Costing out Cavaletti and Ground Poles

I’m trying to round out the Etsy store a bit, so I figure it was time to get the rest of the props ready to list… and right now that’s just the poles and cavaletti!

Which means I really need to start thinking of new props to try and build in 2017. *ponders*

Anywho.

I’ve gone over the steps of how to make Stablemate scale ground/trail/jump poles and cavaletti in an earlier posts, so all I’m doing here is a rundown on what materials are used and how much they cost. If you’ve read other ‘Materials Cost’ tag posts, you’ll know the drill. 😉

Material Costs

Paint, paint, paint…

• 1/8″ or 3/16″ round dowel ($0.99 for 3′, 0.03 per inch), using 3″ to 4.5″ depending on desired scale length (8′ to 12′) $0.09-0.14
• 1/8″ or 3/16″ square dowel ($0.49 for 2′, 0.02 per inch), using 3″ (0.75 x 4) for the ends of the cavaletti $0.06
• Liquitex Gesso ($14.49 for 8oz), small amount used $0.05
• Various colors of Acrylic craft paint ($0.99-2.99 for 2oz), small amount used $0.05
• Minwax 210B Golden Oak Stain ($5.98 for 1/3 fl oz), small amount used $0.05
• Liquitex Matte Varnish, small amount used $0.05
• Elmer’s White Glue ($1.99 for 4oz), cavaletti only, small amount used $0.05

At some point I’ll come back in and add the larger scale wood sizes (Classic, Traditional, Micro Mini, etc.), but that’ll be a bit further down the line in 2017.

Costs included in the x2

Just in case anyone was curious why I do the ‘things not specifically consumed in this process’ costs… here you go! 🙂

• 220 grit sandpaper ($3.97 for 396 square inches), too small an amount used to track
• 400 grit sandpaper  ($3.97 for 396 square inches), too small an amount used to track
• Wear on the tools (paintbrushes, saws, and exacto knives, etc.)
• Workbench materials (paper towels, office supplies, batteries, paper mixing cups, etc.)
• Materials consumed by accident (bad sealer, broke it while working, etc.)
• Materials consumed by experimentation in creating new items
• Wear on the camera equipment and photography setup (backdrops, flashes, etc.)
• Website costs (domain name hosting, Google Photos storage, etc.)

I’m using the same pricing schema as the other products, so the base material cost is doubled, rounded to the nearest quarter, and then a dollar is added to cover all the Etsy and PayPal fees.

Ground Poles

Poles, poles, away!

• 1 unfinished (sanded raw wood) =  $0.09/0.14 (dowel) = $0.09/0.14
• 1 plain pole = $0.09/0.14 (dowel) + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.14/0.19
• 1 stained pole = $0.09/0.14 (dowel) + $0.05 (stain) + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.19/0.24
• 1 painted pole = $0.09/0.14 (dowel) + 0.05 (primer) + 0.05 (paint) + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.24/0.29

So a set of five 8′ white poles it would be: $0.24 x 5 = $1.20, double it to $2.40, round to $2.50, add 1.00 for fees = $3.50

A set of ten 8′ raw poles would be only a smidge less: $0.09 x 10 = $0.90, double it to $1.80, round to $2.00, add 1.00 for fees = $3.00

This formula allows for a bunch of mixing and matching on custom orders, which is how I like it! 🙂

Cavaletti

A color for every season…

• 1 unfinished (sanded raw wood) cavaletti =  $0.09/0.14 (round dowel) + $0.06 (square dowel) + $0.05 (glue) = $0.20/0.25
• 1 plain cavaletti = $0.20/0.25 + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.25/0.30
• 1 stained cavaletti = $0.20/0.25 + $0.05 (stain) + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.30/0.35
• 1 painted cavaletti = $0.20/0.25 + 0.05 (primer) + 0.05 (paint) + $0.05 (varnish) = $0.35/0.40

Set of five 8′ ground raw cavaletti would be: $0.20 x 5 = $1.00, double it to $2.00, add 1.00 for fees = $3.00

Set of five 8′ ground painted cavaletti would be: $0.35 x 5 = $1.75, double it to $3.50, add 1.00 for fees = $4.50

Those prices don’t seem too crazy, at least from this end of the workbench, so it will be fun to see what the Etsy shoppers think…