Business Page: 8 |
Food Sites: Your best bet would be to go to Mary Eccher's site 1st, as she has been in the business of showing people how to do mini food for many years: http://www.pannikins.com/ If you click on the catalog, and then on 'Mary's menus', you will find information and directions for some foods. Tom of Earth & Tree Miniatures carries some quite good booklets on making food; Fimo Sweets, Petite Eats...and Meyer's Homemade Meals: http://www.dollhouse- miniatures.com And, this great site about polymer clays...more info here than you can shake a Fimo stick at: http://www.glassattic.com And, finally, (although there is certainly more info out there!) Angie Scarr's site...where I learned how to make peelable oranges: http://www.compclub.demon.co.uk/asmini.htm Kaye in L.A. |
Bidville - free auction site http://www.bidville.com/listings/index.cfm?category=908 Gail |
Dollhouse Inventory: Last week or so, someone on this list mentioned that they had listed their minis on their Excel program. So I thought, "I can do that". I am starting into my THIRD week. I kept all of my mini purchases in a journal type book forever. Anyhow most of it. The last few years I haven't been so good at it. Anyhow, I have transferred everything in the book and then started what you were talking about: Going from house to house, room to room, roombox to roombox and recording where each of those purchases NOW resides. Auggggghhhhhhhhhh!. One of those projects you wish you hadn't started, but I'm really excited that it's going to be so great to get it on the computer and out of the journal. I can automatically sort the list any way I want. I have 6 columns. DATE-DESCRIPTION- SELLER-ARTIST-COST-LOCATION. If I want a printout of say everything in the Greystone B&B, I sort the Location column alphabetically, and they're all together. I've also found that one interesting move is to click on total of cost column. You DO NOT want to do that EVER. Heart attack in the making. Anyhow a big Thank You to whoever mentioned using Excel for this. I had been looking for a software program everywhere to make my inventory in. By the way, that's true with a lot of programs I've wanted. I find that somehow I can do the same thing with what's already in the computer. Have fun. And I do hope to finish this project sometime this century. Fannye in TX Fannye in TX |
Dollhouse Inventory: When you inventory a collection of some 20 years, "what you paid" is probably of very little importance. What is important is What gives "value" to each item in your own collectors mind. For your own reminiscence and for your heirs - a useful inventory may look something like this. Music room: Violin: purchased at Anaheim Nit Pickers' show about 1978 when Misa was taking full sized violin lessons at school. Maker unknown. Music stand. Purchased Casey's Wee Littles about 1983 in Buena Park, CA. Paid $9.50. I liked the fretwork a lot. Made by Laura Schroeder. Hallmark/Initials on bottom of rail. Sheet music. Photo copy reduction of original sheet music from my mother's collection (original in attic trunk with other sheet music):Side By Side" Was a favorite of my Mom & Dad, sung frequently in the car on long tips. Victrola. Made by myself April, 1981 Signed/dated on bottom. Dimensions and drawings taken from full sized original at Antique mall in Temcula, Ca. Quarter sawn cherry wood. Player arm sculpted Fimo metalized with graphite rubbed over aluminum paint. Record cut from photograph of original 78 RPM record "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino. Note: I made 3 of these - other 2 sold through High Button Shoe in Fullerton, Ca. Get the idea??? For an insurance inventory, talk to your agent. "Actual value" coverage for collectables gets very tricky. Again, what you paid 15 or 20 years ago means very little. Mel Koplin |
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 pension or 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 |
Record Keeping: Another option to using video tape for record keeping would be to use a digital video camera to record, and transfer the video to a CD using your computer. Then you can make extra backup copies in minutes for the price of a blank CD. CDs don't degrade over time, but would be vulnerable to fire. Digital copying would have almost no loss of quality between "generations." I scanned all our family photo albums to the computer, transferred them on CDs, and put store the CDs in a separate location, so in case of fire, we won't lose all our pictures. Whui in San Francisco |
Record Keeping: Mary Ellen asked if Excel would be good enough for her inventory. I would say definately, Yes. Excel is easy to learn and you only need the VERY basics for an inventory - Enter data; stretch the cell widths; wrap text; Save and sort by..... is all you need to know. Auto sum adds the total value. Voila! You have an inventory. Barbara B in South Africa |
Record Keeping: If your computer came with MS Works pre-installed, don't shell out the money for either Excel or Collector. MS Works' spreadsheet function won't do for advanced scientific/business calculations, but for an inventory it'll work just fine--plus it has easier 'help' features than Excel. Also, check out some of the shareware and freeware sites--you might be able to get an inventory program for free. Molly |
postal service padded envelopes: Just wanted to suggest that when mailing minis in padded envelopes it might be a good idea to write "Non machinable" on the front of the pack. With the increasing use of machines to sort the mail, a precious mini could get killed! If you put "hand cancel" on the envelope, please take it into the office and give it to a window clerk. If you drop it in the collection box outside, it may not get picked out by a clerk who is being rushed to get the job done. Maybe a plastic vitamin or prescription bottle to hold the mini might prevent an accident. Just a thought! Joanne from South Jersey |
SMALL PACKET RATE: There IS a small packet rate but in the wisdom of the post office, and to insure the maximum amount of confusion,they have renamed it "letter-post". Some of the post office people have been trained and understand this, but in other post offices they don't and that includes the postmasters. They think that letter-post means a letter, not a package. The small packet, books, and printed matter have been combined to the "letter-post" category. Before you mail an overseas package, go to their website to the postage calculator. You will see that one of the choices is letter-post and it refers to a package. Print it out and bring it with you to the post office and insist on getting that rate. Carol - S P Miniatures |
Mailing via the U. S. Post Office outside the U. S.: Minis are my passion but music promotion is my business. I promote all sorts of music for radio play all over the world. So I mail hundreds of promotional (free) CDs several times a month, often to radio stations outside the U. S. When I fill out the Customs-declaration slip, here's what I write on the green portion: Zero value, not for resale. I check the box marked *gift*. The packages are not insured. With the hundreds of packages I mail every month, there has not been a problem with the recipients receiving the merchandise. I do a lot of tracking by email, letting the recipients know when the packages were mailed. They respond by email when their packages arrive. If you don't mark the *gift* portion often the recipient has to pay a tax upon receiving the package, and that can add up to about $20 extra or more out of their pocket. I'm not sure this information applies to folks who mail miniatures outside the U. S. I'm just sharing my experience. If this information helps, great. Leslie Ann |
Small packets: On the USPS website they have a copy of their manual in a PDF format. The URL for the manual is http://pe. usps. gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub51/pub51. pdf On page 6 it discusses "letter-post" and says Letter-post. "Letter-post" is a generic term that encompasses all of the classes of international mail that were formerly categorized as LC (Letters and Cards) and AO (Other Articles). This includes letters and letter packages, postcards and postal cards, aerogramme, printed matter, and small packets. Letter-post items have the following characteristics: a.They have different shapes, sizes, and contents. b.They weigh 4 pounds or less. c.They are subject to the provisions of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Convention. Apparently the new designations are for the "speed of delivery" rather than the contents. Carol |
Letter-post Rates: It only shows if you select for international calculator. http://ircalc. usps. gov/ It will say airmail letter - post or economy (surface)letter post. Carol |
Shipping: According to them (USPS), things have changed in the last few years. There are now First Class Rate, Bound Printed Matter Rate, Media Rate, and Library Rate. Of course, we all know about First Class Rate. Bound Printed Matter covers all material which has the majority of the page covered with printed matter and is stapled, sewn, glued, etc. together and may contain advertising, but it may not contain anything of a personal note, such as a letter or statement or bill. If even a bill is included, it must be sent First Class Rate. Media Rate refers to books, texts, workbooks, etc. and cannot contain advertising. Library Rate is for libraries only. So there it is. Mel |
Business Names: Perhaps someone with a legal background can add more to this, but I was told when I started my business: If you used a name such as "Tiny Miniatures" you were required to register with the state as operating under a fictitious name. Of course it is difficult to know if there are any other "Tiny Miniatures" across the country. But if you used "Tiny Miniatures by Joe Smith" Or Joe Smith's Tiny Miniatures" or such, you are not required to register with state, and makes it unlikely there will be another company with that name. I operated my company under "Rainbow Design by Dean Jenson", though I often used just "Rainbow Design" but I did register Rainbow Design with the state. But even using the full name, I was often confused with Rainbow Hand. Dean Jenson |
If web photosites, work for you--great! But I would like to say that it is possible to have *thousands* of pics on a webpage and organize it so it loads quickly. Molly |
Free sites for photo albums: Tripod.com has an easy to use photo album / site builder. Brian |
Free sites for photo albums: I just have been looking at webshots site Webshots. Anita Crawford |
http://www.homestead.com/ has a web site builder that is easy to use. You might want to give it a try. Nertha |
| This category has 237 tips of 10312 tips in the archives. Previous 20 | Next 20 Page 8 of 12. |
|
Browse the database (all entries) |