Anyone out there made magnets?

[Alchemist23]

Hey peoples. I have started to make these little magnets out of stoneware clay...the only magnets I could find were really really strong, and pulled out of the hole I made and filled with glue. :oops:

Then I tried a seriously strong epoxy, and that worked, but the epoxy is so expensive, I would have to charge to much for the magnets.

I just bought some sculpy to see if I can use that instead. I don't have access to a kiln. I attempted to actually bake the magnet into it. Is this OK? I've heard you can do the same thing with pin backs.

I know this could be potentially lucritive for me if I can make the baking clay stuff work. I sold 20 or so of my first stoneware batch at the student sale this year (I also make full size version figurines, but those I need the kiln for)...but I want to make the small magnets more professional looking...and of course, so the magnet part won't fall out.

I'd also like them to potentially become my favors or somesuch for faire. The magnets are strong enough, if you use two, to use as a magnetic pin...but maybe not if I bake it into the clay...

so, any suggestions? :?:

[Brigid]

my mom works with sculpy and premo alot, the way we got the magnets to reliable stick to hthem was to embed them into the clay prior to baking. kinda sealing them in using the clay and glue. the magnets still seemed to work even though they had a layer of clay beteen them and the magnetic surface, and we never had a complaint from customers about them separating

[Jeannie Fitzgerald]

A less expensive option for epoxy might be E-6000. It's an industrial adhesive sold by many craft stores like Michaels. The stuff is extremely viscous and skins over fairly fast but once it cures (24 hours), it sticks like...uhh...well...glue. It dries clear.

[Alchemist23]

I've seen the E-6000, I just didn't know how reliable it was...but now I know...

And I made one with the magnet enclosed in the clay, and so far, through many takings on and off the fridge, it hasn't come apart. I may have a winner!

Any idea on how much to charge for a small sculpey magnet? The magnets i am using are about 35 cents a piece. The time I spend varies....depends on how unique I make them look, or how much detail I put into them.

I'm just not good with pricing. I charged 3.50 for the first batch, but I didn't have to buy the clay or paint...now I do.

[Nimue]

When you bake the Sculpey and magnet, I think you can use Liquid Sculpey as glue...it will solidify and help the magnet adhere.

[Jessa]

You'll need to figure out how much time you avarge per magnet to go from raw materials to a sale, in addition to the material cost. Factor in time you spend hawking them as well as making them. Then, you can figure out how much you need to change in order to "pay" your self a good hourly wage.

I'm just not good with pricing. I charged 3.50 for the first batch, but I didn't have to buy the clay or paint...now I do.

[Alchemist23]

When you bake the Sculpey and magnet, I think you can use Liquid Sculpey as glue...it will solidify and help the magnet adhere.

Liquid Sculpey??

[Lady Sarah]

the general pricing markup I've dealt with in retail is triple your costs and time. That way you 'pay' for the supplies in the item you just sold, you have cash on hand to pay for the next bit of supplies for the next item you make, and you have the profit left over.

However, it's just a guideline, not a rule of thumb. Jessa is right, you've got to first sit down and figure out how much your time is worth, in addition to your creativity. the more imaginative and intricate pieces are definitely going to cost more than something you can turn out in no time.

I'd love to see some pictures! my mother and I both are fridge magnet freaks.

[Tapestry MacGillicuddly]

The mark-up can range anywhere form 3 to 10 times the cost, depending on your time and creativity. That's what I was told when I was painting stuff to sell. Also a good thing to remember is that if you get your supplies on sale, you do your mark-up from the price that it would normally be, not the price you got it on sale for. If you do it from the sale price and have to make more from not on sale stock, you could take a major loss.

My mother always priced her crafts as reasonably as she could and sold lots and lots of stuff. But her crafts were always smaller priced stuff. People don't hesitate too often to buy several of something that only costs $1 or $2. One way to do affordable crafting is to find the reasonably priced supplies at craft suppliers like Boleks in Ohio. http://www.bolekscrafts.com/ They have everything from beads to paint and magnets.

[Brigid]

as for pricing, we used to sell my mothers pins depending on size for $5 to $15 dependant on the size and the amount of details she put in to them, the magnets we had ussually went for $5-10, and we allways sold out at what ever show we were at.

[Alchemist23]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess I am going to sit down and figure this stuff out. ...as well as figure out what different styles I want to do.

The full size figurines are grumpy old tree people with squished up faces, and saggy boobs. (for the ladies) Then I started making just the faces as magnets...now I have started grumpy trolls, and working on developing griffons and other mythical creatures. I have a name for them, but I don't know how to copyright it yet.

something about seeing grumpy, squished up, frowny faces makes me laugh a little bit.

[renstyles]

I make ceramic and marble magnets and get my magnet backs from http://www.nationalartcraft.com/.

The 1" magnet squares were almost too strong and were hard to remove from the fridge. The 3/4" are better. They have sticky backs already, but you can always add glue to make the bond stronger.

[Alchemist23]

Thanks for the supplier name...the prices seem really reasonable! I was paying 35 cents a magnet...they have similar ones there for 15 cents. Whoop!~