Giving my first soap making lesson soon.
- Thread starter bookreader451
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You charge for materials + what your time is worth + what your experience is worth.
I don't do soap lessons as I'm still pretty new, but for the other craft I do (lampwork), I charge £20/hr as a base point, but a 4hr taster lesson package (for one or two people) is £100, as it includes an hour's break - (but we are usually still discussing techniques etc during that time), soft drinks, biscuits and postage of the finished items since they need to be in a kiln overnight. Extra hours after that are charged at my base £20/hr.
It might sound pricy to some for a hobby lesson, but honestly I think it's worth it. Not to boast, but I'm a very good teacher. Additionally, I've spent a lot of time, energy and money getting to be moderately decent at the craft, and I enjoy the pleasure others get from learning it, which I think makes it a fun day all round.
If you're running a class with multiple people, you can charge less per person, but don't undervalue yourself when deciding on the hourly rate you want earn. Also don't forget to consider prep and clean up time in that, plus expenses like materials, insurance etc.
It depends on a number of factors. I used to teach Loom Knitting. I charged $60 per person for 3-2 hour sessions over three Saturdays for up to six people. I supplied the pattern, but not the materials; the yarn store offered a 10% discount. My costs were minimal. For the Beginner/Intermediate Classes, I used my own pattern so it was just paper/ink. The Advanced class cost me a little more as I used 'paid' patterns and had to purchase multiple copies (I usually got a discount).
For a soap class I would charge $80 for a Beginner Class and a $100/$120 for Intermediate/Advanced classes. For all classes, I supply a base recipe, ingredients, equipment and mold (which they get to keep). It's best to do it this way so nobody forgets something...someone WILL forget. Since I consider what happens to the soap just as important as making the soap, there will be two classes for Beginner's...the first is two hours (taking about and making the soap), the second is one hour (the magic/science of saponification, importance of curing, unmolding and cutting the soap) the following day (or evening). Intermediate Class would be to add colorants and scent, and simple swirl techniques. An Advance Class would be additives, water replacement, layers, Taiwan Swirl, etc. And my goal is to add more specialized classes...like how to turn a hobby into a business, recipe development, making other types of B&B products.
Class size would be determined by available space. If you're doing it in your kitchen, how many people can you SAFELY accommodate? For me, that would be two students. If I borrowed the church's kitchen or had access to a community center with two stoves and microwave, I could have six students. If I had enough interest, I could rent a local 'hall' that has three stoves and two microwaves and then could have twelve students. But only for a Beginning or Intermediate Class, for an Advanced Class, I wouldn't go over six.
So once you figure out what your base costs are, then you have to look at what your time and experience is worth. Since this would be additional income for me, I use $15.00 an hour for my base 'time'. Since the student would be getting the benefit of my 'experience'...two years of soap making, plus hundreds and hundreds of hours of research and development, I add another $10.00 an hour minimum. In another two years, as my own experience increases, so would my rates. It's not different than in real life. I make $30.00 an hour (plus benefits) in my day job...I have over 25 years experience in my field, plus I run the department.
I would add that for classes of more than two people, I learned the hard way to be mindful of electricity usage, and how the outlets are set up in the teaching area.
You will cause the breakers to flip off with too many stick-blenders or crockpots running simultaneously on the same circuit. If you are using extension cords or power strips, they can also flip off, or worse, fry completely.
You will cause the breakers to flip off with too many stick-blenders or crockpots running simultaneously on the same circuit. If you are using extension cords or power strips, they can also flip off, or worse, fry completely.
