Dollhouse Swap

[Bex]

I have discovered dollhouse swaps and have a couple of questions.

How long should someone wait before they get started swapping? Until they've actually done a few things, or is it something one can get involved with as soon as there's interest?

Secondly- where are they? I feel like I've looked all over the web without finding any open swaps. What happened? Did people lose interest? :/ I can't imagine this is the case because, as a newb, I'm interested. How can I be the only one? So where are all the good swaps hiding? "Come out, come out wherever you are!" (Yes, I know GL used to do their own swap. But that was a few years ago. That aside, are there any good swaps out there?)

[WyckedWood]

Swaps can be organized here privately using the personal message system. Other than that from what I gather organizing a large swap is a bit of a production nightmare. They are fun though:)

[WyckedWood]

When I did one I advertised in the "Community trading post" section for anyone interested in doing a small print fabric swap to contact me through pm. Nobody told me I couldn't do it that way so I assume if you want to advertise that you're available for swaps ( maybe state what you're willing to swap ) that might be the place to post it

[havanaholly]

I and other members have announced we'd like to swap in the trading post and handle the details via PM. The biggest problem with the group swaps we used to do is that the hub people got horribly burned out, and that was without some of the nightmares of the post office losing (or destroying) packages (that has happened to me, both sending and receiving).

[KathieB]

Swaps are usually organized around a scale (1/2", 1", etc.) and a theme -- Christmas, bathroom, kitchen, outdoor fun, animals, you name it -- and folks with a shared interest join. there is usually a limit to the number of participants. Each one makes enough of the same item to send one to each participant plus one for the "hub", the person whose responsibility it is to repackage the items and ship a box to each participant. Each participant must also send enough money to the "hub" to cover postage on his or her own box o'goodies.

One of the biggest problems with the swaps run here as I understand it, was that not everyone who said they'd participate actually made and mailed in the items or at least did not send them in within the allotted time frame. The "hub" then becomes the swap police and has a small mountain of items to ride herd on until it gets sorted out. In at least one swap when someone dropped out, the "hub", with permission, chose a random member of the forum to get the extra box o'goodies.

If you want to organize a swap and take on that responsibility, you may want to announce it in the Trading Post forum, as Karin and Holly suggest. Be prepared to define the swap as to scale and theme, the number of participants, and a reasonable deadline. You might want to decide what items you'd like for one of your houses and set the theme and scale that way. Also, think about what you'd like to make for the swap and proceed accordingly.

[Bex]

I'm curious. What is "the hub" all about any way? Why can't packages be delivered directly to your intended swapee.

For instance, as a writer, I have been involved with something called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for several years. Each year, there's a swap. Each person gets a team mate and that person sends something to them and the first person sends something back. No middle man.

But mini swaps don't seem to be organized like this. Is there any particular reason for this?

[KathieB]

This isn't like NaNoWriMo, which I've also participated in. Miniature swaps are GROUPS of people who swap items, not a one-on-one swap, thus a need for a central collection & redistribution person.

One reason for this is that it takes time to make items to swap, and not much longer to make several of the same thing if you get a little assembly line going. If you swap with multiple people, you get multiple items back.

If you want to swap items with one person, send them a PM (personal message) and ask if they'd like to swap something. No need for any kind of formal swap activity.

[havanaholly]

Our first group swap was an autumn theme. I made up baskets of apples and squashes (I found pakets of mini squashes at Wally World; I have never seen them again since!); amongst the items I received were three different scarecrows I use as dining table decoration in the Fall. Nutti's birdhouse hangs beside the kitchen window of the pub and Donna's Thanksgiving dinner prep board is on the table in the pub kitchen.

[kat57]

So many cute things,Holly,and such good memories!

[rodentraiser]

OK, so if I went to the Trading Post and posted that I'd like to do a swap for something, I think I would post pictures of what I have to swap and then list what I wanted. After that, if anyone contacted me, we could proceed by PM from there. Is that acceptable?

[KathieB]

OK, so if I went to the Trading Post and posted that I'd like to do a swap for something, I think I would post pictures of what I have to swap and then list what I wanted. After that, if anyone contacted me, we could proceed by PM from there. Is that acceptable?

That's one way to do it, although swaps usually don't request specific items. Generally a scale and a theme of some sort is established, like Halloween, or bathroom items, or toys, etc. Part of the fun of a swap is in receiving a box of surprises. It's a good idea to set a limit on the number of participants so everyone knows how many items they need to make.

If only one person responds, call it an exchange and go for it!

[Bex]

Ok, so it's easier for a single person to do a single item (because of the size of the items; NaNo stuff is real size ) then several items to one person?

I saw Joanne from Joanne's Minis open several items from each individual person (though I think there was a hub involved there too) for her birthday. So it seemed like it would be possible to do something similar, but maybe that's where burn out comes in?

Sorry for the delay in response. Yesterday was nuts! I only had a couple minutes to get on at all.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Bex

[WyckedWood]

Generally speaking it wouldn't have to be a handmade item, the one I was interested in called for an exchange of mini appropriate fabric...just thinking out loud but an exchange of " stuff" that gets sorted out after we clean and organize our work space might be fun. One woman's junk is another's treasure...that type of thing. Or mini hobby appropriate crafting supplies

[WyckedWood]

What about a traveling box that must stay the same size and when it arrives at your house you take out what you would like and then fill it back up and pass it on to the next in line. It could have a mix of handmade and supplies, etc...

[havanaholly]

What about a traveling box that must stay the same size and when it arrives at your house you take out what you would like and then fill it back up and pass it on to the next in line. It could have a mix of handmade and supplies, etc...

We had one of those making the rounds, briefly; I couldn't tell you who had it last.

[Bex]

Guess what? Perserverance pays off! Thanks to Joanne's Minis (YouTube channel), I found not one but TWO swap groups on Yahoo. Any one interested? (They have a trash to treasure ring, Wycked. )