February Update - Now Stocking New Lines!

Hi folks,

In this update -


1. Schedule getting back on track
2. Etsy Store now up and running
3. Now stocking Amera Plastics and Javis Scenics
4. Ebay coming soon, and closing of my Sales Pages

1. Firstly, the Schedule
The 10mm ACW and the 10mm Naps are close to finishing, as is the 28mm Prussian force. Although I am still technically behind, the outstanding commissions will now have a realistic start date, and that means a realistic completion date!


2. The Etsy Store
I have managed to get the store registered and stocked with the first lot of listings. There isn't much there at the moment (14 listings), but I'll be adding as I go along.

You can check it out here - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MarchingInColour

If you spot anything you fancy, you can either go ahead and purchase it via the Etsy store (all safe and secure), or you can drop me an email directly to place an order. As these listings and sales all require me to purchase the items first, I may need to take a deposit for at least the cost of the miniatures.


3. The BIG news - I am now stocking Amera Plastics  - http://www.amera.co.uk/ and Javis Scenics - http://javis.co.uk/index.php

The idea is to carry a small selection of items from both, but the main focus will be on painting the scenery provided by both supplies and selling the finished product from my Etsy and Ebay stores.

A little about Amera
These guys produce some excellent quality, vacuum formed, plastic scenery. What attracted me to Amera was seeing the finished results others have submitted, coupled with the very low cost of plastic. This is especially so when looking at their larger items (a 3-tier pyramid for £8.95!). With my interests being in painting, I cannot wait to crack on and paint up some of these fantastic pieces.

A brief on Javis
I first came across Javis back in the early 2000's and for those who remember my games store at the time, Javis were my first ever supplier (even before I became a Games Workshop stockist).
I have admired the quality and range of Javis products for many a year, and over 15 years later I am happy to announce I have a new trade account and will be carrying their range again.

Expect to see some lovely painted resin and plastic scenery available for sale here, very soon (just a soon as I unpack this lot!!)

4. Ebay Store planned for February
My plan for this month is to set-up my Ebay store, and that means closing and removing all my sales pages here. As folks reading this will more than likely have been following my work for sometime, if there is anything you want reserving from any of the pages before I list them to the general masses, please let me know and I'll put them to one side for you.



In closing, I would like to thank all customers - past and present - for their support. None of this would be possible without your patronage, and I am grateful to each and every one of you.
2017 was a good, but tough year. I am hoping 2018 will continue the upward trend.

Thanks guys!

Chris

Playing around with the lightbox!

Hi folks,

Those of you who have known me a while, or have ever employed my service, have probably heard me moan a little about my poor photography skills. It's been a bugbear of mine for a while, as I always feel my shots never really do my work justice, and in turn - as I always send out proof photos before a commission is finished - never really give the client a total feel for the minis.

Talking to one recent customer I was advised to check out 'lightboxes' and I must say, I cant believe I had never seen or heard of these wonderous little constructions before!

After checking out several different types I finally decided to invest in a middle-of-the-road price/quality box, just to get into the flow of things. Over the last few days, in between painting, I've been happily snapping away and editing as many photos as I can, intending to practice and hone my skills.

Here are the results so far.

The Early Days

When I first got the box assembled, I was eager to start taking shots, so proceeded without any of the backing cards that came with the set.

The results were nice, but a little too 'shiny'

28mm Dark Age Warrior

28mm Gladiator

6mm Spanish

Onto the Boards

The box came with 3 backing boards - white, cream, and black.

First I tried out the cream,

15mm Javilinmen

then onto the white,

Spaceships

But, it was the black that I seemed to get the best results from!

6mm Ancients

28mm Advanced Heroquest

15mm Romans

15mm Archers

28mm British AWI

28mm German Infantry

6mm Cars!

28mm Confederates

28mm Union

Overall personally, I think its making a great improvement. Still plenty of practice needed to perfect and improve. I've got to deal with the brightness to start with, but I think I am getting there!

These photos are a sample of the many I have taken so far. If you want to see more, please do visit my Facebook page (you dont need a Facebook account, its all on public show!) via this link -

https://www.facebook.com/MarchingInColour/


As ever - thanks for reading!

Chris

PS. If you like this photos, I am always available for commissions!
PPS. If you REALLY LIKE these photos, check back in a week or so, when I hope to have these items for sale!!

Pricing Structure Revamp - Done!

Hi folks,

As some of you may have noticed the old price charts have gone and new ones have taken their place.

First a quick note on all existing and booked in commissions - NO PRICES HAVE CHANGED for you guys. I have already made a note on existing commissions to work on the old system (not that things have changed much, as I'll explain)

Changes -

28mm.
The old lower standard of A and B have been amalgamated into the new 'Rank and File' level.

The old middle standards of C and D have been changed into the new 'Standard Quality'

E which was the old higher standard has now been dropped completely. Instead a new 'Premium Quality' will be for really top end work.

A quick note on the old C standard. Under the old system prices allowed for an fluctuation between low-standard-complex, with prices being 3.00-3.50-4.60. A simple robed spearmen would be 3.00, a Napoleonic Grenadier 4.60. This got a little hard to follow sometimes with the models being so different. Under this new pricing the simple spearmen would now fall into 'Rank and File', while the Grenadier gets a small upgrade from the old Grade D.


15mm
Follows much the same method, A and B become Rank and File, C and D become Standard, and a new Premium Quality has been added.


10mm
Old A and B become the new Standard
New Premium Quality has been added


6mm
Prices revised and lower end (0.10p) dropped. In reality it was extremely rare to find a model that was so simple and fast to paint that I was able to charge 0.10p for. In the last year I think it happened once!
New Standard quality has a slight (0.10p) added to the 'Complex'. Painting detail on 6mm is time consuming and I was losing a little under the old system. This change though should not effect that many model types.

New Premium Quality Added! I had a lot of requests for this so had time to work on them and watch the clock to work out a proper quote for everyone.


Overall,
I think its a better, more streamlined system.
Cavalry now have a much clearer price structure.

Premium level - I do hope to really deliver some quality miniatures under this. The price is a little high, but the quality will reflect this!

If you have any thoughts or comments or general feedback, I would love to hear it.
Email - Project_Vehemence@yahoo.co.uk

thanks
Chris

Marching In Colour - 2017 Reflections and 2018 New Features

Howdy folks,

Now that the fuss is over for another year (I hope you all had a great time!), I feel that we are due a little recap of how MiC faired in 2017, and a brief look on what I have planned for the future of the business.

Commissions Completed in 2017: 48!
That's almost one commission per week. Not bad - thanks for the support guys!

Number of Miniatures Painted: Erm...
I did start trying to count them for this update, but honestly when we factor in 6mm and 10mm, the number soars into the thousands!

Photos taken: 3425!
I tend to take more snaps than I actually use, so if we say 1/3rd of those get sent to the client, then that's 1142!

Updates posted on the Facebook Page: 225!
That's almost one update every 2 days. If we exclude days-off painting, then that's fairly solid communication I think!


Overall 2017 has been a great year. MiC has been my only source of income, and I consider still being housed at the end of this year, a great success!


Into 2018.....

This last year has highlighted a couple of issues that need addressing. These are...

Photo Quality
I suck at taken photos, so it is about time I tried to address this. Thanks to a great tip (cheers Rob!), I will be looking to get a 'light box' in the very near future.

Lighting
At the end of 2017 we hit a bit of a back-log (which is still to be cleared). This was due to a great increase in smaller scale orders than I was used to receiving, and not taking in to account the reduced quality daylight hours. To address this I have picked out a third lamp which will be arriving soon.


Once those are dealt with, the next topic on the 2018 agenda is...

A Revamp of the Pricing Structure and the Trade For Painting Credit

First the pricing...

The main changes will see a couple of tiers dropped from the 'Standards'.
For those who have been with me for years, we will be reverting back to the old 3-Tier system. Offering 5 options seemed great, but in reality it was tricky to differentiate and most people just went with A/C/E.

Also in with these changes will be....
*A better 'top end quality' that will really deliver some great looking minis, and
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND - a top tier 6mm will be added!!

Revamp for the Trade-In should follow soon after that. I know a lot of you enjoy this feature so the revamp will aim to offer a better, clearer method for trading in old models, especially in differing scales (ie trading in 15mm for 28mm painting credit).

Also coming soon...

MiC's new online shop!
(probably two shops....)

The first will be with 'Etsy'. This site focuses purely on hand-crafted items, so the idea here will be to offer painted miniatures. I have several thousand photos now of  my work over the years. These will be used as 'store-front' for people to order the miniatures as shown, with more added as I finish commissions. What this means is that if you ever view my updates and think 'Hey, those models look lovely', you can order miniatures painted almost identically straight from the store.

The second store will probably be with the dreaded Ebay....

The idea here is to sell all those items I take in for trade, and for new items I will be stocking.

If you are reading this and you saw my stall at the excellent 'Battleground' show (or have visited the hashed 'for sale' pages here), you will see I have a wide variety of random stuff. Ebay will be the outlet for all these goodies.

As for what I will be stocking....

Well, I have plans to become an Independent stockist for two lines. These aren't 100% confirmed yet, so I wont say anything else yet. Lets just wait and see what 2018 brings!


In summary,
Thanks again folks for your support over this last year (and longer for some of you!). I feel honoured and blessed that I can pursue my dream of creating art, and I could not do this without you all.

I hope you will continue to stick with me into 2018!

thanks
Chris