Crafty Tuesday: Musing on Tabling Things

DragonCon is 114 days away. Yikes! There are things before that including Shore leave which is August 3-5th this year because San Diego Comic Con moved its dates. Now in thinking my way through what I am going to bring I also have to start thinking about displaying the objects I am going to be selling. Presentation is important in an art show as the objects themselves as I have learned over the years. The customer has to be able to see what they are buying clearly. And tables are not exactly set up for that. This is something that I have learned over the years. When you get a table at most Art Show at Science Fiction Conventions, it is 6 ft. x 30" with a white table cloth or possibly a plastic table cloth with some form of cover all around the table(s). There are variations and it is good to consult your Art Show Director as to the size of the table you are getting so you can plan. A trick I learned a while back was to measure out with masking tape the area I was going to be putting my objects d’art. Then try to put them all in there and see if it works. Too crowded can be as bad as too few items. Also remember that you need room for the bid sheets and for the customers to be able to mark the bid sheets. If they are so smack against the front of the table, it makes it hard to bid. Also makes sure that it is very clear which bid sheet goes with which object. I had a problem one year in that I was not clear which Phluzzie went with which bid sheet. Now I tend to put the number on the puppet so it is pretty clear which sheet they go with. There are ways of getting more out of your table. You can choose the cloth that you put your art on and use that. You can have stands that allow you to present the objects at different heights so it is visually more interesting at a casual glance. You need that first look to make the person want to take a closer look. I tend to do that by having something that people find amusing so they have to take a closer look. It is one of the reasons I put the Phluzzies in every year. One caveat I would put on the display, remember that it is traveling with you or your art and it is returning unless you are selling the display with the objects. So think about weight and packing when piecing it together. I have found the cardboard can be your friend in this and you either take it back home or recycle it at the convention. Assume at some point your table is going to get bumped into and make sure that nothing topples over. Also assume breezes as people walk by. It is good to have a business card available for people who might not buy right then but down the road they might want to get in touch with you. I need to redo mine since some phone numbers have changed as has some of the other contact information. The presentation is important but one needs to create the objects to show first. I am grateful for what I have learned over the years about presenting my work to the public. And since I am still learning, any clever ideas I should think about?