I have always been fascinated by hand made toys and decorations put on show at art and craft stalls. There is so many projects in the category of the arts and crafts, that one can literally say that the possibilities are endless. There is just no end to the flow of ideas taking hold of the human mind. You can make most anything that comes to mind; to lengths to which a person will go to achieve something is amazing.
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I have seen wooden toys, so astonishing, only made with the simplest tools. You don’t have to have very expensive or fancy machinery and tools to start making wooden toys at your home. To start making simple but yet adorable toys, you can start out with only a drill and a saw and other basic woodworking tools like chisels and hammer.
For smaller parts, like wheels for cars, and wooden play dolls to go with a horse cart, you can head out and purchase those on places like Craft Parts. They have most any small part available, needed to make your wooden toy standing out from the crowd. This does not only make it look very attractive and professional, but it saves a lot of time.
Designing your own toy models is a good thing. But just to get the hang of it, it is good to try out some of the free toy plans that is downloadable from the web by googling, or if you can spend a little, there is some amazing plans that one can purchase from Toy Making Plans. Once you have a few, you can modify some or even combine some and build toy sets.
Making wooden toys for a successful business, it is best making multiple toys of the same design but in a variety of colors at the same time. It is not a good measure to make one of this and one of that, it will make you to lose a lot of time that could have been put to better use. I suppose the correct term for what I am saying is: “Go for mass production.” By that I don’t mean making hundreds of the same toy, but try making at least 6-15 of each toy to get a good head start.
Wooden toys look extremely beautiful in its natural wood finish but just as nice painted with non-toxic paints. People prefer knowing that wooden toys have been treated with non-toxic paints and or varnishes. You may either choose to finish it with brushes or if you are a spray-painting enthusiast, you may want to spray paint or airbrush it for that extra smooth finish. It will make your product look much more expensive.
Finding a market for your wooden toys shouldn’t be too difficult. Try targeting local fairs or arts and crafts fairs. I have also seen that people will tend to buy from you when they can see while you work. This I have seen when a toymaker was working in his garage with the door opened to the road side. It attracted the attention of by passers.
Wishing you a happy toy making future.
