This is the best tut (in english) I could find, one video tells more than half a page written, I believe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1b56j_gSI&feature=relatedAll the other videos are like 5 minutes long and only show a guy talking for four of those...
Anyhow, the guy in this tutorial is from armypainter and their dip/quickshade is supposed to be rather good. (Never tried it myself). You can also shake the miniature inside a box, does'nt need so much space. And you could use a screwdriver instead of shaking half an army by hand.
Instead of actually dipping the miniature into a pod, you could just apply the quickshade with an old brush which works just like using a wash, more or less.