Rolling Base for Dollhouses: Another idea for a rolling dollhouse is an old microwave cart. I have seen them for as low as thirty dollars brand new at the discount stores, and even cheaper at garage sales.

Billie (OK)

Sticky Paint: I use tons of wax paper when painting or gluing minis. It keeps your work surface clean and the things don't stick to it.

Marilyn

Sticky Paint: When I was building my shop, the pieces that made up the windows were so tiny! What I did was to stick a long pin CAREFULLY into the end of each one, held the pin while I painted, and then stuck the other end of the pin into a block of expanded polystyrene to dry. Worked very well. Just make sure you don't split the end of the wood where the pin goes in.

In fact I used this method for the bigger pieces too, then wound some wire around the head of the pin and suspended them from my clothes airer.

Jan

Rolling Base for Dollhouses: I made one that you might be interested in. Bought 2 wall hanging cabinets (with doors) and made a work table out of them by connecting with a sheet of plywood. Put castors on the bottom of the cabinets. Thought the 2 cabinets would hold my supplies for my dh...LOL! (Little did I know how *many* supplies I would wind up with!!) Anyway, you could also do the same with one cabinet (from Home Depot or someplace similar), put a piece of plywood or fiberboard on top to be as large as you need (be sure and secure good with screws). They could put extra furniture, or just other toys inside the cabinet door. I love mine...but I outgrew it for supplies immediately after starting to work on the dh. Hope this idea helps you.

Rita Pierce

Rolling base for a dollhouse: my two big houses are on wooden TV stands on casters recycled from the flea market. If your house is bigger than the dimensions of these stands, you could cut a piece of plywood the right size and screw it to the top with metal L-brackets, then paint the whole assembly to match the house. I find carts handy because they move for the rare times I clean the workroom, and my glass-topped aquarium gardens fit on the bottom shelf (no worries about dusty shrubbery that way). A rolling kitchen island might work for larger houses if the jerry-rigged TV cart sounds too tacky.

Loretta.Sniarowski

To Store Tiny Things; Take empty 35 mm film containers. The ones with the clamp on top. Cut a nice size opening in the top. Put some clear plastic over the open container and then place the lid with the hole back on. You now have a secure "see thru" top on a container. No glass to break when it falls to the floor.

Dani

Zip Plastic Bags: I have purchased ziplock bags of all sizes from G.T. Bag Company. The prices have increased since I started ordering, but are still reasonable. The 1" x 1" are $4.99 per thousand, with a min. order of $35., and there is a surcharge on orders less than $100 (I think it is 10%). Their email is gtbagco@aol.com and web site is http://www.GTBAG.com

They also carry bubble wrap, heat sealer machines and bags of all sizes.

Betty in Ky

Packing For Travel: When going to a show (especially out of town) take a small box with those even smaller plastic boxes left over from previous shopping. This way you can put your new items into the proper fitting boxes and then all of those into the bigger box and into the suitcase for a safe trip. Also, take a glob of blu-tac - or similar - to stick the tiny things into the 1st box.

Elise

Photos of Work Rooms: To view craft rooms (only 4 so far) go to http://members.tripod.com/~Kalron/miniture.htm, at the bottom of page under "Work Rooms and Studios" If you have a photo site of your work room please send your URL.

Karolyn, Plymouth, MA

Filing old magazines that you can't bear to toss? Yes I thought so. Well I just got through filing a bunch more of mine and thought that you might like this little tip. I picked up some filing cabinets real cheap at a second hand office furniture shop. Then picked up the economy hanging files at Office Max (25 for $3.49) Cut the files down the fold and now you have 50 magazine holders. Just slip the half a hanging file into the middle of the magazine and you can hang about 5 or 6 years of monthly magazines in one file drawer. You can also get little fluorescent flags to stick on one end of the file folder to stick up and let you know where a given year begins or to highlight magazines with special articles. They are easy to search through this way, they stay nice and you don't have to dig through boxes or have them sliding all over shelves. Works great you can even file the catalogs you use frequently this way and replace them when you get new ones.

Marsha Hedrick

Keeping track of digest info: As a relative newbie, I'm still printing out the digests. For anyone else who does this, you might consider using Post-it mini-flags to mark things you want to check out later. They are reuseable coloured tabs that come in a pack of six colours. So you can mark off things: for example, red - want to reply to; green - site to check out; yellow - tip I want to track; etc.

Maureen Heuchert

CIMTA tips: For what it's worth here is my opinion of selling at a wholesale show.

1. Show off your product to the best of your ability and let the brilliance and shine of the jewelry sell itself. This takes lights. Bring small OTT type lights to focus on the displays. When people say they didn't notice the lighting then that means a dealer did a good job of making a booth comfortable to shop at. Easy to read prices, well marked product information, and signs declaring that the items are marked at wholesale and reflect a 50% discount off retail prices.

2. I group items under 10.00 in small quantity bundles depending on price. $1.00 to $3.00 items in packages of 6 or 12. $4.00 to 6.00 items in 3's 7.00 to 8.00 in 2's. This will help increase your sells without requiring a dealer to overspend on one item. A shop needs more then one of an item to stock a store. Selling low cost items by the each is time consuming for the buyer to pick them all out and takes you additional time in writing up the order.

3. National airport is within site of the hotel and the hotel runs a free shuttle bus to and from the airport. National is sometimes more expensive to fly into but the cost of a taxi or rental car will eat up any small differences. They charge for parking at the hotel so you don't want a rental car sitting in a garage costing you money while you are kept so busy you don't even know what the whether is like on the "outside".

4. Bring plenty of stock because people love to take the items home with them but make up a sample board for taking orders on the items you run out of.

5. Back up tables are a very wise investment. It gives you a place to write up orders, hold on to lay-away's and keep back stock.

6. Bring plenty of business cards if you are going to be a buyer. A quick note for any new CIMTA buyers or sellers reading this. Don't be confused if buyers start asking for things and before you get them ready for them they are gone. Things are hot and heavy on the first day and the buyers want to race to as many places as possible before the "good stuff" is gone, so they have a "system".

A. They pick out what they want from your table (you will need lots of baskets or containers for this) and hand you the items with their card.They will let you know if they want the items ready for pick up today or tomorrow.
B. They should then use the chart provided to them by Cimta to mark your name and remember to come back to your table for a pick-up.
C. You stack up their basket behind your table and work with the next customer. When you get a break you write up the sale, bag the merchandise, staple their card to the outside of the sack for identification and place it in layaway until they are ready to pick it up and pay for it.
D. When you get a break restock your sales table and catch your breath.

Deb Laue

For traveling to shows, I don't know if you noticed other customers, but I've always envied the ones organized enough to have those little "grandma's brag book" photo albums filled with wallpaper swatches and room dimensions. Plus photos of their houses. It sure helps when they're trying to remember which wallpaper is in the hall, and for one customer in Chicago, it instantly answered the question as to how many steps her staircase had. Since the pages are essentially clear pockets, you could stuff business cards and paper for notes in them, too.

Bonni

Brooke Tucker Class Advice: Brooke has been teaching at my store for several years. Her workshops are an absolute delight. She gives freely whatever you would like to know, even things that might not be part of the workshop. I have had students in class who had never done a miniature, let alone take a workshop and their boxes were as good as students who had taken all of her workshops. Most important, follow her pre-instructions. It may not be how you are used to doing things, but there is a method to her madness. She is teaching you her way which you can easily adapt once you've done what she has instructed. Don't worry about whether you are a fast or slow worker, work at your own pace and you'll finish with everyone else. Don't be afraid to tell her you would like to make a few changes to the design. She loves to experiment if there is time. Don't substitute brands on her supply list. You might like something else better but she uses what works for her methods. Take advantage of her years of knowledge and experience. And don't worry that for the first few days everything seems to look awful. On the last day you seem to achieve perfection out of all that chaos. Pack your tools wisely. If she didn't ask you to bring it you probably won't need it. And although this may not seem important, buy what you can from the store where you are taking your workshop (if it is a store). The store does not receive any of the fee she charges. It takes a lot of work for the store owner to prepare and clean up for one of her classes. So they rely on your support to help compensate for all their effort. But most of all enjoy yourself. Everyone ought to take at least one of her workshops, that is if you can take her rendition of O Sol A Mio!

Mary Kay

Organizing: I have 3 modes of storage for my mini-treasures that are waiting for their new home.

Really small items I put in those plastic pill boxes with the snap on-off lids. I also cut up pieces of felt for the bottom to avoid scratches. The pill boxes have 28 compartments in them, and if dropped, nothing gets lost! The pill boxes also work well for storing earrings!

The medium items go in plastic bins that have drawers, you can get them from just 2 drawers to large cart types on wheels. Both of the above are opaque/plastic.

The big stuff, furniture, goes into shallow cardboard boxes, stacked on the closet shelf and labeled, though I am also gradually picking up the 'shoebox' types so I can see what's in them without having to open them up every time I am looking for one specific item.

Items that need to be kept flat, flooring/wallpaper, etc, are laid onto a piece of sturdy cardboard and tucked wherever!

Janet in Orygun

Organizing: My stuff was ALL over the house and I could never find anything so I rearranged the office and moved everything in there. I set up two tables and put big items under them toward the back. A set of heavy duty metal shelves and two shelves of a book case, two drawer thingies with 10 drawers all together is for storage.

On the metal shelves, I have containers for soft plastic, hard plastic, wood, breakables, metal, electrical, hardware, fabric, trims, etc. Each of the big drawers is for each rooms's objects; i.e. all kitchen stuff goes into the "kitchen" drawer. 4 small drawers are for divided containers full of small things, see through of course. I am going to paste pictures of each room/drawer's contents on the outside of each drawer to save me having to remember. LOL

Sandy in Alberta

Storing supplies: The one most valuable thing I have learned, being in a climate that can get either very wet and damp and invite little buggies....or cold, which invites mice.... is that it is a good idea to put everything into plastic baggies before storing them anywhere. If bugs or mice do invade, it is an extra protection...especially from mice who tend to leave messy and disgusting evidence of their trek, however brief, over your stuff. Also, within a plastic box that you know is feathers, for example, it is good to have a plastic baggie for each color/kind. You can see them, and they stay clean, even if you take the plastic baggie out and forget to put it back for a long time. You can even keep a basket for throwing the baggies into until they can be returned to the proper box, etc. and the contents won't go flying all over your carpet, or wherever.

Another thing for damp climates or for supplies that someone gave you that have an odor you don't like....try putting them in a plastic bag (open on the end to let odors in/out).....in a plastic box of kitty litter. Alternatively, or additionally, put a piece of fabric sprayed with Fabreze, or spray it directly, testing first. And last of all, if you tend to get moths (which often you will from dried florals from stores, for example) you can put a moth ball right in the plastic baggie for a short time. It is something a friend of mine does with his fly tying feather stashes.

Rose

Portable Workspace: Before I had a real place of my own to work on my minis, I worked out a system so I could do my work and then put it away and no one could see my mess. What I did was, I made a large work tray. You could use a piece of plywood or similar. Nail some trim around the edges to keep things from sliding off. Make it a good size. maybe 3' 2' or larger if you can or make two smaller ones even. Make one a work area and one to hold all your mini tools and stuff that you use all the time. On the front of the work space I put a tape measure and glued it on. Then I used thumbtacks or glue to make a row of cottage cheese or large yogurt containers, etc at the back edge. I stuck my tools in these containers. On the other tray you could put boxes and containers that are glued on to put just the things you are using to work on this project with. Now the good part. When I wanted to work on my minis, I brought out my tray or trays and put them on the coffee table in the living room. When it was time to stop I just took the trays and put them under my bed. This really did work. I really think I did more work then, than I do now with a whole studio just for my mini stuff.

Barbara Del Duco

Storing lumber: I store molding etc. in tin cans. Take the top and bottom off x cans to make a certain height.(leave the bottom on the bottom can) Stack them with duct tape or clear tape. From large juice to soup, you choose your size and height. I make sleeves (from fabric) for the cans to dress them up! Stand any number of them on the floor and you have a sculpture!

Shirl

Shopping: with multiple projects to be furnished!   I started a smallloose-leaf notebook with the house and what I still needed for it to bring to shows or in my case, as I am into 1/4" to order online.   When I get the structure furnished, I can just pull out the page and start one for another project.

Isabel Allen