Good afternoon, everyone!

It's a slow day here in Fuzztown. I'm buried under about 15 inches of snow, and I'm not doing anything at the moment, really. I figured I'd take the time to address a few questions I keep getting. I hope this clears up some questions people have!

I wanted to focus on pricing, and sprite size today. As always, if anyone has any questions, please ask away. I am more than happy to answer them for you!

Sprite Sizes

When I work with sprites to create a beaded representation of them, it may not be super evident about how large the sprites are compared to the amount of beads that go into them. I work on a 1:1 ratio- that is, 1 pixel is equivalent to one bead. While this makes a lot of sense, it may not seem obvious how quickly the size can build up. Hopefully some examples will help.

My standard coaster size is 22 x 22 pixels. Click here to see what a 22 x 22 block of pixels looks like. It's not very large at all. Now, what does this equate to in actual size? Roughly 4" per side. That means that the small block of pixels above is a 4" x 4" square.

I'll provide another example. The size I am looking at for a mousepad is 50 pixels wide by 40 pixels tall. Click here to see what a 50 x 40 block of pixels looks like. Much bigger than the coaster, but again, it's not very big when it comes to what you think of as a video game sprite. When beaded, this is about 10" x 7 3/4". Furthermore, as a solid block, that is 2000 pixels, which would equal 2000 beads.

The reason I am posting all of this information is hopefully to offer some clarification to people who are curious about my spritework. I have received a few commissions that are quite simply massive, and I hate refusing them. The fact of the matter is- the larger a sprite gets, the more difficult it is to make. While that's an obvious correlation, the difficulty increases almost exponentially. It's extremely difficult to evenly iron a sprite that is on the larger side of things. This is why I don't offer very large sprites at the moment. I can easily bead them, but I'm not comfortable with ironing them and shipping them to customers.

So, the moral of the story is this. I love your interest in my work. I love your support, your curiosity, and your requests. Always keep them coming. However, if you'd like to commission something from me, I politely ask that you keep these size guidelines in mind. Realize that while the sprite may look small on screen, it isn't always small to bead up for you. Thank you!

Sprite Pricing

I also wanted to write something up regarding pricing of my sprites. I constantly ask myself if I'm charging too much or too little for my work. I'm not really sure. I haven't had any complaints so far, so that's a good thing. I just wanted to clarify for my friends about what exactly you're paying for when you order something from me.

Beads- this is the first and foremost expense, obviously. I go through a lot of these. Thousands and thousands of them every week. The average sprite will be anywhere from 400-600 beads. My largest sprite is nearly 11,000 beads, and my smallest is around 220 beads. I have a supplier whom I order from that charges about $1.80 per thousand beads. This is fine, but when I'm ordering 30-40,000 beads in one order, you can see how the costs add up. Furthermore, a lot of my sprites aren't commissioned..they're just for fun.

Time- this is probably the least tangible cost of all the ones I'll list. These sprites take quite a bit of time to make. While a small simple one may only take me 25 minutes, a larger one may take upwards of 2 hours. The companion cube took me 6 hours, and the samus ship took me about 40 or 50. It's delicate work. I hand tweeze each individual bead. This doesn't even include the time preparing, cleaning, and re-coloring the sprite. Ironing is also a delicate process, and can take quite some time to do. I don't like charging for time, but as of late, it seems to be somewhat of a necessity. I'm not looking to make a ton of money off these sprites, but if I spend 3 hours making a sprite, I'd like a bit to show for it, y'know?

Shipping- I'll state first and foremost. I make absolutely no money off shipping. In fact, I probably lose a little. I charge to cover costs, nothing more. Shipping not only includes the physical postage of the sprites, but also the envelopes I purchase, the shipping labels I use, and the printer ink to print the labels (I do my shipping from home). The average sprite will weigh about 1 oz, but may go up to 3 or 4 oz. At that point, the $2 I charge for shipping is entirely eaten by the postage- this doesn't even include the label and envelope, which is about $.60 or so. I do my best not to charge too much, but now you can see why I charge what I do.

Everything else- I have a lot of other random supplies I buy for this beadwork. Ironing paper, keychains, glue, foam, etc. WHile they are only periodical purchases, I still need to make them from time to time. It all adds up.

Phew! This is a lot of text..I doubt anyone will really read this, but it was a good way to pass the time. I hope this answered anyone's curiosities that they had about my work. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm happy to do so!