Creating Profitable Displays...
    Creating interesting and unique displays is a great part-time home business than can easily turn into a profitable full-time home business or retirement supplement. You may have a lot of the requirements already, but if not, this is something you can get started on an investment of less than $2,000.
    If this hits your hot button, you want to get started as soon as possible. Initially people will not likely beat a path to your door. You are going to have to build a customer base, so the earlier you get started the faster you will start realizing a nice little extra income.
    This little tutorial starts with the conception of the idea and progresses through finding the items to use, creating a really nice display, marketing your finished product, and packaging and shipping your sales. I am going to discuss the types of displays that I create, but this tutorial will work for helping you to create displays out of any small objects.

What you will require...
    Your requirements will be few to get started...
    You will need the following:

•      A computer - I like either the HP because it is put together using easy to find generic parts. Look at refurbished machines for a significant savings.
•     A high resolution ink-jet printer on the order of the Epson Stylus Color 960. It is available at your local computer or office supply store. My favorite is the Epson Stylus Photo R800 -  direct from Epson or    from Red River Paper (1-888-248-8774. The R800 is by far the best of the small format ink jet printers. It is a professional unit and not available in office supply or computer stores normally..
•     A Dymo label printer and a supply of address labels, price tags, and 3.5" diskette labels - available from www.dymo.com.
•     A supply of paper stock to print your display backings on. I use two types - a white premium long-life ink jet photo paper and an Astroparch “Sand” color cover stock - both available from either OfficeMax or OfficeDepot. I use the Astroparch when I feel an “aged” look to the backing is appropriate. While more expensive, I prefer the 68# UltroPro Gloss paper from Red River Paper.
  
•     Some kind of page make-up software like Microsoft Publisher, Word Perfect, PageMaker, etc. May come with your computer. If not, search for deals on eBay or other online auctions. Make certain it has a spell checker. I use PageMaker. Also check out some of the lesser expensive page makeup software like PrintShop.
  
•     An inexpensive pocket laminator and a supply of 5 mil Mylar pouches - Local office supply store.
•     A simple database to maintain your inventory. Search for shareware on the net and look for an inexpensive household inventory program. I created a spreadsheet for mine using Excell..
•     A 24 or 30" trimmer - Local office supply store.
•     Some stock 5"x7" or 8"x10" wooden frames - WalMart at about $2.50 each or your local Dollar store for between $1 and $2.
  
•     A supply of Goop Clear Household Cement - any hardware store
•     Sanford Sharpie permanent marker - any office supply store
•     A roll of 26-gauge brass wire - I use Mangelsen’s Bead Wire available at almost any hobby store.
•     An electric or battery  drill with 1/16" drill bit and a Phillips screwdriver bit - Mine is a Black & Decker battery drill.
•     A centering tape measure. I use a Baklund-Heller “Center Point” tape measure available from the manufacturer at 800-540-6604 or by special order from most hardware stores.
•     A small pair of needle nose pliers
•     A small pair of diagonal wire cutters
•     A supply of picture hangers, I use a # 716 with a 1/4" E3210-6 gauge Phillips head sheet metal screw available from United Mfgrs. Supplies at 800-645-7260.
•     A supply of foam pouches available from any mailroom supply house. I use Cheswick at 800-638-9899 and order their #84-0810 and 42-1012 Poly Foam Bags.
•     Items to put on your displays.
•     Hand seal (like a corporate seal) and a supply of 2" diameter serrated gold seals - available from Cannazzaro Seal at 718-627-5050.
•     2-to-a-page 8.5" x 11" gift certificate borders. Available from local OfficeMax or OfficeDepot. Or print your own.
•     Shelving to store your displays - Available through WalMart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. I use Lundia.
•     Tables for computer and for a work area.
•     USPS Priority Mail boxes available free from your local post office. Other sizes I get from Cheswick or Uline.
•     Postage scale. Available from any office supply store.
•     Possibly a few other items if you decide to participate in art & craft shows, trade days, etc.

The First Step...
    Before you do anything you have to decide what you are going to offer your customers. This tutorial is going to cover my particular area of interest, but it will work for any area of interest where the items are small. There are several other things you should consider. You want to select types of items that you can develop reliable sources for and you want items for which you can get some interesting background information.
    You may already have a hobby or collection that lends itself to these types of displays. If not, start looking around the many art & craft shows, craft malls, trade days, etc. to find an area you might have an interest in. One good place to start is looking through the literally hundreds of different categories on eBay.com.
    When my bride and I sold our printing company and retired in 1995, I had aspirations of traveling the world with her, visiting the kids and grand babies, etc. That was not in the cards. My bride, Libby, is 15 years my junior and she was not ready to retire. She went back to college, got her Masters, and started a new career as college journalism professor. It was not long before I started climbing the walls and had to find something other than writing three columns each month and doing “honey dos” for Lib to occupy my time.
    I have always been interested in history and unusual things. Over the years I had accumulated a huge “accumulation of stuff.” I can’t call it a collection because it was not. I bought anything that interested me - ancient artifacts, Civil War relics, medals, fossils, minerals, postage stamps, autographs, insects, and even buttons. When we owned our printing company I would occasionally use some of these relics to make unique gifts or donate as door prizes for one occasion or another. It was not at all unusual for someone to see one of those displays and ask me to make one for them. When I had the time, I did.
    I decided that I would try to put together a few of these displays and see if there was any interest in them. Much to my surprise, there was more than just a little interest in them. It did not take me long to go through my entire accumulation of things I did not mind getting rid of.
    I started calling on contacts. Years ago I had been a board member of our local museum and developed some excellent contacts with vendors who sold to our museum gift shop and items for display in the museum as well as meeting numerous directors of other museums across the country. My first really good lead came from the museum director of a San Antonio, Texas museum who gave me the name of the supplier they used for their fossils and minerals. That particular vendor’s “showroom” was an 18 wheeler rig that he used for his quarterly route to museums, rock shops and gift shops across most of the country. He was kind enough to give me the names of several other vendors who specialized in Civil War excavated and non-excavated relics. Another museum director gave me the name of a retired archeology professor whose retirement sideline is dealing in legitimate ancient artifacts. I had long been a small dealer in special interest or topical postage stamps, so I already had a number of suppliers for those.
    While I seldom make purchases for my displays on the internet, I have been able to find several new reliable vendors to add to my list on the net. That list of vendors is my most valuable asset. While some are actually in direct competition with me, I have no problem with that. With the exception of that occasional item I acquire that does not lend itself to one of my displays, I do not sell individual items. My niche is giving “added value” to these relics. At the present time I have five professional and amateur Civil War relic diggers, my original fossil & mineral importer, two archeologists (one in England and one in Belgium), my retired archeology professor, a wholesale autograph dealer, and a military historian/author.

Setting Up Your Equipment...
    You will want to set up your computer, ink-jet printer and label printer in a convenient place that has plenty of table space work area. You will also need a table to put together your displays. I use a heavy duty 8 foot folding table I bought at Sam’s Club.
    On my work table, I lay out my drill and bits, a plastic ZipLock container with my picture hangers and another with my screws, my centering rule, Sharpie markers, postage scale, a supply of picture frames, my Goop adhesive, brass wire, trimmer/cutter, seal press & seals, laminator, needle nose pliers, and diagonal wire cutters.
Organizing Your Inventory...
    As my relics and other items start arriving, I immediately sort them out and put them in small plastic Ziplock or Glad food containers. I have an A-Z file that I put my signed photos in. As an example, let’s say I receive an order of 200 shot and dropped bullets and a few other relics from my digger who works the Wilderness, Virginia area. I will start by putting all of the shot bullets in one of the plastic food containers, then will sort the shot bullets as to their type - putting each type in its own container. I will identify the other relics, sort them and put them in their own containers. If I already have similar relics from Wilderness, I will put the new ones in the appropriate containers.
    Next I will print a label on my label printer for each of the new containers. That label will have the location from which the relics were excavated (Wilderness), a description of the item (.68 cal Shot Minnie, etc.), a stock number I have assigned to the relics in that container (i.e. CWB001). On a piece of paper I will write my approximate cost for each of those items and put it in the container. Today I handle the pricing a little different from when I started. There are only about 50 different types of Civil War relics I am looking for and I have set a maximum price I am willing to pay for that item. As an example, if the maximum I will pay for a particular bullet is $3.00, on the label for that container I will show my cost as $3.00 - regardless of what I might have paid for it. I then stick the label on the container and put the container on my stock shelf. My relics come primarily from the 26 different Civil War battle areas my diggers work. I have a few other containers that have mixed relics from other areas or ones I do not know where they came from.
    If I get relics in from Shiloh, I will do the same thing. A similar item that was assigned the number “CWB001" from my lot from Wilderness will be assigned to the similar Shiloh relic and the container will be labeled “Shiloh.”
    Once I have all of my relics sorted and in their marked containers, I take an inventory of everything. I enter my inventory in a simple Excel spreadsheet. If I want to create a display of Wilderness relics, I simply print an inventory of the relics I have from Wilderness and select the items I wish to use on that display. I pull those containers and put them on my work table and update my database by removing the items I am going to use..

Designing and Printing Your Backing...
    If you do not have any experience in design and layout, not to worry. It takes many years of experience to become a competent layout artist, but for your purpose, this is not necessary. You do not have to learn how to handle customer’s files; work arounds for complicated designs; etc. You only have to learn to do a couple of types of a layout and modify those for your different displays. It will take a few hours to get comfortable with the layout program you are using. The programs I prefer are PageMaker and WordPerfect. I do all of my text in WordPerfect because I have added so many new words to the WP spell checker, but Word will work just as well for you. I then copy my spell checked document and paste it into a PageMaker document. Both of these are high dollar applications, but often older versions can be found on eBay for very reasonable prices. You do not need the latest versions. PageMaker 5+ and WordPerfect 5+ or word will work fine for your purpose - as will most any of the lesser expensive applications.
    Before you start working on your layout you need to get as much information as you can that relates to the items you are going to have on your display. You will also need an appropriate graphic to use. The graphic can be a map, photo, timeline, or anything else that is appropriate. These can be often found in your research material.
    If we are going to do a display of four different bullets and one other item from the Wilderness area, we can find many books in the public library relating to the Battle of Wilderness. The older the book the better. I prefer those that are pre-1940 because they will be out of copyright. Outstanding woodcut illustrations can be found in Civil War era copies or reprints of the illustrated newspaper, “Harper’s Weekly.” Maps of the battle areas are available from the National Parks service. Wikapedia and other sites on the net also provide great research material. Just remember, much of the material on the net is copyrighted, so do not copy and paste without permission of the copyright holder.
    Once we have accumulated our material we start by writing our text and scanning our graphics. The next step is to set up a document in our page make-up software. If we decide to do a 5" x 7" display, we set our document size to 5" x 7" and if we decide upon an 8" x 10" display we set the document size to 8" x 10". For either size we want a .5" border on all four sides.
    The first thing we do in our document is to place our graphic and in the software set the text wrap for that graphic at 1/10". Once we have our picture placed, we either import our text or copy it and paste it into our page make-up software. The text will automatically wrap around the graphic. If the text is too long, or if it is not in the type style you would like to use, simply block all of the text and change the type style or size and leading to where it fits, leaving enough room for the items you have selected to use in your display. If it is still too long, edit it in your page make-up software until it fits. You may also want to put a brief description line under each of the included items. You will need to print a sample copy of your backing and lay the items in the selected location, marking those positions on your sample printout. Then go back in and make whatever adjustments you might need to make.
    Once you have got the display looking the way you want it to look, in very small type (about 7 point) at the lower right part of your backing put your “credit line.” The line I use is “From the Cy Stapleton Collection - Lufkin, Texas”. Now you are ready to print your backing.
    To cut down on the average time it takes to create a display, if I have enough similar items, I always try to make at least 5 similar displays at a time. I set  printer to Premium Quality Film and in the print dialogue box set it to include “printer’s marks” and print 5 copies. Save your document so you do not have to re-create it when you are ready to make (or modify) more of this type of display.
    Once I have my 5 or more backings printed I trim them to size. On the 5" x 7" ones, the trim marks appear, so on the top copy I take a straight edge and using a pencil I will make a line that runs off all four sides, letting me know where to trim. On the 8" x 10" the printers marks will not show if you are using 8.5" x 11" paper, so I simply trim 1/4" off each of the 8.5" sides and 1/2" off each of the 11" sides - giving me the needed 8" x 10" finished piece.
    My next step is to laminate each of the backings. I can get two 5" x 7" or one 8” x 10” backings in one 9" x 12" laminating pouch. Once laminated, I trim them to size.
    Next I put the backing into the frames. Most of the items I use on my displays are 3-dimensional so I do not need the glass that comes with the frame. On my “flat” items, like postage stamps, I will not laminate the backing and I will use the glass. Often I will use the easel back that comes as part of the frame, but occasionally I will cut 3/16" Masonite to size and replace the easel back with that. I then put an address label on the back that notes “Hand Crafted by Cy Stapleton” and my full contact information. I save the unusued 5"x7" and 8"x10" glass and periodically take it to a local frame shop and trade it for larger scrap pieces of their mat board or something else I might have a use for. There is no real market for this glass in our area so I cannot sell it.
    Once the backing and easel back are in place on the frame I will use my centering rule to determine the center of the top of the frame and will mark that with a small pencil mark. I use my drill to drill a pilot hole and will then screw the hanger in place. Once that is done I will turn the frame over and, depending upon the relics used, will either affix them with the Clear Goop Household Adhesive or with the brass wire.
    I have tried many different adhesives and settled on the Goop because it is a very strong adhesive, but in case you wish to remove the relic for one reason or another, it can be twisted off without damaging either the relic or backing and the residue can be removed.
    If I need to use the brass wire, I will remove the easel or Masonite back and drill small holes through the laminated backing. I will wire the relic in place, twisting the wire and trimming the twisted wire, leaving about 1/2" of the twisted wire. It does not show when the easel or Masonite is replaced. Twist the wire just enough to make it tight. You do not want it to damage your laminated backing.
    Once I have completed the displays, I assign them a stock number and write that stock number on the back using a Sharpie marker.
    Finally, I scan one of the displays, giving the scan the stock number as a file name, and post the scan along with a description in the appropriate area of my web site and on eBay.
    I have included some pictures of my work areas and the described processes at the end of this tutorial.
Scanning a 3-dimensional item can present problems, so a tip is to take an empty frame and hammer a finishing nail or needle into each corner, then lay the display in the frame. Open your scanner cover and place the frame on the scanner bed. Leaving the cover open, cover the bed with a black cloth and scann.

Writing a Description for Your Display...
    A good description and picture are two of the most important elements of marketing your product. Time spent on these two things will be repaid in the form of more sales at a higher dollar vaue. Give as detailed a description as you can - some background on the relics, a description of the items included, anything interesting you can think of. Including your stock number at the first of the description will save you time when pulling the item for shipping. On many of my items I have a number of near identical items. I assign all of these the same stock number and note in the description that the icture is "representative." All of my displays look very nice, but when pulling one to scan, I will attempt to find the least attractive one to scan.
    Once your description is written, you want to post it on your web site and finally put the display in one of your foam pockets and using your label printer, print a 3.5" diskette label with this description and stick the label on your foam pocket. Your display is now ready to put on your storage shelf.

Continued in Part 2