Flourish Forum
General Categories => Open Flourish | General Discussion => Topic started by: AAAndrew on March 27, 2017, 11:05:47 AM
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My company has a silent auction every year to raise money for the March of Dimes (pre-natal care, research into birth defects, premature baby care research...)
I'm donating a little calligraphy starter kit and I'm having trouble figuring out the value.
Included in the kit are:
1 vintage straight holder (a fun bright green palmer method holder from the 30's or 40's)
8 different vintage nibs (7 semi-flex to flex nibs and one stub)
A jumbo Dinky Dip in single wooden stand filled with Diamine registrar's IG ink
A small stack of 5 practice sheets on nice paper
1 hour of my time introducing them to the nibs (care and feeding), holder, basic posture and resources to get started.
I have three questions:
1. Would it be better to give several of only a couple of nib types (one semi-flex, one flexible and one stub?), or one each of a variety of types?
2. How would you value this package? They need a value to give people some idea. If I were a calligraphy teacher, the one hour would be the most valuable part of the whole, but since all I can really do is teach them how to take care of the nibs, sit properly, and where to get actual instruction in calligraphy, I'm not so sure it's all that valuable.
3. Am I missing anything from this kit?
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks!!
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What a wonderful cause!
However, I really feel like vintage nibs will be lost on a beginner. Most likely a variety of flex/semi flex etc may confuse the newbie and there is every possibility that s/he will just leave the nibs unused in a desk drawer forever. I don't think they would even appreciate the fact that it is vintage. I think a bunch of Nikko Gs is easier to teach on and if they are truly inspired by calligraphy, they can keep using it and know where to get more.
Everything else in the kit sounds wonderful and yes, your time is the most valuable of them all! Perhaps you're also missing some exemplars and how tos.. which you can print from Iampeth of course.
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I can only address the question on value of your kit, and I have to give you two different answers.
1. For giving people some idea of the value, for everything except your time you should use what it cost you to obtain it. Since this is part of your company's efforts, you would be justified in using your hourly cost to the company (hourly cost, not hourly pay) as the value of your time. If you feel that the value of your time as a calligraphy instructor is not the same as your time working for the company, you can adjust that accordingly.
2. When it comes time to prepare your 2017 tax return, your charitable donation is however much money that your kit brings in, not how much it cost you.
Hope this helps.
DB
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That does help, thanks!
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Just wanted you to know that its such a great cause @AAAndrew. :D Sorry Im not in a position to comment on your questions though.
-Ashok
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Hi Andy!
For beginners, I think that regular nibs would be better than vintage ones. If they like them they can easily buy them again, unlike the vintage ones. Regarding your questions:
1) I'd probably give one EF, one F and one M and one very flexible one as well as one not flexible at all. As a beginner it's hard to differentiate between different nibs and I think that's about the extent of what they can understand
2) Add up the sum of the items and your hourly fee for teaching
3) Paper towels :D
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I like the paper towels idea.
I've chosen a selection of eight nibs ranging from firm-flex to flexible (Hunt 56), and small to long, and a stub ( Spencerian Society Stub). I wanted to give them a variety of nib experiences.
Unfortunately, I don't have any modern nibs, but I do have just a few vintage nibs lying around. (Latest count just north of 17,000 ::) ) but I will tell them what kinds of modern nibs are similar and where to get them. Fortunately for us we have John Neal Books just an hour down the road.