business Blog - Learn the art of self-promotion with additional tips on selling at craft fairs, setting up booths, pricing, sales and marketing, and customer service, with related resources

CraftBoom - Marketing an Art & Craft Business Online - Insider pros and cons, starting up, organization checklists, tips on getting found by the search engines and developing visitors, and other helpful advice for online craft businesses or brick and mortar operations.

also see in Shopping -> Online Craft Galleries