ACRE Orlando jewelry booth

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days in Orlando, Florida, meeting other gallery and boutique owners interested in my jewelry.  Here are a few pictures from the event with my booth and jewelry:

My plan of pink, purple and green came out just like I wanted it to.  My jewelry and style is all about color, fun and whimsy!

I displayed the scrabble tile pendants on what else, but scrabble tile racks!  Who knew they would be a great fit for the pendants??

This is my new line of recycled plastic jewelry.

On closeup, you might be able to recognize where they came from:

These are recycled from plastic gift cards, credit cards and hotel room keys.  Both the pendants and earrings are cut into perfect circles and finished with a splash of extra color where the jump ring or ear wire enters the piece.  As you can guess, these are very light and easy to wear.  (and no two pieces are alike!)

I also had the resin and pewter pendant and earring sets at ACRE Orlando.  I think store buyers and owners enjoyed getting a chance to see in person just how colorful these pieces are!


I won't be going to ACRE Las Vegas this year, but am looking forward to next year's ACRE Orlando!

Resin jewelry making studio - what's next?

So now that Las Vegas is done, you might be wondering what I'm doing next?  (yeah, me too)

• Filling Las Vegas orders!
• Working on my new website.  It won't look a whole lot different from the one I have now, but there will be a better shopping cart system.
• Building up inventory of my new resin and pewter jewelry.
• Starting to plan for Christmas orders.  Yes, I know it's June and it's super freakin' hot outside, but stores will start their orders for the Christmas season in July.
• Finishing up a couple of art show applications.

What's on your agenda this summer?

Art show table covers and fabric walls

My fireproof fabrics for my jewelry booth at ACRE Las Vegas arrived this week.  I'm still happy with my color choices.

This will be the table cover.  It can fit a six foot long table, but can adjust to a 4 foot table as well.  It was slightly less pink than I was expecting, but still a good fit.  I think it's going to go great with the green floor.







 

The ivory panel walls are nice too.  I ordered them with clips and a velcro strip at the top the panels.  That way, I can put clips (which also have a velcro side on them) over a bar and velcro the panels to it.






Down to the wire!!  I'll be traveling to Las Vegas two weeks from today!!

Picking colors for my new jewelry booth

In getting ready for the ACRE Las Vegas wholesale show, I've been working on a new jewelry display.  I came up with a new jewelry booth design using Google Sketch Up a month and a half ago.  After letting the idea "simmer" in my head for a few weeks, I decided I liked how it looked and started buying the display items.


 I really liked the lime green floor.  It's bright and inviting.  I ordered 25 two foot by two foot soft cushion tiles (enough to do a 10 foot by 10 foot booth space).  I don't know what I was expecting, but the box they came in was huge. 









The tiles lock together with edges similar to a jigsaw puzzle.












They were really pretty easy to put together.  (Yes, even a two year old can do it.)












My prior sketch showed an ivory panel backdrop, fuschia hot pink tablecloth and purple pedestals.  I had gotten fabric samples from a company that specializes in fireproof trade show fabrics and put them up next to the floor.  I still like the colors pretty well and will continue to go in that direction.  The only exception is that I'm holding off on the purple pedestals.  Not because I don't like the color, but because I'm not sure how I can get them on a plane to go with me to Las Vegas without them getting destroyed or me paying overage charges.

What do you think about the colors?

New jewelry booth display

I'm working on a new jewelry booth display.  I'm trying to kill multiple birds with the same stone, but finding out that I might be killing my neurons instead.  The cool thing I found in all this is a program called Google SketchUp.  It allows users to create three dimensional images of what they're trying to design.  Very cool!  It actually has been a big help in trying to help me visualize what I can do.

So before I show you what I've designed so far, let me share with you what I'm trying to accomplish:

• My jewelry is bright and colorful.  I want people to get that impression when they see my booth.
• I consider my jewelry more "fun" than heirloom, fancy, or special occasion.
• This is for an indoor booth display 10 feet wide by 5 feet deep.

This is OPTION 1.  The table is approximately 35 inches tall, 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep.  There is 3 feet from the front of the table to the front of the booth.  Yes, that's a hot pink cloth on the sides of the table and ivory on top.  The floor is meant to be a lime green.  The walls are ivory with pictures of my work hanging on them.




This is OPTION 2.  Same dimensions, walls and floor colors.  The same pink table exists, except with a black cover.  There are also two 44 inch tall by 14 inch by 14 inch pedestals on either side of the table.  They are purple, with black tops.  (I tried turquoise as well, but I liked the purple better.)



Comments on which one you like better?

Getting ready for the ACRE Orlando wholesale art show

I have spoken with a couple of people in charge of organizing the ACRE Orlando show.  I think I have a pretty good idea of what to expect.  In preparation for the show, I decided I needed a couple more things that I didn't already have.

I need some larger, duplicate purchase order forms.  I have something similar for art festivals, but they are smaller and meant only to be a purchase receipt.  I wanted something larger that I can take a lot of notes on.

Another art friend of mine told me that he had better luck getting people to sign up for his mailing list when he had people put their information into a ballot box.  Hmm.  Is it because their information is more private (no one else has to know that you want to be on my list), or is it because the box is more obvious and easier for people to see to include their information?  I don't know, but I will put it out to gather contact names from this show.

Even though I'm being provided with a table, I wanted to do something to "jazz it up" a bit.  I went by my local Target store and got a table runner to include over the top.  You may not be able to tell well from the picture, but it's four stripes that gradually go from a silver gray to a dark, taupe gray.  The runner looks good with black, taupe, and silver, so I should be set.  The black tablecloth is for a counter height stand I'm taking to put the box on for mailing list contact information.


I'll be getting everything packed this weekend.  The countdown is on!