Articles Index

How to Do a Trademark Search on TESS

Trademarking protects your arts and crafts business name, logo or slogan. Your first trademarking step is to make sure it is available. This article walks you through my TESS search.

Five Basic Rules for Operating a Business

I have five basic rules for managing my business. I've found that if you follow these five basic rules, the other aspects of running my business fall inline.

The Pop-Up Book Review

Learn how to make pop-ups, a cheap and creative way to add pizzazz to your arts and crafts progects. The Pop-Up Book by Paul Jackson is a great introduction to the topic for the beginner pop-up artist. Find out more about this excellent pop-up resource.

Selecting a Trademark

Trademarks are used so the buying public won't be fooled into buying from one vender when they actually wanted to buy from another. They are an excellent way to protect arts or crafts intellectual property. This article discusses selecting a trademark and discusses doing it yourself or using an attorney.

Getting a Trademark

This article discusses getting a trademark from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and gives information about filing fees. Trademarks are an excellent way to protect your arts and crafts intellectual property and can be used to protect your business name, logo or slogan.

Keeping a Professional Relationship With Customers

Consider your customers to also be friends? That's not a great way of doing business. Excessive familiarity with customers in any type of business can often create problems with managing your business rather than being an advantage.

Owning Your Arts and Crafts With a Trademark

Trademarks protect your business name, logo or slogan from use by other business owners who want to piggy back on your success. Find out about trademark basics and the difference between registering your trademark and just using

Using Crowd Funding to Fund Arts and Crafts Projects

Crowd funding is a web-based service bringing creative projects together with interested investors. Arts and crafts business owners can use a crowd funding platform to get risk-free financing by offering rewards to project donors.

Introducing Prototypes

This article discusses prototype basics. When creating a new art or craft item or product line, handcrafting a prototype first lets you see any design flaws. It also is a great guide to finding out how much time and money it takes you to handcraft your new item.

Using Prototypes

This article discusses using your prototype to make design modifications. This includes changing raw materials to manage costs. It also addresses the pitfall of prototype stagnation, which happens when you just can't make the leap from prototype to production.

Easy DIY Instructions to Make a Resin Charm

Making resin jewelry charms is quick, easy and inexpensive. This article shows you how to use two-part epoxy resin to make a resin pendant.

Resin Arts and Crafts

Learn about resin arts and crafts made from a two-part epoxy. While many jewelry artists use resin, it is a great medium for sculpting, mixed media and painting. Find out about resin basics and artists and crafters using it in their work.

Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay

Review of Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay by Katherine Dewey. This book is an excellent resource for any artist or crafter considering working with polymer clay.

Working With An Arts and Crafts Manufacturer

Many arts and crafts business owners have both one-of-a-kind (OOAK) and production-line style items. Find out about creating a relationship with the manufacturing and learn about content and pricing.

Deciding on Your Craft Design Methodology

When starting a new arts or crafts project are you a thinker or a doer? Find out the advantages of just leaping into a project versus taking a step back to mull over your arts or crafts aesthetic.

Preparing Your Artist or Crafter Statement

Every artist or crafter needs an artist statement. Your statement concisely gives a basic introduction to your art. This article show you how to prepare your own art or craft statement.

Expanding and Editing Your Artist or Crafter Statement

This article expands on the basic introduction about how to prepare your own art or craft statement. Every artist or crafter needs an artist statement as it explains your art or craft and helps market your business.

Handling Legal Issues When Starting a Crafts Business

Learn about the different types of arts and crafs business types and entities. Get an introduction to business licenses. Decide whether you need to trademark your tagline.

Making Sure You Have Proper Zoning For Your Arts and Crafts Business

Before you get a business license, you need to make sure your business location is properly zoned. This includes both residential and commercial locations. This article gives tips on handling zoning issues for your arts or crafts business.

Naming Your Arts and Crafts Business

Learn how to pick a name for your new arts and crafts business. Find out about name recognition. Also discussed is picking out a name for your business that is descriptive of the type of art or craft you plan to market, taglines and picking out a website domain name.

Creating a Concept for Your Arts and Crafts Business

Before you pick out a name or order business stationary for your brand new arts or crafts business, you need to form a basic concept. Your preliminary steps to deciding on a concept is three part. Find out more about the prelimary steps to starting an arts or crafts business.

Six Free and Low Cost Way to Promote Your Arts and Crafts Business

Promoting your arts and crafts business is an ongoing process. While methods will change and evolve over the life of your business, free and low cost advertising is always a good idea. Find out about different ways you can promote your arts and crafts business on the cheap.

List Your Arts and Crafts Business on Google Places

Google Places is another free way to promote your arts and crafts business. Find out more about Google Places and how to set up your arts and crafts business in Google Places.

Introduction to Google Merchant Center

Another on-the-cheap promotional suggestion, the Google Merchant Center lets you upload your arts and crafts item product feed into Google Shopping at no charge. This article shows you how to set up your arts and crafts shop in the Google Merchant Center.

Best Practices for Using Yahoo Local

Interested in using the free Basic version of Yahoo Local? Here are some best practices to get the most use out of this listing tool for promoting your arts and crafts business.