Show Displays

[FishOnTheWall]

I’ve been searching for two years now for show displays & I can’t find anything suitable. I make One-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, nothing fancy, just beads, gemstones, some sterling wire. I currently make an easel-type card for each piece. This works well in the glass cases where I consign, however, at shows there just isn’t enough vertical interest, nor space on the table to showcase everything. Since I make mostly necklaces, the earring racks just don’t look right. My goal is to find something lightweight & portable, that collapses or folds for storage. (Slat-wall & pegboard are way too heavy) I’ve thought about blue-board insulation, but then there is the problem of sturdiness with customers reaching and of coarse the wind. Any ideas? It seems to be a common problem- but maybe I am overlooking the obvious? – Z Fish on the Wall

[Luann Udell]

Sometimes you can use brainpower to muscle your way through a question like this.  

But sometimes, you just need to get out there and see what's working for other people.  Then modify to suit YOUR designs/colors/etc.

Rio Grande www.riogrande.com has a great display supplies catalog.  Check it out and see it some of their offerings would work for you.  

Otherwise, I've had good luck with extremely organic and "creative" displays--deer antlers, tree branches, multi-leveled displays, etc.   However, this works really well with my jewelry which has a very bone/stone/antler/ivory look to it.  I might not work with more glitzy or "finished" jewelry.

The nicest display I ever saw for necklaces used those upright clear acrylic necklace stands.  The designer glued handmade papers on the back of them, and trimmed them to fit.  The clear acrylic let the papers show clearly underneath.  The result was clean and simple, but very different than "everyone else's" display.  

This year, for the first time in ages, I checked out a bunch of local craft shows.  It was easy to see what was working for vendors and what wasn't.  

Jillions of designs didn't show diversity--it confused and overwhelmed.  

Unfortunately, MOST of the jewelry I saw was what you're describing your work as:  Simple bead, gemstone and wire jewelry.  To set yourself apart is not just a matter of display, it will also demand a unique-ness of vision, design AND display.  

Hope this helps,
Luann

firemountaingems.com also has a lot of unique displays, and you don't need to be a member to see their website.  I'm actually looking at getting one of the bust/head combos so I can display my jewelry a little more professionally on my site.  Unless, of course, R&T ends up carrying them. '>

But it's not an easily foldable thing.  It's one piece.  But think of it from a merchandising point of view (which is my day job currently): pick a particular piece of jewelry to display on the one display; that's what will catch the customer's eye from further away.  Hopefully that will lead to interest in everything else.

Another idea might be to make some books of past OoaK works.  Just so one can see what else you have done.

[Amylynn]

NILE has some really pretty metal treelike displays (heavy enough not to blow over and small enough  not to take up too much room.

I am just getting started and what I have come up with is layers....styrofoam then cut outs for  deminsion and a cover (black..... but velvet would be very hard to keep clean in that amount and outdoors at trade shows,so I am stumped on that one. But it will allow me to pin the jewelry to the table for security and presentation especially with sets. I am still plannning on having a few metal trees and some white busts for contrast.
 The best part though is I can  cut the middle layers any size I want because the fabric is going to cover it all.

It may not work for you and if I could afford to spend the money I want I could probably come up with something better  but the small mock up I did looked spectacualar. Black topped pins are my friend. The U pins a little black magic marker  and they blended seemlessly.

Hi,

We manufacture wood jewelry displays in Indonesia and just launched a new website  http://www.naturaldisplays.com . I hope you enjoy our displays, and we ship out of Arizona. We currently are low on inventory, but will have thousands in stock by late July.