How do you design a craft fair stall that's cohesive and complements your products? Sorting everything out has been a good exercise in thinking about my business. The advice I've read online is to get the essence of your brand, or theme for that event, and make sure everything feeds in towards it. My business is all about creative reuse, so as much as possible was second hand or upcycled by me. It's easy to get carried away with the display, but I did manage to make enough stock to fill it, too!. One of my early wins was this upcycled picture frame, seen below at home, and then in action at my first fair: I've made these twice before, but noticed a definite improvement this time. And it stands on its own! Without the stand, the picture frame is a simple make that shows off your earring collection in a unique way. Want to make your own?I'm going to go through how to make a wall-hanging version, but if you're interested in how I made my stand, or have any other questions, email me. Next time I make one these, I'll get pictures at every stage (hopefully for the stand as well!).
Step 1: Collect and Prepare your Materials
Do any decorating at this stage as well. I like the industrial raw wood look, but it'll be much harder to paint or decoupage with the mesh attached. Measure the height/width/depth of the picture recess- that's what I'm calling the part where the glass and picture go - and the thickness of the frame around it. My picture recess was 51 cm high x 40 cm wide x 1.5 cm deep. The wood around the recess was just over 1 cm thick. Make sure you have more than enough mesh to fill your frame, and that your staples are short enough not to bust through the side of your frame. I found mesh at Wickes in their garden section. It came in big sheets, and I probably have enough to make two. Chicken wire would work, though you'd have less places to hang your earrings. Porch or window screen mesh looks a little more refined, but I have no idea where to find it in the UK. My staples came with they staple gun. They're not anything special and rather thin. Thicker gauge ones are easy to tap in later if you need to. Step 2: Cut your mesh to size Take the picture recess height and width, and add a little less than the recess depth on each side. If you're using a box frame, you can do much less than the depth. You just need enough for the staple gun to catch and hold the mesh in place. My picture recess height and width were 51 cm and 40 cm respectively. Adding a little less than 1.5 on each side- I'll go with 1 cm- gets me to 53 cm x 42 cm. (NB: when doing this version I added the full 1.5 depth, or maybe even a little more, which caused problems later. For the purposes of my measurements in this section, I'm going to pretend I did it properly). Mark along the mesh at intervals (first picture above), and cut with your wire cutters. Be careful not to cut yourself, and wear the gloves to prevent any injuries from the wires. Once you've got it cut out, remove the corners as shown in the second picture above. Take out a square with sides as long as the extra amount you added. I removed a 1 cm x 1 cm square from each corner, but your measurements will vary. One of my cat's toys is making a cameo here, but Tilly was well away. Pointy wires and pets are not a good combo. Step 3: Fold and staple in your mesh Carefully fold the mesh to the dimensions of your picture recess. Check that your mesh fits properly within the frame. As I mentioned in the section above, I added too much to my picture recess dimensions, and on my first attempt, wires were poking past the edge of the frame. That meant it would leave scratches on the wall. If you follow my instructions above you shouldn't have this problem, but if you do, just take it out of the frame and cut off a little more along each side. Once it fits properly, use your staple gun to attach the mesh (picture two). Start at the centre of each side, and once all four sides have a staple in, you can move towards the corners. Use enough staples that it's secure. You may need to use a hammer to tap in any that aren't fully in. Step 4: Hang and Enjoy Hang using your preferred method. As I don't store my earrings on the display, I balance the display on a nail in the wall when not in use (first picture). But you should use something sturdier, like those command adhesive strips. Or if you've used a box frame like I did in an earlier attempt (second picture), you may be able to put the normal backing board onto the frame and use that with a nail on the wall. The box frame gives you the added bonus of being able to change up the background.
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AuthorI'm Kelly, a maker passionate about learning new things and giving materials a second life. Archives
August 2019
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