I finished the giant gengar pixel blanket and apparently hate myself to do it again for money (again) so DETAILS ON COMMISSIONING A PIXEL BLANKET (Does not have to be a gengar. I would in fact prefer it if it wasn't)
Yarn cost depends on what yarn you want, how many colours are involved, and how much of each I'll need. Yarn for that gengar cost around £100 / $135. There's a lot of it. It's huge. And heavy. Just... so heavy.
A general estimate for the labour cost is £5.50 / $7.50 per 10 squares. This works out to approximately half the minimum wage in the UK so tips are very much appreciated.
Labour + yarn for Gengar (1,652 squares) works out to £1,000 / $1,350 Yikes. Yeah. Now double it to pay me minimum wage. Can I pay in instalments? I mean. If you can pay afford much upfront you have WAY too much money. You can divide the labour costs into as many monthly payments as you want/need. Chances are it'll take me at least 6 months to make the whole thing anyway if it's as big as gengar. (he's 200ish labour hours) So. You've got time. The first payment needs to be the full cost of the yarn (I gotta buy it somehow) + labour. But if you can only afford the yarn upfront you can just buy it and I'll start actually working when you have labour money. If you can't afford the payment one month I just. Won't work on it for a month. We'll get there when we get there innit. Not exactly an overnight project. How do I pay you? PayPal. Venmo, cashapp etc don't exist in the UK so it's PayPal or bust I'm afraid. I'll set up an invoice with as many payments as we've agreed to. If you're also in the UK you can bank transfer me directly / set up a standing order if you'd rather. How big is it? Kinda depends on the yarn and size of the hook? And the number of pixels, obviously. The squares in gengar are made using 10 ply yarn and a 4.5mm hook. Each square is roughly 1.5" / 4cm across. Gengar is as wide as he is tall and ended up being roughly 6'3" / 1.9m in each direction.
Thinner yarn and a smaller hook will produce an end result that is physically smaller, however it will not be any cheaper because it's the exact same amount of work going into it. Similarly using a bigger hook will make something that's larger in the end (and also make a thinner fabric) and won't cost you any more in labour. Will need more yarn, though. What if the thing I want doesn't have many pixels but I still want it blanket sized? Like. It's a small-scale sprite or whatever I can just make the squares bigger by adding extra rounds and then work out how long it takes to make one of those bigger squares. Labour cost is ([time taken per square] x 2 for sewing together) x [number of squares]. An extra 25% is added to the total time for charting, calculating, weaving, finishing, washing etc. What yarn do you use? That's your choice. I'd suggest acrylic since not only is it the cheapest fibre (and there's a LOT of it) but it comes in a wider range of brigher colours so will be easier to match to your image. Ultimately it's up to you though so if you wanna drop $$$$ on natural fibres that's your business. We'll choose specific shades together so you have the final say on what goes into it. Does it have to be a Pokémon? Nope. Anything that can be pixellated can be done. It's like a fibre version of perler art.
Does it have to be shaped? No. It can be a normal square/rectangular blanket if you want but obviously this will increase both labour and material costs to make the background.
Can you make a rug instead? Sure. I can use a smaller hook to make a thicker/denser fabric more suited to being on the floor. But for a rug I'd recommend cotton yarn over acrylic. It's more durable and heavier.
Are you completely insane? Probably. But I'm also broke
