Cremains pendants - what do you charge?

amyhoust · #1 2013-02-08, 3:11pm

I made my first "cremains" beads for a friend the other day for one of her pets. It was a gift, but now I am getting potential clients interested in me making them something similar. So I am wondering what the "going rate" looks like for this service?

Here are the pendants I made for my friend... one has silver foil (the one with the yellow), the other is just ash.

NLC Beads · #2 2013-02-08, 6:47pm

I did a set for a friend. I'm going to start doing more - $50 each. Silver cored or sculptural cats.

amyhoust · #3 2013-02-08, 8:21pm

So $50 for each bead with a silver core?

I was thinking maybe $50-60 for a pendant with wire wrapping.

amyhoust · #4 2013-02-08, 8:21pm

ps your beads are beautiful

NLC Beads · #5 2013-02-08, 8:30pm

I was admiring yours before I posted mine and thought mine couldn't compare. Thank you for the kind words.

It took me forever to make them... Too nervous about getting them wrong.

I was thinking $50 for either a silver core or as a pendant - cat beads and I think an organic with a swath of ashes with cear over it? - with Swarkies and sterline silver. I need to make sample beads soon...

There are others listed on Etsy (not my shop, just in general) if you want to price compare there, too.

Aretz · #6 2013-02-10, 1:04pm

I remember wanting to do this with some of my mother's ashes. Sadly, I forgot to save a small amount of them and we scattered them all.

I always thought a rosary made of beads made with cremains would be a good idea for a special remembrance, although I understand it would creep out some folks.

Lizzydee · #7 2013-02-10, 3:50pm

I charge $100 for five simple beads.

Catts · #8 2013-02-10, 4:44pm

I make a lot of cremain beads, mostly large pendant types. If they done't want to wear them they can be hung somewhere under light or near a window...

I don't charge anything extra for putting the cremains in the bead, the price is just for the style of bead chosen.. It doesn't take much more time to include the ash.

These beads were $125 each & I added simple findings.

Kerry

Torched Art · #9 2013-02-10, 6:57pm

I offer custom memory beads. I offer a variety of shapes, sizes and designs that the customer can chose from. I charge $115 for a pendant. I also offer pandora beads at $59 and earrings at $59.
Custom designs I charge more because the client tends to have a lot of questions and can take 100 emails back and forth and hours of my time.

I have seen fused memory beads as low as $5 on etsy, and beautiful beads with sterling work above $150.

Look on etsy and ebay to see what level you want your beads at. I prefer to keep mine around the $100 mark because I give them extra care, they get what they pay for. I also offer a free pandora bead if they want it.

CreativeSpirit · #10 2013-02-10, 7:06pm

My Mom passed 4 months ago

and I plan on making "heart beads" for some family and a few of her very close friends, and have had several people interested, so I guess the price point would depend on the size, shape etc!
Now I just need to wrap my head around the whole thing and just do it!

Peace Wendy

amyhoust · #11 2013-02-11, 1:37am

It seems to me that people are paying more for the extremely personal nature of the work, rather than the cost of the bead itself. (That's how I see it anyway).

But then again, pricing has always been something I find challenging.

nate-d · #12 2015-04-03, 3:29pm

I made an quick implosion from the ashtray. Made the maria then dipped in the ashtray no sifting or anything. It looked fine, but cracked this morning. I usually keep the pendants in vermiculite overnight with no problems. This pendant cracked this morning. I think I used too many ashes. Any ideas.

nate-d · #13 2015-04-03, 3:33pm

I was asked to make a pendant from cremains. I usually place finsished pendants in vermiculite overnight with no problems. Yesterday I made a maria, dipped it in the ashtray, no sifting or anything; just to see how it woud work. Looked fine but exploded this morning. Maybe way too many ashes. I'm just curious about the non glass particulate causing problems later. Any suggestions?

Mina · #14 2015-04-03, 3:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by amyhoust

It seems to me that people are paying more for the extremely personal nature of the work, rather than the cost of the bead itself. (That's how I see it anyway).

But then again, pricing has always been something I find challenging.

I agree with you...I think in some cases the price is higher than it needs to be. It isn't that difficult to incorporate the cremains into the bead.

Nate, I'm wondering if they need to go in a kiln right away because of the inclusions. The cremain beads I've made had a lot of inclusion. I haven't had any break, bit I garage and anneal right away.

amyhoust · #15 2015-04-03, 4:15pm

I think that due to size and the inclusions they probably should go into the kiln right away. The pendants and beads always come out fairly large and the ashes create bubbles and who knows how much extra tension that gives. I always give mine a good long soak in the kiln before annealing, at least 2 hours. And they always go straight into the kiln from the torch but then that's how I do all my beads.