Lucchiola.: 05/07/10

Step One:

Finally putting together all of the junk I have been collecting the past month to see what I have, and what I need.

As you can see, I have a lot of very unique pieces to display my work which I really believe will set me apart from a lot of other vendors during my shows.

One of the biggest short comings I saw while observing other vendors throughout the years was the display. I understand the concept of "less is more" but sometimes the barren tables and minimalist displays just appear lazy and boring. This is every artists chance to show personality not only in their handmade products, but also what surrounds them. You have to remember to just have some fun with it!

Below are the bare bones of the set up (minus the car in the background of course).

At first when I began today I only had three tables, but I thought there wasn't enough room for a functional space. Now with the additional table, it not only provides the customers with more room to explore and breathe, but also more room for me to keep an eye on what is going on in my space. From experience, there is nothing worse than having someone breathing down your neck while you are trying to observe someone's creations! (I'm a big fan and acknowledger of personal space). Also if you can see to the far left and right of the tables, there is about a foot of moving space for me and my workers to be able to move to further interact with customers.

Although not displayed on today's post, on both right and left far walls is where the fireflies will hang out during the shows. They will be attached to a clothes line by clothes pins, vary in size and heights, and hopefully by attaching them this way will be easy to put them up and down.

WORD TO THE WISE:

Always use the stick grip under your tablecloths when setting up your display.

Even though I have never done a show before, I can only imagine with the interaction of customers bumping, pushing and pulling on the cloth accidentally what can happen to the product. Also the element of the weather, you never know if the wind is going to be your friend of foe. A small precaution I suppose.

Step 2: Putting down the cloth and display elements.

This part of my journey was when I finally started to see everything come together. It was so wonderful to see everything interacting with one another and at the same time, working! As you can see I wanted to add a lot of height over to the right hand side with the planter because on the opposite side is where I will be working the register.

I also thought it would be smart to place my greeting card holder right by the register for a last minute addition to any purchase, also my promotional items. I'm going to offer the deal if you buy three fireflies you get a greeting card free, if you like the greeting card all on it's own they will run $5 a piece.

"AHHH! Oh my goodness! Here it is!!"

(Me screaming and running around the driveway, affirming all watching family members at that moment I had just lost my mind.)

What a relief. Everything is seeming to come together. Everything seems like it works, looks good together and most importantly, I believe it is a great reflection of who I am and what I do.

Boo-yah.

Here are some close ups of everything minus the fleet of fireflies I've been cranking out.

ALSO: All of the picture frames will be filled with signs for prices and illustrations (displayed on a previous post). Not the creepy little kids they came with.

Don't worry.

What a day.

After it was all set up, I took a moment for myself.

What a journey this has been for me. Sometimes we all move too fast, and focus on everything we don't do and our many short comings (guilty).

But if my whole logo and brand of my company is the spread the light and to lighten up, I decided to sit and just observe something beautiful that I created.

What a gift. What a blessing.

Such a wonderful feeling.

As I sat, I decided to sketch how I saw my display..