Medical miniatures: I have a lot of doctor/pharmaceutical items on my website - all in stock. http://www.spminiatures.com/doctor.htm

Carol

Paint Storage: Check here at www.micromark.com and
http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/82470.html

See if it holds a large enough amount of bottles for your needs This is greatsite for mini supplies, including model railroad and scenery supplies

George Hoffman

144 scale furniture: Look at http://www.anitamoriginals.comfor fantastic furniture, kits to make, and metal minis. Anita does great work and is a member of this digest.

Debby

Corrugated roofing: Noticed several postings from people looking for Corrugated metal roofing: I sell rolls of 2" wide plastic metal looking material that is corrugated. It would look great for a roof. Give me an email if you want more info. minilorrie@yahoo.ca

Lorna Harvey

Miniature Rugs: We have over 300 hundred designs of miniature rugs in 4 different sizes. May be you can find something which may work for your project. Please check us at http://www.anatolian-treasures.com

Korhan Kartin

Peter Cook's Signs: Just received the wonderful wooden engraved sign that Peter Cook made for my potting shed/shop. I can't tell you how absolutely perfect it is and how pleased I am with Peter's work. I was so happy to have been able to pick the font I wanted, too. The price was reasonable and his service was ultra-quick. Highly recommend him to all. Once again Peter's website is:
http://www.woodencraft.co.uk/

Bev

Cinder block veneer: try Precision Products; they have all sorts of shingles, bricks, cobblestones, etc. It comes in sheets about a foot square - and in a flat box marked "This is NOT a pizza"! - and is easily cut with scissors.

I don't have a web site for them, but the address is 763 Cayuga, Lewiston, NY 14092-1724. The catalogue is $3, but if you tell them what scale you want, they may be able to give you a price right off the bat.

Dani, in Bradshaw, MD

BAD-SERVICE MINI DEALERS: I think we owe it to each other to share when we've had bad experiences with online vendors... because so many of them are NOT regulated. There are places to complain to. INCLUDING the vendors web host (easy to find out many different ways... you can always try http://spamcop.net but the abuse address may not be the appropriate one so be sure to visit the website for the ISP to determine the right party to write to)... it's not the nicest way to go about things, but who would want to be host to a company that generating a bad reputation for them?

The Better Business Bureau does have a place for reporting bad online businesses. http://www.BBBOnLine.org/

And if you've never done business with a company before it's a good idea to READ all their information. Ask questions before you purchase, and also ask around to see if anyone else has done business with them.

Ami

GOOD-SERVICE MINI DEALERS: Of course Earth and Tree on at the top of my list for service, friendliness and promptness in delivery. I've also dealt with Scale Designs, HBS and Oakridge and have been very pleased with the quality of service, both in receiving the items and any returns or exchanges.

I've bought from Rosemary Torre and Susan Karatjas and would recommend them to all. I guess I've been fortunate in not having a bad experience (yet) but then I've never bought from Mott's and in reading your horror stories probably never will. l work mainly in 1/2" scale so if anyone knows of a supplier other than who I've mentioned would love to add them to my list.

Jerre, Kauai

GOOD-SERVICE MINI DEALERS: I guess it's like most things in life we only complain about the "BAD" parts and rarely remember to praise the parts that are GOOD" .We should all hand out more" ATTA BOYS {GIRLS}!!" in life. The whole staff at Earth and Tree http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com/ And the in house staff at Hobby Builders Supply http://www.miniatures.com/ do get kudos from my end. Another shop that has a web site and if you phone or e-mail them they do mail order is the Cottage of Miniatures in Ft.Myers,FL http://cottageofminiatures.com/ Shellie's Mini Mania in San Carlos,CA http://www.shelliesminis.com now has both in house service and on-line ordering. The furniture is an absolute MUST SEE! All artisan quality and a wide variety!

Patricia / Redwood City,CA

GOOD-SERVICE MINI DEALERS: Hobby Builder's Supply is very good. I must also put a word in for a few others: 1) Suzi's Dollhouse Miniatures. Excellent service, permanent 20% discount off retail on all items, and she will get you anything. http://www.suzisdollhouses.com/ 2) Dollshouse Emporium has lovely merchandise and free shipping on orders over $60, from the UK, no less. Items arrive more quickly than from the US - I think they must use a magic carpet. http://www.dollshouse.co.uk/us/catalog/ 3) Manor House Minis is also a favorite -- very low cost items, and the best organized site I've seen. http://www.manorhouseminis.com/ 4) For higher-line items, I like Laura Dubois Miniatures (esp. Bespaq) http:///www.minis.com/ SP Miniatures http://www.spminiatures.com/Cotton Ridge designs http://cottonridge.safeshopper.com/

Madere, Silver Spring, MD

GOOD-SERVICE MINI DEALERS: I think this topic will fill the next 150 Digests or until Anne pulls the plug, whichever comes first. I've had only one bad experience w/the dozens & dozens of mini-merchants I've bought from, and that was with major dh mfg. who answered my two courteous letters of complaint with a viciousness that I can only call demented. It made me lose heart for anything related to dh's for a long time & I still have scary dreams about her. But that's it! Except for a few who don't answer the emailed questions they specifically solicit-or are so slow to respond that one gives up & looks elsewhere, I've had nothing but great service. I think a great attitude is almost a given w/the small mini-makers/sellers--especially the SSDigester-type, so I'll just mention a few of the big ones that I've found satisfactory-to-excellent. In the US, SP Miniatures, Lawbre, HBS, Suzi's (I don't like the re-stocking fee but I knew about it because I asked what the return policy was. They did not charge it on the defective piece I sent back, even though I didn't want a replacement; & they were prompt & accurate in every way.)In the Netherlands, de Stolp's Dienke Cazemier is marvelous. In the UK, Janet Granger, Scallywags, Jojay's, Malyn's, Carol Black, & Greenwood Creations have all been impeccable. (Claire at Greenwood gives the most immediate, full, & pleasant attention to the smallest question. I just love her. A day or so ago I placed an order & then immediately emailed her about the two make-your-own-library sets on the website. One looked to have a few more books than the other at almost twice the price. I told her I wanted a high-quality one w/heavy embossed paper & didn't really care about the price or the number of books. She emailed me immediately that she was holding my order until she could examine the book-sets. A short while later she emailed again that the cheaper set looked to her to be the better quality & she had added it to my order. I think that's pretty wonderful. How would I have ever known which of the two was better?

HMH

Making a Living: There are many variables involved in whether you can make a living at minis: how much time and energy you have to devote to it--it is amazing how tiring the bookkeeping and "office" work can be (and that takes at least as much time as the "fun" part of making the items to sell); how much money do you have to invest in supplies, shows, web site, advertising, etc. (unfortunately, it costs money to make money); and --this may sound odd-- how much of a "people person" you are. People who like to be around other people and like to talk to and help others tend to make more connections and potentially more sales than people who don't (I'm one of the latter!). The sales I make selling my minis and other art supplement our family income, but we rely on my husband's regular paycheck to pay the bills.

Jane W.

Making a Living: I really tried not to comment on making minis for a living, but I just can't NOT! If you have no mortgage, and your car is paid off, and you are willing to work 16 hours days, seven days a week, and hardly ever take time off for anything except food shopping and going to the post office...and if luxuries are not important to you....you MAY be able to make a living after years of working very hard! This is NOT a field to get into to make a living! I think I've mentioned it before, but for me it was sink or swim proposition when my husband and I got divorced in 1980. There were several years I had part time jobs and rented out parts of my house to keep my head above water and the electric bill paid! Thank goodness I have not had to do that for over 10 years. I love making minis, I do not love the business of the business, or knowing that if my eyes or hands get hurt, I have no medical insurance, and no way to earn a living! I love being my own boss, but do not enjoy the huge responsibilities that entails! Remember, if you do this you will never have an office party, get a gold watch for 25 years service, never get a pensionor a Christmas bonus, have a paid vacation and probably will not be able to take a definite salary from week to week! You must not be a procrastinator, and must be a self disciplined self starter! What you will get is a tremendous amount of self satisfaction, a bunch of fabulous friends, and if you are good at what you do, and very lucky, a modicum of fame!

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie-FL

Inventory for Doll House: A Daunting Job; However I have friends who had to up-date real house inventory. They did it all with a Video Camera. Did not take that long and is fantastic.

One filmed and one talked. went through each room describing the contents as it was pictured. (This painting is by so and so painted in 1765 to 1780 in France.) etc. I believe this would work on a miniature house and contents. Then they had 2 copies of the Video made and placed one in their Safety Deposit Box.

Paddy

Inventory: What I like about using Excel for my inventory is that:

1. I change around things in the house and I can easily change the location on my spreadsheet and

2. I bought some of these things as a dealer after I went into business and they are for sale and are easily removed from the spreadsheet. In fact, it's a good way to sell things as people can see them "in situ".

3. Email your list to a friend or back it up on one of these storage websites. It does no good if the computer gets burnt up with the collection.

Carol

Mini Inventory Program: I use an Excel spreadsheet. Since I already use Excel for other stuff, I didn't have to get another program. I list the artisan, date of purchase, room in the dollhouses that it's located and price paid. You can do a sort. If you don't have Excel, it's too expensive to buy just for an inventory but a lot of computers come with a similar program as part of MS Works.

Carol

Mini Inventory: I firmly believe that we add value to our collections by keeping a record of it. I have a dolls house scrap book where I stick sample of materials used and photos etc, as well as receipts etc. I also have an inventory and have found a simple Excel spreadsheet does the job perfectly adequately since you can sort by any column.

Barbara B in South Africa

Mini Inventory: The best database "maker" I have seen is Access by Microsoft. It comes in the MS Office Suite. It is somewhat difficult to learn. I am lucky in that my husband is familiar with the program. We used it to make a database of the people we were inviting to our wedding, and could sort by name, address, whether or not their invite was sent out, what their reply was, what they wanted for dinner, etc etc. It was great. The we could print it out. You can even make some categories "Yes/No" where the program puts a checkbox in the column. There are other fancy things you can do with it too, like making the database more like a pre-set form to add names, dates or whatever. If you have Office you may have Access (not sure if it comes with all Office suites). The program has a tutorial, I think. Give it a try (but be prepared to spend a while learning). I'm sure there are tutorials on the web also. **Alternatively, check in with http://www.download.com and do a search for a ready-made program.

Lynn in Gainesville

Mini Inventory: Quicken is an inexpensive accounting program that I use to keep up with my personal accounts and it has tool to set up a household inventory for insurance purposes. easy as pie to use and you could set up a mini inventory in the same way. should be available in both Mac and IBM formats.

Kathy in Kentucky