How To Display & Package your Work
Congratulations! You’ve found an Event and Booked a Stall.
Now you need to get ready.
This part of my Beginner’s Guide looks at What you Need To Do to Prepare for your Event.
How to Display Your Work
Think about how you are going to display your work to Maximum Advantage. For me this is not easy and I am constantly changing the way my stall looks.
You will need to consider:
- What will Attract People to Your Stall in the first place.
- Maybe one or two particularly Eye Catching Pieces that will draw someone to your stall for a closer look?
- A Banner? Sweets for the children…..? A competition…..?
- Height is important. Make sure you use the air above your stall to the maximum. Consider how to use various heights to display your work.
I use Cork Boards covered in fabric and one or two Necklace Busts. Both lift my jewellery off the flat table making it more visible.
I also have a Small Silver ‘Tree’ and some Miniature Easels that I use to hang necklaces on.
For a time I also used Twigs displayed in a vase from which I hung various pieces of jewellery.
You could consider Shelving and anything else you can think of to vary the height of your display. Be Creative and make your stall stand out.
- Group things together. This may be similar types of things, sets, colours….you decide what works best for you and your customers. I use small mirrors on my table to give my bracelets a ‘home’ and help to group them.
- Strategically placed items. Consider putting items with a similar theme at intervals around your stall. This will help to lead a customer’s eye around your stall, encouraging them to look at all your wares.
- Signs. Is there anything you would like to tell your customer with a simple sign e.g. Everything handmade locally? Make up simple clear signs before you go and decide where you are going to put them on your stall.
- Banner. Do you need a banner to identify your stall? You can get one made relatively cheaply and it doesn’t have to be huge. I’ve got one, but I must admit I don’t use it very often. I love my banner, I just haven’t worked out how to hang it! At the front of the table is no good as it won’t be seen once you have customers browsing. It is however fine if you have a good wall behind you to display it on (and a way of attaching it to the wall!).
- Lighting. Make your own mind up on this one. It will depend on what you are selling and the venue. For jewellery, lighting is essential. Whatever the stall, however, I personally think that good lighting says “this stall is open”!
- Stability! What will happen to your stall when a small child approaches it to see their mother? …What will happen if the wind blows?… Need I say more?
- Portability. This may be stating the obvious – make sure you can carry everything you need with some ease. Stallholder parking is not always that close to the venue!
- The Cost of your Display Materials. You can spend a fortune if you’re not careful! There are many many display materials available to buy on the internet.
Some may be essential, but you can often make your own and save yourself a lot of money. I made this bust from strong cardboard – not bad for a beginner and it cost me nothing.
Have a look on the internet and you are sure to find some useful tutorials.
Charity Shops can also often prove a good source of unusual display items.
Having said that I do ‘treat’ my stall to new display materials every now and then, but as a general rule try to keep my outlay to a minimum as this all eats into my minimal profits!
Finally, make sure you practice your display a day or two before you go so that you know exactly what you’re doing when you arrive. This also gives you an opportunity to decide what works best and will give you a rough idea of how long you will need to set up your stall. (It takes me about an hour – if I’m not chatting too much!)
Take a look at this great blog for more ideas
Packaging
You may also want to think about How To Package the Goods that you sell.
In my mind this is all part of the shopping experience for the customer. Once they have decided to buy, I want them to go away with something special – something that their friends will want to know about. Almost like receiving a little present!
When thinking about packaging consider:
- Style of the packaging – which should reflect your branding if possible.
- Portability – if people are at a craft fayre they may find it easier if you can give them a bag with handles?
- Promotion – Do you want to put your logo on your packaging? This may not be necessary, but if people are wandering around a fayre carrying a bag with your name on it that might not be such a bad thing?
- Cost – yes it’s that word again! You can if you want spend a small fortune on packaging. The cost will no doubt be a big consideration.
Think carefully about how much the cost of your packaging will add to the cost of your goods. Or you might decide to offer your customers special gift packaging at an extra cost?
- Ease of Use. If you have a queue of customers waiting (we can dream can’t we!) you don’t want packaging that is too fiddly or time consuming.
These are my thoughts. I hope you have found the second part of my Beginner’s Guide of some use. You will no doubt have other ideas. Please leave your comments – I would love to know what experience and ideas you may have to add to this guide.
Below are some links you may find of use.
Useful links
Jewellery display ideas:
Make your own Necklace Display stands
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kotomi-jewelry/sets/72157608157754111/
I like this one:
http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/give-away-from-budget-wise-home.html
For my jewellery packaging I have used:
Box Displays www.boxdisplays.co.uk
Noble Packaging www.noblepackaging.com
The UK Crafts Forum is always a great source of ideas and help www.craftsforum.co.uk
