Your cart is currently empty!
Category: The Price Tag Question
Our pricing and more explained.
-
Why Handmade Costs More – Explaining Artisan Pricing to Friends
We’ve all heard it. You show someone a beautiful handcrafted piece, they admire it, ask the price, and then say, “Oh wow, I could get something like that at Walmart for $20.” Cue internal screaming from every artisan everywhere.
Here’s the thing: they’re not wrong about the Walmart price. What they’re missing is that price and value aren’t the same thing, and “something like that” isn’t the same as “that.”
When Rex makes a Chef’s Knife, you’re not just paying for the finished product. You’re paying for his 40+ years of accumulated skill, the knowledge of how different woods behave, the steady hands that can turn a rough blank into a perfectly balanced tool. That expertise didn’t happen overnight — it’s decades of practice, thousands of mistakes, countless hours of refinement.
You’re also paying for materials that mass producers would never use. We source from suppliers like Cook Woods and Woodworkers Source, choosing pieces for their beauty and quality rather than their cost-effectiveness. That Australian red gum burl? It’s expensive because it’s rare and stunning. A factory would use pine with a printed wood-grain pattern and call it a day.
Time is the invisible cost people don’t consider. Dawn might spend six hours on a single resin pour, waiting for each layer to cure perfectly, adjusting colors, creating depth and movement that catches light. A machine could squirt out a plastic approximation in six minutes, but it would look exactly like what it is — exactly like all of the others squirted out that day.
Then there’s the durability factor. We guarantee our pieces will last generations because we build them that way. Rex uses traditional joinery techniques and finishes that protect the wood for decades. Compare that to mass-produced items designed to break or wear out so you’ll buy replacements. Our cutting board might cost five times what Walmart charges, but if it lasts fifty times longer, which is really the better value?
When people make price comparisons, help them understand what they’re actually comparing. That $20 Walmart cutting board will warp, crack, and need replacing within a few years. Our $125 cutting board will still be beautiful and functional when your grandchildren inherit it. Break that down over its lifetime, and suddenly our “expensive” piece costs pennies per year of use.
There’s also an emotional value that’s impossible to quantify. When you use a mass-produced item, it’s just a thing. When you use something made by hand, with intention and skill, it connects you to the maker’s story. Every time you reach for that handcrafted pen or cutting board, you’re reminded that someone cared enough to make it beautiful.
We’re not trying to compete with Walmart, and we shouldn’t have to. We’re offering something completely different — the irreplaceable value of human craftsmanship, materials chosen for beauty rather than cost-cutting, and pieces made to become heirlooms rather than landfill fodder.
The next time someone questions artisan pricing, remind them: you can’t get “something like this” anywhere else, because this is one of a kind. And one-of-a-kind has never been cheap — nor should it be.
-
💫 Because Some Things Shouldn’t Be Cheap
Gifts. Memories. Legacy.
We know the moment you’re in. A wedding is coming. An anniversary. A retirement. A moment you want to mark with something real — something they’ll keep, use, and maybe pass on.
And then comes the scroll. Through price tags. Through plastic. Through mass-produced “options” that don’t feel like options at all.
That’s when people find Sarkanys Rising.
Big Moments Deserve More
When you’re buying for life’s biggest moments, it’s not about the biggest box. It’s about meaning.
A hand-turned rolling pin gifted to your daughter as she sets up her first home. A resin-inlaid charcuterie board passed around the table each Thanksgiving. A pen used to sign retirement papers — the same one they’ll use to write postcards in their new chapter.
These aren’t just gifts. They’re future memories.
At Sarkanys Rising, our mission is simple: nothing will ever be the same, and our pieces are as distinctive as our customers. That’s because each piece is handmade in the truest sense — guided by our hands and minds through the entire process.
What Goes Into the Price
We get asked sometimes, “Why does this cost more?” And the honest answer is: because it costs more.
• Because one-of-a-kind means exactly that. Even if Rex tried, he couldn’t make that exact piece again. With over 40 years of wood turning experience, he knows that wood moves, resin dances, and no two pours turn out the same.
• Because quality still takes time. Even our simplest carvings take 24+ hours — not including drying, finishing, and Rex’s meticulous attention to every detail.
• Because materials matter. Some woods we use were salvaged from trees with names and stories. Some resin colors are custom-mixed, layered over days. Some components? We source from other small makers, because only the best will do.
It all adds up — not just in price, but in worth.
The Real Question
It’s not “Why is this expensive?” It’s “What is this worth to me?”
And if the answer is connection, legacy, memory — then it’s worth every penny.
When you choose a piece from our collection, you’re not just buying functional art. You’re investing in a story that will be told for generations. You’re choosing to give something that says, “This moment mattered. You matter.”
Some Things Shouldn’t Be Cheap
Not the moments that matter. Not the people we love. Not the things we hand down, hoping someone will think of us when they use them.
That’s what we make.
Ready to find the perfect meaningful gift? Browse our collection at sarkanysrising.com where handcrafted joy meets lasting legacy. Have a special piece from us? We’d love to hear the story — share how your Sarkanys Rising heirloom is creating memories in your family.