Victorian Raffia has long been one of “my” most visible pieces. I can’t count the number of people who’ve been drawn to my work via this piece. It is truly stunning.
Ironically, it’s also not fully mine. You may have heard the story — it’s written in full in the Revised Edition of Extreme Double-knitting — but in a nutshell, it’s based on a pattern by Kieran Foley, and for the past decade or so, he and I have split the proceeds on all sales of the pattern.
In my recent quest to simplify my relationship with the business side of Fallingblox Designs, I decided to offer Kieran a new arrangement, since sales have quieted down considerably lately, and the quarterly process of tallying sales, crunching numbers, and sending a Paypal payout has grown tiring after doing it for 10 years. Instead, I offered Kieran full rights to the digital version, while I’d keep rights to the physical version I sell at shows etc. He was happy to accept.
But then I decided to stop selling physical media. So at this point, I have no ownership over the Victorian Raffia pattern at all. Its time as a self-promotion tool has ended. I could still use it to promote my Off The Grid workshops, but I have other pieces for that.
Some years ago, I did a little thought experiment to determine the value of my work if I were to sell pieces as finished objects. I calculated the average amount of time a row required, then multiplied that by the total number of rows, then multiplied the total number of hours by a fair hourly wage. Then I doubled it — because if I were to sell one piece, I’d need to immediately make another one so I’d have one to use for show and tell in workshops.
For Victorian Raffia, the amount I got was around $10,000. Obviously, this is not realistic — it was a thought experiment, not a real expectation of what someone might buy a piece for. It’s a helpful way to think about the value of a person’s work, especially when that person is the original creator, and an acknowledged expert at the techniques used.
However, now I am faced with the end of the sample’s use to me, except as a keepsake and lovely warm winter neckwear. It has made me a reasonable amount of money over the past decade, but that’s over now — any more money it generates goes to Kieran only. So I thought: why not give that thought experiment a chance to become reality? Why not try to sell a finished object for once?
Now I’m not selling it for $10,000 — in part because I don’t need to double the amount anymore because I don’t need to make another one. But it’s also not $5,000 — although it’s not far off. And I kind of doubt it’ll sell, to be honest — but where’s the harm in trying?
So here’s the deal (such as it is):
Buy the original Victorian Raffia scarf, adapted/designed and knitted by Alasdair Post-Quinn in 2010, and rescued from a fire in 2020. It will come with a beautiful wooden storage/display box and a certificate of authenticity. You are welcome to display it, wear it, gift it, donate it — whatever you so choose. The price I’m charging is $4,000, including insured shipping within the US.
Non-US customers should get in touch with me first to ensure shipping options are available. This will remain up on my website until it sells, or until my heavily-discounted books and patterns sell out, triggering the end of my e-commerce site.
Thank you for your interest and stay tuned for more soon!