sally_in_wales
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Need some quick-fix display ideasNot long got back from doing the basic stall set up at Wonderwool, and yet again I'd forgotton that they put us in these vast high white boxes of stalls. As a result, all the baskets of pretty yarn and fibre I've taken look utterly washed out and drowned by the sea of white wall above it, and the concrete floor makes everything look a bit scruffy. I have three tables, one with yarn on, one with hats and one with 'everything else' (books, soap, socks etc)
I'm going to drape some ribbon 'washing lines' along the wall and peg hats onto it, but apart from seeing if I can find a bit of a rug for one corner of the floor to brighten it up a bit, can anyone think of any cunning ideas that might help? So many of the other stalls are really professionally kitted out with wall to wall wooden shelves or racking, I'm a bit worried my stuff will get walked past cos it looks very uninspiring by comparison
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Mary-Jane
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Have you got some rugs to throw on the concrete floor around your stall to make it look a bit more ethnic? Are you allowed to play a CD of some nice music? Plain sheets in a nice complimentary colour thrown over the tables?
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mochyn
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Coloured cloths to cover the walls? Sort of draped.
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Gervase
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Black velvet - if you can get hold of a couple of metres. Any colour will look radiant set against it.
And M-J, aren't you supposed to be in a meeting? 
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mochyn
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Have you got things displayed at different levels? Sat up on boxes or whatever. Cover the supports in cloth and they look good and break up the 'flatness' of a dsiplay.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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with others on cloths or rugs for walls or similar (oohh just thought, you couldn't blow up some handmade meat posters and put them about could you - is that allowed?)
have you got a chair to sit in? Why not put that more centre stage and make a craft area around you as you sit and knit so that you are part of the display as well - sort of - does that make sense.
are there any bits of equipment that go with the things you use like dye baths or similar you could set up along side say the dye things.
The inner flower arranger in me always puts vases or displays of flowers on any stalls I've had.
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Mary-Jane
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| Gervase wrote: | | And M-J, aren't you supposed to be in a meeting? |
Postponed until Tuesday. And aren't you supposed to be on a roof in Tregaron?
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earthyvirgo
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Harking back to my degreee show when I was given a space from hell, it felt like a narrow corridor, to display my work ... stomped my feet and got a slightly less awful space but it was still bad, so I got (I can't for the life of me remember from where) long lengths of muslin and tied them into bows at the end and pinned them to the corners, letting them fall into voluminous swathes.
What about, on a similar theme, making a sort of muslin hammock or hammocks, filling them with your wools and hanging them up across your 'box', making a colourful, semi transparent ceiling.
EV
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woodsprite
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Is it possible to reduce the area of your display? Having been to Wonderwool, in my humble opinion, the smaller stalls were the most visually pleasing. Theres nothing worse than someones wonderfully crafted items looking lost in a big area.
Thinking theatrically (as is my wont) I would try to get hold of a couple of screens and make a triangle shape at the back of the stall. I would use two packed tables rather than three scant ones and if you can get anything up on the screens all the better.
I'd lend you a couple of screens if I lived closer  .
Try your village hall, have they got any screens? I love doing displays, I wish I was closer to help.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| woodsprite wrote: | | I love doing displays, I wish I was closer to help. |
I do too. Old retail habits die hard
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woodsprite
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Its theatre design with me 
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sally_in_wales
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ok, found a cheerful but not too obtrusive rug, its currently having a quick wash as it was in the workshop  Found some pegs for pinning hats to wall, found a few more baskets and boxes to make height with. Have also packed the spinning wheel for a bit of space filling motion, that might be about all I can rustle up at this stage, though will have a look for a bit of muslin, I usually have yards of linen lying about so with luck I can find some drapery.
I'll just have to wear really bright clashing colours and hope I don't scare people away. Going to treat this as a learning curve and write a list whilst I'm there of display items needed for another time, though if this one doesnt do well for me I won't be doing this particular show again.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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perhaps it would help to think of a sort of theme for your display so an overall sense of what Sally In Wales is about and what image you're trying to project. Using 'corporate' colours that become your trademark or similar that tie in with website and products.
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Stacey
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Those stalls are awful - a nightmare to dress. I had the same problem last year and my stall ended up looking like a jumble sale. Now I have an old gazebo which I've bastardised into a 3 sided frame to hold a backdrop and I hang muslin curtains from ikea and fairy lights on them. Doesn't work everywhere but in some places it works a treat. If I remember correctly sally, your stall looked fine - you had a couple of shelving units and your lovely wrought iron hat stand - have you got them again?
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Stacey
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote: | | perhaps it would help to think of a sort of theme for your display so an overall sense of what Sally In Wales is about and what image you're trying to project. Using 'corporate' colours that become your trademark or similar that tie in with website and products. |
Bearing in mind it's tomorrow
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woodsprite
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You might think about felting a banner with your web addy on it. You could felt the individual letters, a couple at a time, and then 'string' them together. I have a patchwork banner that I use when I'm selling/promoting my rag rugs and courses, it always raises a smile, its unique and people know immediately what I'm about. Foldable dressing screens are worth there weight in gold imho. Whatever space you are given you can adapt it to suit and, of course, you can have them any colour you want and prep them for display before getting to the fayre etc.
I have a 'set' that I can put together in about 20 minutes. Ohh and I always demonstrate, it pulls the punters over to your stall and they do not feel as though your about to pounce and sell them something before they have had a chance to look. 
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Barefoot Andrew
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This thread brings back nightmares of doing techie trade shows... trying to disguise a rats nest of cables neatly... and then furtively messing with cables and hardware when things go wrong without messing up the nicely dressed stand 
A.
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sally_in_wales
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I do have a basic vinyl banner, looks fine relaly, but its white on a white wall, which was clearly a silly choice
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| Stacey wrote: | | Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote: | | perhaps it would help to think of a sort of theme for your display so an overall sense of what Sally In Wales is about and what image you're trying to project. Using 'corporate' colours that become your trademark or similar that tie in with website and products. |
Bearing in mind it's tomorrow |
thinking in general and for the future. If you have a plan you can wheel out regardless of location that says 'you' on it
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Stacey
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote: | | Stacey wrote: | | Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote: | | perhaps it would help to think of a sort of theme for your display so an overall sense of what Sally In Wales is about and what image you're trying to project. Using 'corporate' colours that become your trademark or similar that tie in with website and products. |
Bearing in mind it's tomorrow |
thinking in general and for the future. |
I realised that as soon as I posted but couldn't be bothered to edit It was the bane of my life last year, trying to find a one size fits all disaply.
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mochyn
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Ooh: I think I've got (somewhere) a folding wooden airer. About the size of one of those windbreaks people used to use at the beach. Any use? Could be draped, used to cut down space, have yarn draped over it...
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Chez
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We've got acres of white shark's tooth gauze if it would help. Could send it with Mochyn tomorrow.
Also a few halogen floods and some gel, if you've got 13amp sockets?
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sally_in_wales
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no sockets, am open to drapery, but don't want to put anyone to any trouble. Am tempted now to suck it and see and raid teh fabric stash at home on saturday night if it really seems to need it after the other tweaks. Am also considering cutting out giant hippy paper daisies to stick all over the wall, but that may just be the wine talking...
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Stacey
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I think the daisies sound ace.
And I'm stone cold sober
Anything to break up the expanse of white.
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Chez
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| Stacey wrote: | I think the daisies sound ace.
And I'm stone cold sober
Anything to break up the expanse of white. |
Ditto to the daisies.
Mochyn's gone offline - I'll give her a ring and see what time she's leaving.
Can you pin to the wall? Only I don't have any stands here.
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sally_in_wales
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I have a tin of drawing pins and can pin to the wall. Pink, blue and yellow daisies may appear over the course of the day then
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| mochyn wrote: | | Ooh: I think I've got (somewhere) a folding wooden airer. About the size of one of those windbreaks people used to use at the beach. Any use? Could be draped, used to cut down space, have yarn draped over it... |
that would work. could drape welly socks on it as well. We're getting a laundry theme aren't we? Where's Stacey's mangle?
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Chez
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Shark's tooth gauze on it's way to you as I speak, via Arvo and Mochyn  .
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alison
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Make sure you have time to look at the other stalls, and se why you like their lay outs. You can get lots of ideas, seeing what works and what doesn't.
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mochyn
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Someone's just posted on Ravelry to say the stall looks brill.
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sean
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Yayyy for Sally. Now sell lots of stuff. (Obviously not now as in 10.30pm, now as in tomorrow.)
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mochyn
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And Sunday.
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sean
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I didn't mean to exclude Sunday. Don't give anyone discount either.
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ros
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Hope you do really well over the weekend Sally, I'm sure your stall looks fab anyway
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gil
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Best of luck, Sally.
Need to use some of the ideas suggested here myself - got a big striped barn of a stall space to occupy tomorrow.
Twine and clothes pegs, like a washing line....
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Stacey
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Good luck sally I look forward to hearing about how it went.
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VSS
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if anyone sees Sally, don't put her banner against the wall, tie it across the front, almost as high as you can. Did this for a stand in "one of those white walled things" a couple of years ago, and it worked pretty well. Get it high enough and it won't obscure the daisies.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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Sounds as though we could make an article about this with lots of hints and tips for display of stalls at FMs etc etc. Would it be of use? What do you think?
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Stacey
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This is what the stalls look like where sally is
They're just really difficult to dress with any kind of 'panache' unless you have your own frames and backdrops etc. People like Get Knitted have got it right - they bring furniture and dress it like a sitting room but they have a huge van. Those spaces just seem to suck your work in and make it invisible.
By the middle of the year my stall looked more like this
but by far the best move was to break up an old gazebo and make it into a frame for hanging drapes and fairy lights. When I did that the stall looked ace but guess who forgot to take the camera with her
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woodsprite
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Brilliant news! Best of British Sally, knock em dead!
Your second piccie looks lovely Stacey, its all about taking the eye around the products isn't it and reducing the awful grey floor space. I agree that its a bugger trying to dress different spaces, thats why I take my own set with me and adapt it. With foldable screens, you'd be surprised at what you can get into a peugeot 206! I like to make a room set too, with a chair and pint sized pine table. I also dress my hubbies stand for his trade shows promoting wood burners and wood pellet boilers, that is challenging. Its a fine balance trying to portray homely and cutting edge efficiency.
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VSS
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it is hard to dress the space effectively, but last year had a stand at wonderwool and all they gave us was a piece of bare floor. that made it REALLY difficult to get any height into the display.
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Fee
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Can't wait to see piccies of how it looks! All the best Sally, and anyone else there this weekend, hope you sell lots and lots and lots and lots
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Stacey
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| woodsprite wrote: | Brilliant news! Best of British Sally, knock em dead!
Your second piccie looks lovely Stacey, its all about taking the eye around the products isn't it and reducing the awful grey floor space. I agree that its a bugger trying to dress different spaces, thats why I take my own set with me and adapt it. With foldable screens, you'd be surprised at what you can get into a peugeot 206! I like to make a room set too, with a chair and pint sized pine table. I also dress my hubbies stand for his trade shows promoting wood burners and wood pellet boilers, that is challenging. Its a fine balance trying to portray homely and cutting edge efficiency. |
Where did you get your foldable screens from? This year I'm after some old dressmakers dummies (the ones with the padded bodies) so I can re-cover them in ncie fabric/felt and use them to display scarves etc.
If I remember correctly sally had an even bigger space than the one in my first pic last year and her stall looked lovely - I'm sure it will again.
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sally_in_wales
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just rolled in, stall looked like this in the end, so a bit thrown together but it worked ok
Many many thanks to Mochyn for her help and company today (and cake). Sales are going ok, nothing spectacular but worth being there
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sean
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It looks great. It's like your front room in the form of a stall. Good luck for tomorrow's sales.
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Chez
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That looks really great, Sally - glad it's going smoothly.
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sally_in_wales
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| sean wrote: | | It looks great. It's like your front room in the form of a stall. |
but tidier!
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Fee
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That's looks so welcoming, I want to step into the picture and have a mooch I wouldn't be able to resist if I were there!
Great stuff! Hope tomorrow's good too
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marigold
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It looks really lovely - as sean said, like a cosy living room . The kind of living room I like, that is, where interesting things happen and beautiful things are made, not a narsty MFI room-set type living room!!
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Blacksmith
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Looks great Sally. Hope your sales go well.
Seems a topic we all could benefit from, "maximising your sales by minimum amount of advertising outlay ?"
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woodsprite
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| Quote: | | Where did you get your foldable screens from? |
Mine both came from household sales Sally. Both were disgusting when I bought them but I recovered them with a cottagey printed fabric on one side and a plain deepish blue on the other. If I need to hang anything from them, I find the blue side is great.
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Stacey
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Glad to hear it's going well, sally 
Do you think it's working as standalone event then?
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sally_in_wales
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| Stacey wrote: |
Do you think it's working as standalone event then? |
today was significantly quieter, but all the stallholders I spoke to agreed it worked as a stand alone and looked very promising for growing in future years. I was very uncertain to start with but I'll definitely give it another go next year.
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woodsprite
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Great news Sally!!!
A money making weekend is always a good thing.
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Stacey
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| sally_in_wales wrote: | | Stacey wrote: |
Do you think it's working as standalone event then? |
today was significantly quieter, but all the stallholders I spoke to agreed it worked as a stand alone and looked very promising for growing in future years. I was very uncertain to start with but I'll definitely give it another go next year. |
That's good, I'm pleased for him - he's such a nice chap. What did you sell most of? Was it a good event for finished goods or was it mainly fibres and equipment that was shifting?
Questions, questions
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sally_in_wales
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Best sellers were some packs of 5 x 50g skeins of undyed wool in sheepy shades graded from white to black and three grey/browns in between, also some fairtrade alpaca I had. Sold virtually no dyed yarn. Books went well, Gareths bronze knitting needles and various textile tools went well, sold a couple of finished hats a day. Lots of dyestuffs, darning needles and similar small things.
I wonder if it might be an idea for some of the Downsizer textiley types to share a stall next year, I'm thinking in particular of people like Frewen with her fab felting and Mochyn with her needlecases etc. Bit like the guild stalls, they share the costs and show off their goodies, makes it low risk for people who arent quite at the having a whole stall somewhere stage. Just a thought to throw into the ether at this stage, I'll certainly have a stall myself next year, but in all seriousness, we have some really top quality stuff being produced by people who post here, and it might be a thought if anyone wants to try showing with a modest risk factor to share a stall together
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Frewen
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Sign me up
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Stacey
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| sally_in_wales wrote: |
I wonder if it might be an idea for some of the Downsizer textiley types to share a stall next year, I'm thinking in particular of people like Frewen with her fab felting and Mochyn with her needlecases etc. |
Thanks
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toggle
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sounds interesting.
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Frewen
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| Stacey wrote: | | sally_in_wales wrote: |
I wonder if it might be an idea for some of the Downsizer textiley types to share a stall next year, I'm thinking in particular of people like Frewen with her fab felting and Mochyn with her needlecases etc. |
Thanks |
I think you go without saying
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sally_in_wales
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| Stacey wrote: | | sally_in_wales wrote: |
I wonder if it might be an idea for some of the Downsizer textiley types to share a stall next year, I'm thinking in particular of people like Frewen with her fab felting and Mochyn with her needlecases etc. |
Thanks |
You already exhibit at shows and can fill whole displays by yourself, thats why I didnt make a particular mention of you you know we all think your stuff is fab
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Stacey
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| sally_in_wales wrote: | | Stacey wrote: | | sally_in_wales wrote: |
I wonder if it might be an idea for some of the Downsizer textiley types to share a stall next year, I'm thinking in particular of people like Frewen with her fab felting and Mochyn with her needlecases etc. |
Thanks |
You already exhibit at shows and can fill whole displays by yourself, thats why I didnt make a particular mention of you you know we all think your stuff is fab |
I was teasin' hun - sorry
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mochyn
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Count me in.
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