tips and tricks Archives - Page 2 of 3

3 Free Ways to Start a Blog: Blogger, WordPress, Wealthy Affiliate

July 3, 2023July 3, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

At some point in the past, all the buzzing was about ‘Blogging! You have to blog!’ I am talking about the early years of this century.

Blogging has existed since 1994, I just hadn’t heard about it then. I only had websites for my business and because I was intrigued I started blogging as well in 2001.

There are many free ways to start a blog and you can set it up in a couple of minutes. When you are thinking of starting a blog, it is better to start writing right away. Don’t fuss about the name, the title or the design. Write!

11 Steps to Start a Website for Personal or Business Use

June 28, 2023June 23, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

When you start something new, all the required steps can be overwhelming, to say the least. And this is especially the case when you want to start a new website. I want to break down this complicated process for you in 11 steps.

I won’t promise that makes it easier, but it surely will give you a bigger sense of control, which does wonders for your peace of mind. A relaxed mind can be more creative and productive than a stressed one.

In this article, I describe 11 steps to start a website. I will add some information to each step. Either by describing it here or by providing the link to an extensive article I wrote about that specific issue.

How to Improve the Colour Quality of your Printed Pictures

June 12, 2023June 12, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

The quality of the printers is improving fast. Nowadays a lot of colour printers have more than four cartridges, making sure all the tones are printed.

Yet, the extra cartridges are grey or black, never a colour, which means there are still colours you see on the screen that can’t be printed on paper.

Taking pictures and printing them on your colour printer can be disappointing. Sometimes the result is NOT what you expected. I’ll give you the reasons for that disappointing result and whether you can improve the colour quality of your precious photographs.

How to Format an eBook for Publishing? 7 Tips on Technique and Execution

June 2, 2023June 2, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

This article is about the technique and explains how to format an eBook for publishing. Once you have written a book you can outsource the process that comes after that. But if you are like me, you want to do a lot of the process yourself in order to make your eBook as perfect as possible.

There are many eBooks on offer that are not – strictly speaking – an eBook. At some time I made a PDF for this website – 20 Tips: How to get the most out of a Museum Visit. A PDF is actually not an eBook, even though everybody including me, calls it that way.

Is it Absolutely Necessary to Have a Facebook Account?

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Is it necessary to have a Facebook account? When you have a creative hobby or profession and want to share your work with others, you need to be on social media.

So on which social media do you have to be and how do you make your presence successful?

In this article, I talk about Facebook and in another one, I gave a review of 365 Days of Facebook Success, which is a helpful tool.

If you are starting out building a social media presence, my recommendation is not to start on all the platforms you can find. It’s too overwhelming, trust me. Start with one, and once you get the hang of it, build from there by adding one other social medium at a time.

59 Interesting Ideas for Hobby Products to Sell

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Where do we get ideas for hobby products to sell? I have written down 59 ideas here.

Partly these are products I have made or am still making myself. And of course, you can find loads of ideas on the internet. Great platforms for that are Pinterest and Instagram.

And a great way to develop ideas is to brainstorm. Writing this article I did that on my own, but brainstorming with 2 or more people produces a ton of ideas. Start writing down some keywords and from there go on and on. This is such a fun thing to do!

Dyeing with Plants, a Natural Way of Colouring Fabric or Paper

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Botanical colouring, natural colouring, or plant colouring are different names for dyeing with plants. All with the objective of having a toxic-free or almost toxic-free dyeing process.

When I was a ceramicist, I was very interested in the way colours are produced.

I made my own coloured slips for years and when I wrote my article about the different colours of clay my interest in natural colouring, in general, was aroused once again.

How to Smooth the Surface of your Clay Object – 3 Affordable Tips

January 9, 2023January 9, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Ceramics can be produced in several ways. Each method will result in a different surface.

You can press the clay in moulds, hand-build an object, or merge slabs.

Depending on completion or decoration it can be necessary to smooth the surface as best as possible.

How to smooth the surface of your clay object? I’ll explain my methods in this article.

How to Make Perfect Slabs of Clay for Hand Building Ceramics

December 23, 2022April 6, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

Handbuilt ceramics, composed of clay slabs, ensures a lot of creative freedom. With slabs of clay, you can make vases, pots, and free work of all shapes and sizes.

For a professional ceramist, it is not a question of how to make perfect slabs of clay. He or she uses a slab roller. Such a device is very similar to a printing press and makes perfect slabs that are the same thickness everywhere.

It is impossible for a hobbyist to purchase such a device. It takes up too much space and is too expensive. Hence my tip, which gives just as good results.