AI freelance bid

A post about a genuinely useful application for AI in costuming

Reference images from the 2013 job

For this generative AI usage example, I worked with Microsoft Copilot to put together a price quote for a hypothetical freelance bid, based on an actual project I did in 2013, for a collection of ballet headpieces – a group of identical hair ornaments for the corps de ballet and a trio of tiaras for principal dancers. 

In this case, the ballet costumes already existed, so I had the worn-out old items to work from in terms of the design.

My initial AI prompt was essentially to assist me in formulating a price quote for a custom millinery project. Copilot had some questions:

I'd be happy to help you create a price quote for a custom millinery commission! To make sure the quote is accurate and professional, I’ll need a few details:

1. Project Details

What type of hat or headpiece is being commissioned?

Is it for a special occasion (e.g., wedding, races, theater)?

Are there any specific materials or embellishments required (e.g., feathers, veiling, silk flowers)?

2. Labor & Time

How many hours do you estimate the project will take?

Will there be fittings or consultations involved?

3. Materials Cost

What is the estimated cost of materials?

Are any materials being sourced specially or imported?

4. Additional Costs

Packaging or shipping?

Rush order fees?

Custom design fee?

5. Your Pricing Structure

Do you charge hourly, flat rate, or a combination?

Do you include a markup on materials?

Once I have this information, I can help you draft a detailed and professional quote.

I appreciated that the response enumerated specific details and factors I would need to take into consideration when formulating the quote. I responded:

This price quote is for a ballet company that wants a dozen identical hair ornaments, and three identical custom tiaras for principal ballerinas. They will provide rhinestones and embellishments. I will provide 5 yards of heavy millinery wire and other notions/materials I have in my studio stock. 

I project that the hair ornaments will take 30 minutes each to make, and the tiaras will take eight hours each. I am copying existing pieces for both of these styles so no fittings or consultations will be involved. 

The client will pick these up from my studio, so no packing or shipping fees are required. This is not a rush order and no design is involved. I will structure this quote as a flat rate, although I would like to make $25 an hour for my time.

I came up with that hourly rate by researching what plumbers and carpenters make in my area. As artists & artisans, It’s important not to undervalue our work, but it’s also important not to price ourselves out of the work. (Unless we don’t actually want the job, and that’s one way to say no without saying no.) 

Most people don’t have any idea what a fair hourly rate is for a custom costume commission, but It helps to frame it as commensurate with other skilled trades like plumbing and carpentry.

I should note that, at this point in my career I’m very familiar with how long it takes me to do different kinds of craftwork, and I know how creating multiples of the same item affects the time it takes to produce any individual piece. 

When I teach my students how to come up with a price quote for their work, we talk about how to gauge time estimates for things you have no idea how to build, or extrapolate for something you’ve never done before but which is kinda close to something else you have.

In putting together this price quote, I went back and forth with the AI to clarify things like an overhead charge and a kill fee. If you don’t know what those are, I made a video about this whole process of pricing costume work that defines both overhead and kill fees, which you can watch here.

This process made it clear that using an AI assistant for something like this is an exchange. You don’t ask it for something and get a perfect response ready to send to a client. It’s a back-and-forth process of refining the outcome. At the end of the exchange, Copilot came up with an excellent price quote document:

Here’s your finalized price quote with the payment terms included:

⸻

Custom Millinery Commission Quote

Client: [Ballet Company Name]

Artist: [Your Name or Studio Name]

Date: [Insert Date] 

⸻

Project Overview

12 Identical Hair Ornaments

Labor: 6 hours total (30 minutes each)

Labor Cost: $150

3 Identical Custom Tiaras

Labor: 24 hours total (8 rs each)

Labor Cost: $600

Materials Provided by Client: Rhinestones and embellishments

Materials Provided by Artist: 5 yards of heavy millinery wire and other notions from studio stock

Flat Materials Fee: $25

⸻

Cost Breakdown

Total Labor: $750

Studio Overhead (20%): $150

Materials Fee: $25

🔹 Grand Total: $925

⸻

Payment Terms

A 50% deposit ($462.50) is required to begin work.

This deposit is non-refundable and will be forfeited in the event of cancellation before completion and delivery of the commissioned pieces.

The remaining balance is due upon pickup from the studio.

This will probably be one way I incorporate Copilot into my classes, moving forward. I always have them do a project where they generate a quote like this for something outside the scope of what could be made in class and they have historically worked from a template of what the document should include. 

Based on my experience of generating this quote in collaboration with an AI assistant, I think the exchange you have with Copilot to get from project parameters to the price quote makes it more impactful for a student learning to consider all the things you need to account for besides just the cost of materials used.

This is a genuinely useful application for the technology, and a way I will probably actually use it myself, because it’s more efficient than the way I used to do it. 

Up to this point, everything I have tried using generative AI for has felt like I was using the technology just to be using it and not because it was a better way to do something.

I tell my students that using a new technology just for the sake of using it is a valid choice if you want the experience, but in the greater scheme of things, if it’s not the best way to solve a problem or achieve an outcome, it’s not the choice to make. An example would be to 3D print an art deco belt buckle design, that might actually be created more quickly & durably using something like epoxy clay on a plain buckle.

So for all the generative AI costume design renderings I have shared here, they have all seemed like Projects for which I was using the technology to investigate how it might generate something functional or acceptable, but not better than the way I would have otherwise done it, had I not been using the generative AI. 

This process of bid creation is a case where I do feel like using Copilot to help me put together this hypothetical bid is an excellent application for the tool.