Friday, May 22, 2009

A Business On the Move - Part 4

I didn’t have much capital to start a business and every penny made (and then some) has gone back into buying supplies and improving displays. While in Florida, I had purchased folding tables – the kind that are 2' x 4' and fold in the middle for storage (since my storage space is so extremely limited). They’ve worked out really well for me, too, because it seems that the booth size of every craft show is different. I have 3 tables, and can configure them in several different ways, depending on the size of my booth. I also acquired a canopy and got matching table cloths. My craft show set up was starting to look professional.

We also developed an idea for new jewelry displays. I needed displays that would be easy to transport, take minimal storage space, and assemble and dis-assemble quickly at craft shows. Because my je
welry is made with Swarovski crystals, the displays needed to allow plenty of light to show off the crystal’s sparkle and they needed to be as elegant as we could make them. I wanted them to be white so that no color would distort the color of the crystals -- but I didn’t want just any white -- I wanted the white of a grand piano. I wanted that deep, rich elegant white. And in our design, unfortunately, we also had to be able to have a good view of everything because some people just aren’t trustworthy. So after much research and thought, we came up with an idea: Keith would make some wooden boxes that would serve as a base. On the ends of each box, we have uprights that look a bit like stairsteps. In each step there’s a little notch where we place a steel bar, loaded with earring cards. Each box has 7 steps and each step holds 13 earring cards – so we can put 91 pairs of earrings on each display and 2 displays fit on each of my tables (they’re about 22" long).. But there’s more!
On the front of each display, there is a detachable shelf, sitting on a slope, with 4 ovals in a row – each oval is the perfect size to display a necklace, so we also have 4 necklaces on each display.

We finished in Florida last year in April and our next building project brought us to Wisconsin. I was able to participate in several craft shows in the fall (including my first juried shows) and I’m planning my 2009 show/market schedule now. Our show set up has been improved again with the addition of table skirts, which I designed and made (I sew too). Things are looking pretty good and I’m looking forward to the new selling season. Now, if only the economy doesn’t kill me .....

3 comments:

Sue Runyon said...

I think you and your husband could go into business building jewelry displays. These are fantastic! I want some!

Unknown said...

Your displays are beautiful. I could use help in displaying my cards.

Unknown said...

Your jewelry is dislayed beautifully.