Someone is interested in buying about a dozen of butterflies as seen in this cake
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1332131

How would you figure out how much to charge? I can't compute it by the hour because it was the first time I had made them. Any ideas would be most welcome.

TIA

anybody?

Wow those are wonderful! You did an awesome job. I'm not sure about price but wow they are so pretty

Thanks. But the price definitely has me stumped.

I can only tell you that I do gumpaste/ fondant butterflies for cupcakes and the cupcakes go for $3.50 each w/ the butterflies...See pics I have posted...If you have the cutters with the viening etc. from global sugarart, then they will not take you long. So I guess I would calculate cost by ingredients and then add at least an hour of labor...So maybe $20.
When I do them it takes me about 2 hours total to do 2 dozen... this includes the coloring, rolling out, cutting, hand painting...etc. (of course that doesn't include the drying time)
Hope that helps....

thanks notjustcakes. So you figure the $20 for a dozen and then add shipping charges to it, right?

Wow. I get $3 for a butterfly that I print out on wafer paper, and put on a body and a wire. For those I'd ask $5 for sure. And make sure this person knows that any breakage in the mail is their problem. And that they should order extra to account for breakage.

I would pay $20.00 for a dozen of those!

I'm with Leah, $5 each. I just made a couple of monarch butterflies for a cake, and they took me an hour to do two of them. Butterflies are time-consuming no matter how much experience you have doing them, if you do them so that they have a lot of detail on them.

wow! $5 each?! Hmmm....I think I can go somewhere in between the 2 prices and figure $42/doz plus shipping for now? And I will definitely let her know about possible breakage. Thanks everyone for your feedback. I guess I REALLY don't know what these things are worth!

Those are exquisite! I would probably also charge $5 each, plus shipping. And ditto the advice that you are not responsible for any breakage.

Would you be able to fit them in a clean egg carton for shipping? And then wrap the carton(s) in bubble wrap?

I don't know how to package them. Since I would only be making the wings, I figured I could package them flat on foam and wrapped in plastic (like what Fancy Flours does). Let's see if she actually orders!

http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=22431

notice the size...the absence of color and detail that your's has

http://www.cakeart.us/index.cfm/fa/categories.main/parentcat/20635/endrw/0
I can't tell what size your's are but they look quite large. I would definitely charge the higher of the CC recommended rates for them(5.00 each).

I'm not knocking the butterflies pictured in the links above....just using them and their cost as a comparison to the ones done by saberger.

I know a lady who charges $6 for 1 color gumpaste and $8 for fondant/wafer multi-color butterflies

Holy Moly!!! I would NEVER think they would cost that much! And to think I am feeling like I am charging too much with the $42/doz!

saberger - don't sell yourself short. $5 + per piece is the right thing to charge. I go through the same guilt trip every time I make my cakes or cookies. The ingredients are relatively inexpensive. You are charging for your time not the ingredients. I always try to imagine i have 1 assistant i need to pay for the job. If you pay them 10 per hour (let say casue thats what i get paid to assist sometimes) to make the butterflies, and she can make 2 dozen in two hours, you'll need to pay $20 of the cost to them. If u charge $20, yo make no profit. if you charge 42, you pay your worker (yourself) plus the 'business' gets another 20+. Remember your precious time and skills is what they pay for.
Also, other members brought up a good point. The butterflies you buy from other website are white. They still need to be colors, painted, decorated. Your giving her a finished product.
And i agree with you that i like the way that fancyflours packages their items. I would lay down a thin layer of foam, then over that i would lay down a thicker peice and vut out little "V" shaped grooves for the butterflies to sit in. then cover with thin foam again. I hope you do get the order. just for experience sake.
Good luck let us know how it goes.

Your butterflies are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!! You definetly can charge way more then $5.00 a piece.

rosamatsas - that is a really good way to look at it....as if I have to pay an assistant....I will have to work on that.

Thank you all for your kind compliments and help. I did send her an email with the price ($42/doz) and shipping warning. She wrote back with a simple thank you...I guess she isn't interested. *shrug* not sure. I guess since I would charge that to sell it to someone, does that mean that is how much I would add to the cost of the cake? Never thought of that!

I would totally pay $5 each for those, they are stunning. Please tell me how you make them. Is it a mold? And how did you color them? You could forget the cakes and just sell butterflies to all of us on cc. lol. But yes, totally add the price per butterfly to any cakes that you put them on.

I would totally pay $5 each for those, they are stunning. Please tell me how you make them. Is it a mold? And how did you color them? You could forget the cakes and just sell butterflies to all of us on cc. lol. But yes, totally add the price per butterfly to any cakes that you put them on.

I would totally pay $5 each for those, they are stunning. Please tell me how you make them. Is it a mold? And how did you color them? You could forget the cakes and just sell butterflies to all of us on cc. lol. But yes, totally add the price per butterfly to any cakes that you put them on.