My First Commission! And 6 things to consider before taking a Crochet commission!
So I’ll say first up I’m not usually one for agreeing to commissions. I know it’s fraught with issues even before I begin even considering it. This time I made a little exception and I’ll tell you the reasons why. But first let’s talk about the 6 things to consider before agreeing to a Crochet commission!
(My latest commissions including Grifter, Tachikoma and Rory Mercury. To be honest, I have no ideas who these characters are! Forgive the spamming of photos of them, you can tell I’m pretty pleased with them myself haha.)
1) Do you have the time to set aside to complete it?
This is probably the foremost important consideration because commissions are time-consuming. Especially if it’s something not attempted before, experimenting and frogging can take up a lot of time! For me at least, the process actually involves making the pattern and making the final product, after all why waste the pattern when you might be able to use it again later?
My reason for considering this commission was that the requester was super awesome - he kept encouraging me to take my time and he was totally not in a hurry. For those of you who are rushing out as gifts for loved ones for a special occasion, you might not have that luxury.
2) Is it a complex project?
This is kind of in line with the previous point. I really don’t know how some crocheters can do blanket or garment commissions! It’s so much work and so time consuming! I did a tiny little C2C once and that alone took me many weeks! Frankly not worth the time I feel. Just think about all the little afternoon naps and night time sleep-slots for your kiddos that you have to squeeze in! I usually do little amis and they work up pretty fast BUT never compromise on the detailing because it really shows in the final work.
3) Does the requester appreciate your work?
This can be difficult to determine at the beginning. But look out for some red flags when starting the negotiation process. If there’s a lot of back and forth even before you start, like asking about the colours, the design, the size etc, then you know you are in for more trouble after starting the work.
I think it’s important to always update the requester along the way when making the commission, so that they are aware of how much work is involved as well as whether there are some specific concerns that flag up even before you finish.
4) Is the requester willing to pay for your time and effort?
Actually my opinion really about this, is that generally crocheters are not paid enough for the work and effort they put into the final crocheted product 😅. Then again, sometimes we love doing it so there’s that irrational part of us that’s willing to put up with lower prices to get the job done.
There are many various calculators out there on how to consider the final pricing based on hourly rate etc. The fact of the matter is that you don’t really know how much work the commission is until you actually get down to doing it. The bottom line is if you want to charge a certain amount because of the work involved and the requester is not willing to pay it, consider not doing it because reducing your prices will make you very unhappy and it shows up in the final work at the end.
Also, don’t forget to factor in shipping charges too or conversion rate if it’s involved because all these eat into the cost of making it and it may not be very apparent during the negotiation process. I totally forgot to factor it in haha, but yeah registered mail costs more as well.
5) Do you have the reasonable skills to attempt it?
This is something that I struggled with for a while as do most crocheters who don’t know whether their artwork is being appreciated. If the request is pretty complex and you are not sure you can achieve that level of standard that is expected, really think twice about accepting it. Then again, commissions are all about accepting challenges right? So you really have to decide for yourself.
6) Is it fun or is it becoming a chore?
This is finally the all important question at the end of the day right? I had received a couple of requests before but I’ve rejected all of them haha. This time, I decided to try out my first commission because when I received the photographs of the request, my first thought was - that looks challenging but I can totally do that! And the requester was super cool and obliging and not pressurizing AT ALL.
Finally the last thing to end off with is:
It’s ok to say no.
Never get pressurized into doing something you don’t want to and never accept a price you are not comfortable with. Your time, effort and talent are worth it, don’t ever forget that!
P.S. It took me a total of 2 weeks to finish these 3 little guys, FYI. 😬
