blacksmithing business

[SIL]

For you that smith as a job how do you get customers and what do you guys do for advertising?

[Ted T]

SIL
You have asked a very good question, a question that gets asked over and over again.
So that means your thinking is on the right track.
We had quit a response about this issue in November. So here is the URL, and I think your question will be addressed very well!
http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/blacksmithing-profession-8277/
Good Smithing
Ted Throckmorton

[SIL]

Thanks ted thats exactly what i needed.

[Mark Aspery]

For you that smith as a job how do you get customers and what do you guys do for advertising?

I am a bit removed from that side of blacksmithing as my business is more in the teaching of blacksmithing.

If I were to go down the road of producing products again I would go about it as a two fold venture. Commission and speculative!

The speculative venture is a base product that I hock to galleries etc. It would be my hope that this will bring in commission work.

It would be my hope that the base product would smooth out the ups and downs of commission work.

I would also write some articles for the local magazines or such things as Sunset magazine.
They would NOT be - "local smith sets up shop" - as I see so often.

But more of the:
"10 ways that an artist blacksmith can help embellish your home or hearth!"

I wouldn't even have to feature all my own work - showing the work of other smiths would be just fine (so long as correct credits are given).

I am trying to show a character and competence.

.02

[FieryFurnace]

I do a sort of local craft fair round and I also do Civil War reenacting. The reenacting sells more stuff and gets more customers, but the fairs do pretty good too.
We also have a website, however it hasn't been up on the web a year yet so I don't get many sales from that yet.
In all I make enough to cover expenses (coal, steel, tools) and have a bit extra, to save, to build a shop. First of the year I'm going to try ebay, but I have no clue how well that will do.

[Grant]

The speculative venture is a base product that I hock to galleries etc. It would be my hope that this will bring in commission work.

MA-
How would you develop a "base product"?
-tks grant

[Mark Aspery]

Grant,

I'm (hopefully) going to post a link to Paul Margetts of the UK.
Paul undertakes large commission type work, but as you look at his website you will notice that he has a bread and butter line of small sculptural items, Fashionable candlesticks etc.

Exciting sculpture and metal-work by Paul Margetts

How do you go about designing such things? For one, I would take a tour of local galleries and have a chat with the proprietors and ask them "what sells."

But most of all it's time with a pad and pencil.

[Dan P.]

I second everything that Mark Aspery said, further to which I will add the obvious- get yourself in the yellowpages (free here in the UK), and on any other online or paper directories- craft directories, architectural directories, trade directories, etc. Some you may need to pay for, but you will make that money back, sooner or later.
Also, think about what kind of work you really want to do- do you want to make garden fixtures? So send a solicitous and very polite letter notifying the recipient of the services you offer, along with your card, to every landscape designer, professional gardener and garden center in a twenty (or more?) mile radius. If you want to do interiors, send letters to interior designers, etc. etc.
Wanting to get into a particular field I did this myself a while back, and out of the dozens of letters I sent, I got one reply, just one! But that reply was from a company who have been very good to me, so it was well worth it!
Anyway, the key is to be switched on to ways of publicising yourself, and especially of reaching the clients you want. Once you have done that, you can have the intense pleasure of politely refusing the various would be customers who want you to mend their toilet roll dispenser, weld up the (full) gas tank on their motorbike, sharpen their scissors, etc. etc!

[Francis Trez Cole]

Where I am they do not reconise blacksmithing so I regestered as a welding service. coast $13.00 a year. Most of my work is from word-of-mouth or the yellow pages. I do it part time. but make twice as much as my full time job. I do structural welding for a few construction companys in town they know my work and my rate. I have done work in restoration of old building and pieces as far away as Japan.

[eddie]

How do you get customers?

This is how I do it. I first make a brouchure that shows my work and a short biography. I visit galleries, decorators, architects, builders, and homeowners trying to expose them to my craft. If I get an interview I will direct them to my web site for a more extensive look at my work. I usually want to carry a small hand forged item with me just to leave behind somewhere. Remember that their first impression of you will be with them when you leave.

I agree with Mark about the speculative items for galleries. Galleries can be a good venue but they are really stepping stones for us to reach the higher end commissions.

I try to get exposure from magazines and any other periodicals that feature artists.
I try and do a couple of shows each year.
I support local art associations and enter art shows that offers prize money. ( never know)

We must be creative in marketing ourselves. If people start using you it is because they like you as well as your work.

Eddie
GallopForge.Com :: Eddie Rainey's Gallop Forge: Investment Quality Ironwork

[Ecart]

I do a sort of local craft fair round and I also do Civil War reenacting. The reenacting sells more stuff and gets more customers, but the fairs do pretty good too.
We also have a website, however it hasn't been up on the web a year yet so I don't get many sales from that yet.
In all I make enough to cover expenses (coal, steel, tools) and have a bit extra, to save, to build a shop. First of the year I'm going to try ebay, but I have no clue how well that will do.

Let me know how e-bay works. Out of the blue, I ended up with four orders for cleavers. I've never made a cleaver, but I am going to use these four for practice, then hopefully start selling them on e-bay and build from there to my own website.