Guides

The business side of making, written down.

Pricing, booth fees, cost per piece, taxes — the arithmetic behind the craft table, one honest guide at a time.

Pottery & ceramics

Moving Your Pottery Business Off Craftybase

The real cost of a kiln load once loss and seconds are counted — and what actually moves over when a potter switches to a $19 tool built for one studio.

Read it → August 11, 2026
Quilting & sewing

How to Price a Quilt Without Underpricing

That $150 lap quilt may be paying you $2.26 an hour. Here is the penny-by-penny math — fabric, batting, thread, the hours — and what the price should be.

Read it → August 10, 2026
Leathercraft

Leather Goods Cost Per Square Foot

The side isn't your cost unit — the square foot you actually use is. Here's a wallet, priced to the penny, waste and all.

Read it → August 8, 2026
Candles

Moving Your Candle Business Off Craftybase

Craftybase is Stocksmith now, priced for production floors. Here's the honest math for a one-cure-rack candle business, wick by wick.

Read it → August 6, 2026

Pricing Silver Jewelry Around the Spot Price

Silver can move 3% in a day. Here's how to cost a sterling piece to the penny — grams, dwt, scrap — without redoing the math every time it ticks.

Read it → August 6, 2026
For every maker

Lot Tracking for Handmade Sellers

A recall doesn't care how small your shop is. Here's what a lot number actually needs to do, and what skipping one costs you, to the penny.

Read it → August 5, 2026
Pottery & ceramics

Pricing Pottery By the Kiln Load, Not the Piece

Clay and glaze are the easy costs. The real math is what a kiln load costs when a fifth of it never makes the shelf. Worked example, to the penny.

Read it → August 4, 2026
Soap & bath

Moving Your Soap Business Off Craftybase

Craftybase is Stocksmith now, climbing a pricing ladder built for bigger shops. Here's the honest math for a one-cure-rack soap business, bar by bar.

Read it → August 3, 2026
Woodworking

Board Feet: What Your Woodworking Costs

Lumber isn't $14 a board foot once you add waste, milling, and the offcuts you can't sell. Here's your real per-piece cost, worked to the penny.

Read it → August 2, 2026

Moving Your Jewelry Business Off Craftybase

What actually happens when a jewelry maker leaves Stocksmith for MadeKeeper: the gram-by-gram math, what imports clean, and what you rebuild by hand.

Read it → August 1, 2026
Candles

Candle Costs: What a Batch Costs Per Candle

A 12-candle batch costed to the penny — wax, fragrance load, wick, vessel, your batch time — to a fully-loaded cost, margin, and net by channel.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

Schedule C for Handmade Sellers: An Example

Gross receipts, materials at cost — never your hours — inventory counted: one maker's real year worked to the penny, and what to hand your tax preparer.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

Was That Craft Fair Worth It? Do the Math

A $600 day at an $85 booth, driven 96 miles, worked to the penny — plus the rule that tells you which fairs to drop. Real profit, not the cash box.

Read it → July 31, 2026
Soap & bath

What Your Soap Actually Costs to Make

One cold-process loaf costed to the penny — oils, lye by SAP, fragrance — to a true per-bar cost, plus the cure as cash flow and lot records.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

Craftybase vs MadeKeeper: A Price Breakdown

The honest dollar-for-dollar math: what Stocksmith costs now, what MadeKeeper's $19 covers, what it doesn't yet, and who should stay put.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

How to Export Your Data From Craftybase

A file-by-file walkthrough of Craftybase's CSV exports — Materials, Products, Purchases, Manufactures, Orders — and the one thing that won't export.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

Craftybase Is Now Stocksmith: What It Means

Craftybase rebranded to Stocksmith and moved upmarket. A plain, sourced look at the new pricing and a kitchen-table maker's real options.

Read it → July 31, 2026
For every maker

How to Switch From Craftybase to MadeKeeper

The honest, complete walkthrough of moving your whole Craftybase history to MadeKeeper: export, import, rebuild recipes, and what you'll lose.

Read it → July 31, 2026
Soap & bath

How Much Profit Per Bar of Soap?

Per-bar profit looks the same on two scents until you count the weeks each ties up your cure rack — here's the real math.

Read it → July 30, 2026
Woodworking

Square vs Venmo vs Cash Box at Craft Shows

The real fee math behind Square, Venmo, and a cash box at a weekend show, plus what your tax preparer will actually want to see.

Read it → July 30, 2026
For every maker

The booth-fee math: is that $85 fair worth it?

The 5-to-10x rule circuit vendors use, plus one $600 day worked to the penny — booth, miles, materials, and what the hours actually paid.

Read it → July 30, 2026