Ideas for Show Displays and Transporting Products

Just a quick blog article to share some ideas with my friends before I head off to surgery...

To transport and store and sometimes display my jewelry  for expositions/fairs/sales I love to recycle previously loved (used) frames that I find at flea markets and yard sales.

 Supplies I need are tape (I love the metal kind used for heating ducts), screw drivers, scissors, felt, thin wooden molding made of balsa wood, pine or something light weight, a bit of glue and spray paint.

If I can find shadow box frames I love to turn them directly into storage displays simply by removing the glass pane, covering the back with some felt, taping the back on again, and then spray painting the entire thing.

 Regular frames are also easily converted into storage, transporting and display pieces.  I cut the moldings to fit inside the groove on the back side.

 I don't even bother to miter the ends.

 I then cut some cardboard from my stash to make a back for the "new shadow box frame".

 Attach felt... for this one I used felt with a sticky, peel-away backing.

 I then flip it over and tape it all in place; also attaching the molding to the frame itself.

 Here is a deep frame ready to be spray painted.

 Here is another example of a carved wooden frame I turned into a display for something special.  I used the same process as for the larger frame above.

 Here is the shadow box frame which is just the right depth to protect my cuff bracelets during transport.  It is also pretty enough to use as a display during an expo.

 I added a few glass globs for an extra touch on this pretty wooden frame.

 This is how the ordinary frame can keep my jewelry safe during transport with style.  These are easy to stack if you pick the same size frames.

I stack mine in a small tote on a cart with wheels.  Actually I added wheels to this cheap closet organizer.  

Now for the table ...

I like to use four bed lifters to raise the table.  I sewed a table cloth edge to some canvas with pockets which I fill with needed supplies during a sale.  The pockets on either end have clothes pins for tacking up the sides of my tablecloth.  The lids of square Styrofoam coolers covered with another piece of fabric on top of this table can be added to lift a few items for interest.

And to display necklaces, I like to make my own busts:

I make a wire armature and cover it with cheese cloth dipped in Paverpol or some sort of plaster.  I attach this to book ends or supports for shelves turned upside down.  Then I spray paint everything to make my jewelry pop out from a uniform colored display table.  I limit my fabric colors to cool greens and my display items to silver.  It works for every season.  

Here are items I covered with cheese cloth and cotton scraps dipped in Paverpol bronze color.  

Dried and spray painted... 

 I used candle holders and simply attached the lightweight busts with magnets.

 Glass cups on a candle display can be used to display bracelets with matching earrings.

 One of my busts made with wire and cheesecloth on a shelf support.

Here is one of my displays from last fall.  I have learned much since then.  I'm determined to go LIGHT weight and far less busy looking. 

 Oh, and here is my last little trick to share.  I made this display for pendants on cords with a petaled candle holder in a tall/thin lamp shade on a turning holder for a display.

I'm off for surgery.  Please ask all the questions you want, and I'll try to answer as I'm feeling better and better.  Please share your ideas too.