Business of Dollmaking Tips
Read these 17 Business of Dollmaking Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Doll Making tips and hundreds of other topics.
Which Doll?
When starting out, make dolls to please you. If you try to please everyone else, you will not have that inner satisfaction.
Cost Tracking
Keep track of the cost of each doll. I use a "project" page in my Time Design. List doll`s name and artist, the copyright date of the mold and your cost to purchase the mold. List anything you add to the doll with the price, such as eyes - 18 mm $7.86; wig, size and price; lashes, earrings, armature; stand if you are selling it with the doll. When you price the doll it helps you to remember your cost to make it.
Sell Change of Clothes
Suggest a buyer purchase a change of clothes to dress up the doll for the holidays or seasons.
Business Tips
When making doll clothes to resell, make several at a time. The more you do something, the easier it is. Especially if there was a difficult aspect that you finally figured out.
The Final Price
If a customer wants to pay less, change the product. I will often sell a doll undressed at a lower price. At a doll show last year, I broke a doll's hand on the trip. I showed the doll anyway with a sign that it was broken but would be at the next show complete. Someone bought it! I made sure I noted what was broken on the sales slip, but she was happy and I made a sale I didn't expect.
Test Your Ads
Add a code to your address when you place an ad. This allows you to follow how your ad pulls. If your address is 1234 Main Street, you can add Department E or Department B to the address. Allows you to study where to spend your advertising dollar.
The Business end of Pricing SFGW
Pricing greenware can be simple. The normal rate is 20% of the retail cost of the mold. If your overhead is low, charge less for the greenware.
Making the Shoulder Plate Easy to Remove?
Fold 4 - 4 inch peice of the same type tape, and
sew the fold to the body leaving the sides and ends loose. Then I would put the shoulder plate on the body (with head attached) and tie it on, threading each tape
through the holes. I use this method if I plan to display different heads on the same body. Makes it easy to remove.
Show off your doll
Take your doll with you when you go to work or medical appointments. This could be the start of your doll making business.
Keeping Informed
If you want to sell your dolls, watch what sells. Subscribe to magazines like DOLLS. In addition to being a business, it will help you with popular colors and styles.
In House Advertising
You can advertise right in the shop by working on new dolls. Your students can see the doll and many will want to make it also.
How-to Directions
If you travel to shows, label and number each piece of a rack, or shelving unit you assemble. Write directions matching the numbers in the correct order to assemble the part. Makes it easier in the rush of the show.
The Cost of Doing Business
A shop with indirect overhead such as rent, electric, phone, heat, air conditioning, postage, salaries to name a few need to charge enough for supplies, greenware, classes and completed dolls to cover both the direct and indirect cost.
Pricing Bisque
Pricing bisque can be simple. The normal rate is 2 times the amount of the cost of SFGW. If you sell your SFGW low, you should figure 40% of the retail cost of the mold. It might cost less to produce the SFGW, but from that point on, you should be paid for your time, effort and the cost of firing the kiln to bisque, which can take up to 12 hours.
Display Your Finished Dolls
Put a completed doll where your students can see it as they work. Soon they will want to make the doll they have been viewing. Another happy student.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Lynda Moultry |
