{Day 22} 31 Days of Craft Show Preparation – Booth Tip 2: Levels Are Important

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Crochet Craft Booth Tip 2 of 5 (see tip 1 here)

2. Different Levels are Important

I used to work in retail. I used to set up displays for products. I can’t really tell you why I set them up the way I did – I did what I was told to do. When you go shopping things aren’t just placed on shelves or displayed in random ways. Thought does go into how they are presented. People get paid to design displays and present it in such a way that invites buyers to make a purchase.

You want your booth to be visible from all levels and distances. Jen Wallace of Indie Fixx shares 14 Display Do’s in her article about this subject. Be sure to click on the link above for a really cool way to display circular crochet items by Victory Gardens.

When I did my 2 craft shows I did buy two shelving units. Don’t laugh – they were the corner racks for showers. They worked for what I needed at the time and were in my budget. I placed my wash cloths sets on the shelves. I put one on the right side of the table and one of the left. Other than these two shelves I did not use height.

When looking for things to add height think outside the retail box. Think thrifty finds like suitcases, crates, containers, mason jars, even a rolling clothing rack will work. The one I have is plastic and easily disassembles for easy storage. Remember what Molly does – shop at home first – or in her case, her mom’s studio.

Here is a sample of thrifty object for display. I’m assuming this is a clean trash can lid – I love the way she used it to display her bottle cap magnets. (see flickr user Moosehaves)

Check out this display by Get Stitchy with Sarah. I like her use of the bookshelf to display her knitted hats. I also like her wire display wall where she features her yarn.

I love the different levels that Flickr user Les Cherubins has in her booth for her art work. It brings the eye up to notice the paintings and when you get closer you can look down at the table to see her bookmarks and browse through her portfolio.

WARNING: Once you start checking out displays you will get a bit carried away. I promise this will be my last example. This is a great display of altered pillows using – Crochet – Yay – by Flickr user meeni2010.  She placed her pillows in an altered suitcase. I like the basket to the left of the photo too where she adds some other products.

Join me in the 31 Days of Craft Show Preparation by Blogger Molly of http://mollyeleen.wordpress.com. Molly was inspired to do the 31 days challenge when her friends took on the challenge that The Nester hosts each year. (based on the 31 Days to build a better blog by ProBlogger)

 How You Can Participate

1. Visit Molly’s Blog post which has all 31 posts in the series
2. Blog about it. You can do one post for the entire week or one post per day. I’ll be doing one post a day. (31)
3. Chat about it either on the Crochet Business fanpage or the CBB Google+ community .