I agree. You can also start a bit low, and slowly increase your prices as they sell and you gain buyers and interest.
A lot of it depends on whether you're doing this as a hobby, or want to make it a real business. I just do mine as a hobby and just to have a bit of extra money to buy more supplies.

I love it as hobby but want to dip my toes into marketing them, a nice dinner to a restaurant with table cloths one a month would be awesome.
I have a goodwill outlet very close by my current home and get many good pieces from there by the pound.
I am slowly trying to incorporate strands of Christmas lights (or any light)into newer pieces in a way that they can also be removed/replaced.
I thank everyone for their input so far

That's a great idea to incorporate lights in them. A lot of people are doing that with mosaics too, by making coffee tables with stained glass and lighting them from beneath. Most of them use the strands of LED battery lights,

Our Goodwill never sells things by the pound. The plates and cups are all 99 cents and up. When they think it's a piece of 'good glass' they put outrageous prices on them.

Know what you mean, Karen. I was looking at our local Goodwill store, thinking to pick up some pieces to use for making totems, and their prices put "paid" to that idea in short order! Ouch!

woofie said:Know what you mean, Karen. I was looking at our local Goodwill store, thinking to pick up some pieces to use for making totems, and their prices put "paid" to that idea in short order! Ouch!

Yes, I've thought about it too, but haven't found any that are reasonably priced.

With ceramics it was 4 times what you paid for the greenware. I think 14 is too low as even when I run a baseball card store you sold the packs of cards for what is would cost to buy another box and in most cases they were higher. I think you should get 30 to 35 dollars each but if you are happy with 14 dollars they should fly out the door.

Ok, New question. Do y'all ever come across pieces that are old/valuable but are in very rough condition? Do you still use them in your art or try to sell it individually.
I have found things like Waterford, Tiffany, etc. Recently I scored these Johnson bros. plates. My research has led me to know that these particular plates were made between 1900-1910. The saucer, to me, looks to be in good shape. The other 3 dessert plates have some yellowing in the center and one plate has chips on the under side of the edges.

Tough question - you might want to advertise to see what you would get for them before you turn them into garden art. They are beautiful

I used to collect plates to cut up for mosaics. Over time I did find some very good collectible plates and tried them on Ebay. They didn't sell at reasonable prices. They only sold when I marked them down to $2.99 for a very old dinner plate in great condition. I decided it wasn't worth it. I still have them, and they may get broken up for mosaics, but it's hard for me to do. I love old china, and have many sets from my mom and my MIL.
Blue is a very popular color, so if you made some blue and crystal totems, I bet they would sell quickly!

If in rough shape it depends. Those plates you have a gorgeous and I love blue. Even in rough shape they would make beautiful art. People do advertise that some pieces in the art are in rough shape but being that they are from 1900-1910 that is understandable. I am from 1955 and on days I am in rough shape It is in the eye of the beholder. Alot of things are so much more appreciated if there person knows how much work it goes into making it.

I am sure some pieces I have made my brother would have a cow as he collects all kinds of antique glassware and crystal and I like it and glue it together which ruins the antique value

Ha, Sandy, I got the same sort of flack when I used to make seashell candles. I'd gather them, and I didn't know which ones were rare or super expensive. I'd make candles out them, and then get a lot of angry people telling me how bad I was! I must admit that after I learned more about shells, I actually melted some of my candles down to retrieve the seashells!

Momsgonecrazy - those plates are what is known as Flow Blue china. It's very collectible. I would try to sell them first.

http://www.countryliving.com/s...

SongofJoy is right. Try doing a Google search for Flow Blue china. There are some plates on ebay that look very similar to yours and are labeled as Normandy pattern. Of course, you can't really go by the prices people are asking on ebay. They can be all over the map. But it certainly looks like you might want to try to sell yours rather than use them for totems!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-John...

2 of those plates actually sold on Ebay for $75.99.

Yow! Treat them gently, chips and all!

Yes, all of the plates are from the normandy collection. I guess tomorrow I'll take them outside to get better pics and see what happens. Thanks everyone

Sounds like you might get that dinner out after all! Good luck with them.

Yes, good luck! It's great that you found some that are really collectible.

Friends and I used to make totems and plate flowers. Every now and then we would have someone remark that a piece used in a creation was an antique. Our response was that it wasn't an heirloom to any of us. We had always purchased at yard sales and received some dishes through donations. We had lots of fun doing it and made a little money. Then we decided to stop because we spent a lot of time doing it and wanted to do other things. Now we get together socially not to work..

Those are beautiful