Promoted the wiki in forums

I have not been active in forums lately but today I wrote to four dollhouse forums (2 in Finnish, 2 in English) to promote the wiki. If some of you want to forward my email to your own forums, here it is:

Hello

In April I set up a wiki in English. It is called Mini treasures wiki http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/ and it is meant for everybody who loves miniatures or dolls. The dollhouse hobby starts to be so popular that we have a need to find the miniaturists who do similar stuff than us and for finding those people we can use the wiki.

Maybe an example helps you to get the point. Let´s say that there are 10 miniaturists in the world who are working on Patrick Swayze theme box. Some of them are blogging (one in Spanish and one in Finnish), some of them are active in Flickr or Youtube while some only read messages from forums. It is hard to imagine how they will learn about themselves, a Google search is not helping that much.

But what if they were all familiar with our wiki. One of them starts a new page for Patrick Swayze and adds links to her Flickr album. The others notice a new wiki page and start contributing, they add links to their blogs and YouTube videos and they can also use the comments section of that page to communicate. A lot of inspiration in miniatures comes through pictures, not through words so for them it doesn´t matter if they understand each others languages.

One of them finds a doll maker who is making Swayze dolls and shares that in the wiki - the others are now aware of the doll and might want to buy one too.

At the moment there is not a page for Patrick Swayze, but there´s soon 450 other pages.

Maybe you are collecting miniature frogs or are passionate with cushions, maybe you do Harry Potter scenes or build a sushi restaurant. The wiki offers you colleagues, tips and ads for theme related miniatures on sale. And the usage of the site is free of charge, also for the sellers.

I hope you have wonderful time surfing in the wiki :).

-Johanna
Mini treasures wiki founder

I am hoping we can get a lot of new readers & contibutors in the wiki. :)

Mark your favorite wiki pages (star)

I have seen the Starred pages feature in the wiki but I never looked what it is until now. It means that you can (book)mark your favorite pages with a star, so that it is easier for you to find them later. I guess we start to need the stars now that we have over 400 pages... :)

1000 visitors in this blog!

Hurray, I just got the 1000th visitor for this blog. I don´t know her(his) name, but I do know that she comes from South Africa /Johannesburg, Gauteng and she came to Mini treasures blog from the wiki. If you notice this, please leave me a comment or send me an email (johantti at yahoo dot com) so that I can interview you in this blog :).

My TwitterSheep

This sheep has eaten the bios of the 100 (!) people Minitreasures is following in Twitter. Looks interesting :).



If you want to see what yours have eaten, check this site.

Creating a mini book together

Have you ever dreamt of seeing your miniatures printed in a book?

Four years ago my dream came true: a book that we did with our dollhouse discussion group was published by one of the biggest publishers in Finland. The book was a success, they took a second edition of it and because of the book the amount of miniaturists grow remarkably in Finland. We created the book using Yahoo´s group & emails but with a wiki the same would be so much easier...

So I have a new dream now: creating a miniature book using Mini treasures wiki, a book that would be created by miniaturists in dozens of different countries. Wouldn´t it be exciting? I have some ideas for the theme of the book but I´d like to hear yours too: what would it be about? If we limited the amount of text and concentrated to the pictures maybe more people would be able to contribute. So tell me, tell me, would you be interested?

PS. I posted this accidentally to wrong blog (Hidden treasure 2.0) first.

Tags added to the wiki

I have started to use tags in Mini treasures wiki. I have collected the tags to this page: http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/tags - feel free to add more tags. See e.g. Halloween tag or movies tag.

This will improve the usability of the wiki, enjoy. :)

PS. I have created a home page for one of my dolls, Vianne Kettunen, take a look :).

Treasure hunting with Mini treasures bag

I like experimenting - I just established a shop in CafePress for Mini treasures wiki. Go and see what there is for you. Have not decided myself yet what to order, maybe magnets and buttons for starters. Mmmm. If your favorite product is missing, tell me and I´ll add that too, I just did not want to choose too wide selection right away. Happy shopping! :)

Interviewing the creator of the wiki page number 333: Linda McD

Mini treasures wiki is growing fast, this week the page 333 was added by Linda who has been very active with the wiki.

Hi Linda! How does it feel to be the creator of wiki page 333? I am very excited about contributing to the wiki because I have saved all sorts of websites, etc for future use, and have never really found the perfect venue. I like that the information is shared and organized. I appreciate how patient you are, and how that makes posting much less intimidating!

Tell a little about yourself: who you are, where do you come from and what do you do? I am married, no kids, retired. Moved from the suburbs of Toronto to a beautiful small town.

Do you have any other hobbies than miniatures?
Cross-stitch
General Crafts - I am a real Trash to Treasure person. At garage sales I am always looking for something I can turn into something else.
Painting ceramics - plaster houses, repainting figurines
Computer - making up quizzes for holidays, blogging, belong to WAY too many mini digests!

When and how did you start doing miniatures? About 8 years ago. When I moved here the Newcomers Club started an interest group for miniatures. It never did really get off the ground, but I bought a dollhouse kit, joined an internet group and took off.
What is the best thing in miniature hobby and what is inspiring you? Every single miniaturist is different. Some are artisans and others just wanna have fun! I am definitely not an artisan! Love that I am learning something new every day. I copy a lot from others, I think we all do to some extent, but then make it our own. From the first, I was determined to make DIY projects, using found items. I go garage sailing every Saturday during the summer, and collect all sorts.

I really like making dolls, ( I'm no good at it, but I like to create characters doing things) Got a little side-tracked as I am trying to finish other projects.

What is your latest/next mini project? I am thinking about a Remembrance Day scene. That will take a lot of thinking and planning, but I have a kernel of an idea in mind, WW1 era, Canadian history.

How did you find Mini treasures wiki and what is your favorite page in the wiki? I think you posted the link on one of the digests I follow, Johanna.

What would you like to see in the wiki in the future? I haven't belonged long enough to say.

Thanks for the interview and hope you have fun time in our wiki!
PS. See more pictures of Linda´s projects.

Interviewing the owner of the photo number 500: leneUx8

Hi leneUx8! How does it feel to be the owner of the photo number 500? Believe it or not it felt like winning a raffle! Woooohoo! 500th! I have never been lucky enough to land on significant numbers like that before. Congrats to minitreasures on 500 uploads!!! And to Johanna for being such a great moderator!

Tell a little about yourself: who you are, where do you come from and what do you do? I am an Industrial Designer who recently left her whole design career in the Philippines to marry her long-term boyfriend of 7 years. Currently I’m starting a new life in California as a happy newbie housewife who's addicted to miniatures and jellybeans. Now I'm trying to create my own line of modern minis in Playscale and listing them in my recently opened Etsy shop-Dragondee or posting pictures of them in my Flickr account. ^_^

Do you have any other hobbies than miniatures? Aside from learning how to cook and trying to meet new friends, I also enjoy doing photography, graphic design, various crafts, and the occasional mini figure modeling in polymer.

When and how did you start doing miniatures? I have always been a miniature enthusiast even at a young age, but it’s only after migrating to California (about 4 months ago) that I started making modern playscale miniatures of my own. Needing to wait a couple more months to get a work permit to legally work in the US, I was stuck at home facing a ton of free time in my hands. Being a natural worker and a believer that life is a game of SIMS, I saw creating miniatures as a way of preserving and upgrading my creative skills and at the same time, actually having fun in the process!
What is the best thing in miniature hobby and what is inspiring you? Having people appreciate your own handmade creations and wanting them for their own collection, I believe, is what really keeps me inspired. Like most artists, you get passionate in creating something when you know it makes people happy. ^_^

What is your latest/next mini project?
Most of my miniature creations go well with Re-ments but not 12” dolls like Blythe. Jackie, a new Flickr friend is requesting slightly bigger furniture for her Blythe girls. ^_^ I’m excited to do that for her next and maybe create a few new designs at the same time.

How did you find Mini treasures wiki and what is your favorite page in the wiki? I think I found the minitreasures group in flickr first. I joined the group because I wanted to meet people with similar interest. I’ve even become immersed with other crafter’s amazing works that I never knew existed! I love seeing innovative and resourceful creations. Who knew you could turn an old watering can into a room box!

What would you like to see in the wiki in the future? Hmmm…it seems to have everything already. Maybe just a page dedicated to modern miniatures. I think it’s really a new trend for miniaturists, be it in any scale.

Thanks for the interview and hope you have fun time in our wiki! Thank you too! And I am definitely having fun in the wiki. ^_^