MadeKeeper is inventory and pricing software for stained glass artists.
Some scores run wrong and that sheet is gone. Cost a panel off the glass it actually took, foil and solder and came included, and you can see what it left you after a booth fee or an online order.
Free tools, no signup: the fair profit calculator.
free to start, and no card to start. No order-line meters, ever.
$19/mo for the whole back office, kept for as long as you stay. No card to start — MadeKeeper asks for one when you subscribe, not before. The shop stays free for cost a piece and one fair — no product cap. The tax packet, Etsy and Square, and more fairs are the $19.
You buy glass by the sheet and color, foil by the roll, solder by the pound — and every project sheds a margin of breakage and bad cuts that your prices have to absorb. MadeKeeper tracks the sheet stock, builds the breakage in, and tells you what each panel and suncatcher really made you.
How MadeKeeper maps to your glass bench
MadeKeeper files glass sheets by colour and price
A sheet of streaky amber and a sheet of clear textured are different materials at different prices. Log them as bought; each piece pulls square footage from the right sheet.MadeKeeper puts breakage in the math
Set a waste factor for cuts that don't survive the running pliers, and your glass cost covers the shard bin — not just the pieces that made it into the panel.MadeKeeper charges foil, came, solder and patina to the panel
The foil method eats a roll faster than you think, and solder is real money by the pound. All of it logs per piece so the finishing costs stop hiding.MadeKeeper bills a repair differently from a commission
A commissioned transom, a repaired church panel, and market-day suncatchers each run their own channel — with deposits tracked on the big jobs.One suncatcher, to the penny
Say you build a mid-size suncatcher:
- 1.2 sq ft of glass @ $8.40/sq ft, +15% breakage$11.59
- Copper foil$1.10
- 0.15 lb solder @ $18.90/lb$2.84
- Flux and patina$0.45
- Chain and rings$0.80
At $65 on the market table, you kept $48.22 before fees — and a season of those numbers tells you whether panels, suncatchers, or commissions deserve more of your bench.
MadeKeeper keeps simple materials records per piece — including which work used leaded came — written down in the app rather than remembered.
Market Saturday, for stained glass artists
The bench is one half of it. MadeKeeper follows stained glass artists out to the booth as well: it opens on one bar of signal, rings a sale in taps and files it against that day's event, holds that sale on the phone if the signal quits and puts it through when the bars come back, reads the tag you printed, and prints a market-day sheet before you load the truck.
None of that is a card reader. Stained glass artists take payment however they already take it; MadeKeeper only keeps the count honest while you sell. Everything it does at the booth →
Straight about what's live
Materials and true cost per piece, batch "makes" with your labor amortized in, the suggested-price coach, product variants, sales that drain stock, the market-day quick-sale screen, lot tracking, the was-this-fair-worth-it event math, money-insight reports, multi-location consignment, the cure/best-by heads-up engine, mileage, expenses, and the Schedule C tax packet are all in the app today, with guided setup and a full Craftybase history migration to get you started. So are Etsy order sync, Square card sync, your own shop page, a Buy button on your own Square account, and custom-order requests off a piece you already sold. On the $24 MadeKeeper AI plan you also get receipts, shelves and recipe cards read from a photo — photo reads are on that plan; hand entry is how the $19 shop starts. Still building: your own books answered in plain words, buying a shipping label inside the app, and a best-customers report. MadeKeeper does not send marketing email to your buyers and is not going to: every maker here sends from one shared reputation, and a quote that has to arrive matters more than a mailing list. Nothing above is dressed up as done when it is not. See the full live-vs-building list →
Questions stained glass artists ask
How do I track glass bought by the sheet?
Each sheet logs at its price and size; pieces pull square footage down with a breakage factor you set. When a color runs out mid-commission, you'll know before the glass cutter does.
Can MadeKeeper handle commissions with deposits?
Yes — a commissioned panel logs with its deposit, its materials, and its hours. When it's installed, you'll see what the job truly paid against the weeks it took.
Foil method or came — does it matter to the books?
Only in the materials: foil rolls versus came lengths, both logged and pulled per piece. The math is the same honest math either way.
Ready to see your real numbers?
The app is live. $19/mo, kept for as long as you stay.