I recently got some wise advice that I shouldn’t decide whether or not craft shows are a good venue for my work until I’d gone a full year and I’d tried lots of different craft shows. Well, I took that advice to heart, perhaps a little too much, and now I’m signed up for three craft shows in the month of May—every Saturday for the next three Saturdays! I’m not quite sure how it happened . . . one thing lead to another, and now I’m looking out on May as one big craft show adventure!
Since it is Spring, and beautiful weather, all three shows are outside, so I had to expand on my usual single table for indoor shows. I don’t have a lot of money to invest yet, so I had to keep things cheap. Quite by luck, I discovered a 10 x 10 foot canopy on sale at Rite Aid—there was just one left, and it was half off the usual $100, so I was pretty excited to haul it out of the store!
The next question was what to do with all that space? 10 x 10 feet is quite a bit bigger than just one table. I took me and my low budget to the hardware store and spent a grand total of $8 on a jumbo pack of clothespins and some twine to create this neato organic-y gallery set-up!
I’m pretty excited about it! Actually this little project reminds me that sometimes being poor pays off—without the money to buy all of the official booth set-ups, I was forced to come up with a cheap and therefore more creative solution, and in the end, I feel like this set-up really reflects my personality and business better than any expensive portable wall. I can’t say I’ll never invest in more substantial equipment if I keep doing craft shows, but I think it looks good—and it all fits inside a ziploc bag (well, not the canopy, and the table, but you know what I mean)—my kind of light traveling!
I will also have my usual table and bike wheel mobile, along with some newly framed original drawings. I’m excited to see how it all looks together and what other people think of it. Stay tuned for pictures after the first craft show next Saturday. More info to come on two shows to follow.
Viva clotheslines. The world needs more of them. Artlines? Que bueno!
That looks fabulous! Good luck with the shows, you creative cat.
You always have the coolest displays! See you next weekend!