Friday, November 25, 2011

Well.......I've Been Busy

I know that's a terrible excuse for not posting in exactly a month, but it's the truth! For those of you who might be curious about what I've been up to, I'm going to show you. I decided that while I still had access to the studio at school, I needed to do something about my craft show display.

A while back, I wrote this post about how I have been setting up my booth for roughly the last three years. As glorious, and pretty, and elegant, and nice it all is, I have to admit that the setup is HEAVY. Oh, and it also takes up a lot of space. For once, I'd like to go on a road trip and see out of my rear view mirror.

That, and I'd like my jewelry to be seen instead of my displays.

Soooooo, I packed up most of these displays.............


.........and will shortly be shipping them off to Shalena White of Shalena Designs. Go check out her gorgeous metalsmithing work if you've never seen it! She is a friend of mine and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. Thank you Shalena and I hope they serve you well!!!

*The four displays in front with the contrasting colors are up for grabs to the first person commenting below that you want them.*

Anyway, I had to replace these three dimensional pedestals with something flat and portable. The FMG equivalent was going to cost me over $270 for the amount I eventually ended up making.

This lovely collection of cherry stained red oak cost me around $160 from Lowe's.....


......Tada?
Pictured here are 6 large necklace pedestals, 12 medium necklace pedestals, 18 small necklace pedestals, 36 necklace pedestal bases with slots, 18 bracelet ramps, 12 arches, 16 block risers, 2 business card holders, and two "handy" displays.

Every one of these was cut, sanded, and stained by hand. I'm so excited to see them in action at both my senior exhibition and at next year's craft shows! What do you think? Am I crazy or what?


Oh, oh, oh! Guess what? Exactly half fits in this suitcase. I just need a matching one to put the other half in. I forsee a trip downtown fairly soon.

 Voila! I will soon have a decorative suitcase that hides my brand new displays! (I have used this technique before to store the curtains and table cloths used in my setup.)

Wish me luck! Senior show is next Friday and I have to try hunting for last minute show deadlines for next summer and fall.

9 comments:

  1. Oh wow Tamara, you have been busy! I love all of those displays and it is so nice that they will all fit into two suitcases. I would love to have the four stands that you are offering. I will be having my first jewelry open house the 10th and 11th of Dec. and I do not have that many stands to display my necklaces on.
    Therese

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  2. Thank you Therese! You are welcome to them. One of the black ones is a little beaten up in the neck. Just send your address to vanishingpearl@yahoo.com. I will mail them to you the first chance I get. :-)

    I'm heading off soon to find the second suitcase. All the new pieces take up a third of the space as the old ones, but they are much heavier. Maybe when I get my lightweight tables in the future, the weight will even out.

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  3. Those are lovely. I especially love the bracelet ramps. I don't have any of those and am looking for... something... not the traditional black velvet, something different and I think what you created might start me hunting. Take a picture of the display at your next show I would love to see it.

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  4. Thank you KJ. I'll be using them in small groupings this week, but won't get a chance to set up a full display until the middle of January for practice. I will definitely be putting up before and after pics of my booth. Unfortunately, it will be a transition setup until I can afford the EZ Up and Dynamic Display collapsible tables that I want.

    I eventually made my own because I always have a hard time shopping from catalogs and online. I based these off of a design I saw in Rio Grand that run close to $20 each, but only in one size.

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  5. Cool! You now not only have a very professional set up, but boy, it looks really really good too. It must be nice to do art shows.Take pictures of your new setup so we can see what it looks like in action:))

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  6. Wonderful idea! Your displays look beautiful and the cherry backdrop for you jewelry will really set it off. Have fun!

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  7. You're an incredibly talented, industrious, amazing artist. I'm so happy to have "met" you! These display pieces are amazing and when I think of even attempting something like this, I cringe. Couldn't do it. So GOOD FOR YOU!

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  8. Thank you Sally. You always have such kind words!

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