Container to carry the 160 necessary items.

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Permalink Reply by Sara Youngman on March 3, 2010 at 5:33pm

Well, Paula, in these menopausal days it just means searching through more bags to find that one thing I know I put in the first bag...

Thanks for the info.

Purse Stuff - Paula said:

The majority of my necessities are in a Roughneck Tote Box, which I can handle myself.

I keep grid hooks, weight straps, clamps, and sign frames in tote bags. These tend to get heavy for me so I have to split them into designated bags.

I have a brief case with camera, money for making change, favorite pens, invoice book, order book, credit card necessities, signs to insert into my frames, tissues, aspirin, etc.

I have a thermos bag with my coffee, extra socks, umbrella, 3 or 4 bottles of water, etc.

I had to split my stuff up. It was too much and too heavy for a tote box. The tote bags allow me to tuck stuff here & there in the truck. Works for me.

Hope this helps a little,
Purse Stuff - Paula

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Permalink Reply by Linnea Lahlum on March 3, 2010 at 5:53pm

Rubbermaid totes. Every time you are at an art show, you see that every artist has them!

Labelled for what goes in them. Never put in what doesn't belong. Mine are numbered too: Each tote loaded in order of set up or tear down. Each is marked DISPLAY (anything I need to set up the canopy) or PROPS, for example: something that tells me its use at a glance without having to remove the lid. If it's pouring rain at set up I can stack my bins in number order as soon as the canopy is up and know that I will need first is on top. (I try to load them in the van in the right order too but I'm not always that good about it. )

The totes come in colors now too, not just blue. If I was starting over I would color code. They come in at least 3 different sizes, and I use all of them.

Anything that has to be replenished before the next show (plastic bag for my tissue and bags, or something that needs to be washed: this includes thermos, food bag, etc. ) goes into an open laundry type basket, which goes on the back seat, not the all the way back in the van, so I can’t forget what’s in there. My show jacket /raincoat gets tossed in there too.

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Permalink Reply by Sara Youngman on March 3, 2010 at 7:58pm

Raincoat - add that to the list...

Excellent idea. I bought three fairly large blue totes from Home Depot on Sunday hoping my matted art would fit into 2 of them and the 3rd could be for part of the supplies. Where do you find colored ones? More googling. But thanks a lot, I think you solved my problem. At some point I'm going to have to measure the inside of my CR-V to discover just how much of this stuff is going to fit in. I'm looking for a roof rack upon which to strap the 15 2'x6' pieces of white gridwall I'm buying from a local supplier. That seemed the best, and cheapest, hanging solution. We're going to have a dry run in a couple weeks when the snow either melts or the temp gets nice enough to set the tent up outside. Still haven't seen it set up. Time is wasting!

Linnea Lahlum said:

Rubbermaid totes. Every time you are at an art show, you see that every artist has them!

Labelled for what goes in them. Never put in what doesn't belong. Mine are numbered too: Each tote loaded in order of set up or tear down. Each is marked DISPLAY (anything I need to set up the canopy) or PROPS, for example: something that tells me its use at a glance without having to remove the lid. If it's pouring rain at set up I can stack my bins in number order as soon as the canopy is up and know that I will need first is on top. (I try to load them in the van in the right order too but I'm not always that good about it. )

The totes come in colors now too, not just blue. If I was starting over I would color code. They come in at least 3 different sizes, and I use all of them.

Anything that has to be replenished before the next show (plastic bag for my tissue and bags, or something that needs to be washed: this includes thermos, food bag, etc. ) goes into an open laundry type basket, which goes on the back seat, not the all the way back in the van, so I can’t forget what’s in there. My show jacket /raincoat gets tossed in there too.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Pugh on March 3, 2010 at 11:12pm

I purchased one of those canvas tool totes and find it is very helpful. Many pockets and it carries all my show supplies, hooks, tape, tools and such. I also carry a breifcase to carry my personals such as camera, asperins, and even eliminate my purse and put my personal id and cc's in there. I try to eliminate the "non-sale" totes and save the space for sale-a-ble merchandise. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hoyt on March 4, 2010 at 7:02am

I was doing a show a few years ago in Gloucester, MA where one exhibitor made a "tool belt" for a 5 gallon bucket. It had pockets all around and the inside of the bucket was great for the larger items like electrical cords, etc. The exhibitor was from Nantucket and called them "Nantucket Buckets" or something like that. They were meant to be used by boaters. The pockets were made of sailcloth and were very durable.
A number of fellow exhibitors bought them and I still see them being used.

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Permalink Reply by Connie Mettler on March 4, 2010 at 3:15pm

Some excellent ideas here. Organize everything. Put like with like.

Do have uniform waterproof seal-tight boxes, labelled for their contents. They should stack on one another. They should not be so heavy that you get tired out. Make sure all boxes work for you and that you can handle each one yourself.

Ideally you will not have to load or unload them between shows.

Wheels -- yes, you must have a handtruck of some kind. They come in all kinds of sizes, from small luggage carts (they are great -- fold up small and tuck in small spaces) to full size dollies with pneumatic tires.

(I noticed your tags above -- put phrases in " " marks, e.g., "must haves", "necessary supplies"--Ning does tags differently from any other system online!)

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Permalink Reply by Dave Hinde on March 4, 2010 at 4:01pm

Don't forget you may have to carry that gridwall to your booth site. It does get heavy. Actually, you'll have to carry everything. After using a standard handtruck a few times, I bought a Rock N Roller Multicart. You can find them at http://www.handtrucksrus.com/ and a number of other places. Mine came from a Guitar store. They fold up small, yet hold 500 lbs. The trick to carrying gridwall on them is to bungee one sheet securely to the cart, then pile the rest on top and tie them down with one more bungee.

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Permalink Reply by Linnea Lahlum on March 5, 2010 at 10:58pm

I've seen green rubbermaid bins at Target. If memory serves I saw dark blue, light blue, and green.

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