I will be having my newest booth design professionally photographed next week and am looking for any final suggestions that will be easy to implement.  I've attached a collage of my last four booths, so you can see the progression, and a blocked out version of my new booth.  Specifically, I am wondering about the prominent empty work table.  At a show, this is full of business cards, a clipboard, pens, and a large vise on which I have ongoing demonstrations of the technique.  I have removed all of this clutter, as well as the stool (upholstered to match the overall look of the booth).  Now it looks too empty.

The back wall will have three new 20x30 posters which I just picked up yesterday (Big thanks to Larry Berman for his help with this!!!!).


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  • Jan - thanks for your response. You gave me some ideas to try for my next show...I think I'll try a similar system for the bottoms to minimize swaying.... I don't have lower stay-bars so my curtains are anchored down with coated clothesline wire. I'm going to try to anchor the ribbon/cord to that lower wire as well. and see what happens....
  • I would definitely increase the size of your back wall jewelry photos ... They are way undersized. Making a nice wall display is extremely cheap (you can get poster sized printsfor very little, online, or at any Costco/WalMart/Sams) and mounting them locally is cheap as well (or by yourself with 1/4 MDF and 3M Spray).

    Anyway, I hope you diod not hire a "professional" to take a booth shot ... it is really easy to do it yourself with professional results. if you did not get the back wall images resized in time for he shoot, then you can easily add them in a much larger size via Photoshop ... No one will know the difference if you know what you are doing.

    Best Wishes.
    • Hugo, I did specify in my original post that three new 20x30 posters were coming and will be in the new photo. They are gorgeous, by the way!

      And I most definitely have hired a Professional. The photos posted above have been my own best efforts and I hate the graininess my camera yields. I am all for doing as much as possible on your own, but sometimes I have to remember that "you get what you pay for" and when it comes to jury photography (for me), "free" is just too cheap. My professional product photos are awesome right now, and my booth shot is by far my weakest photo. The jewelry category is so competitive, why would I want to risk not getting into shows just because I'm too cheap to have a professional photo taken? I can afford it now and have no doubt it is the right choice for me. In fact, I anticipate that if I remake the panels, I may have the booth photographed again within 6 months. I consider it a wise investment in the growth of my business.
  • Jan - I'm curious... what hanging system are you using for your wall displays? I recently added fabric panels to my display and cannot figure out how to securely attach anything including foam core backed images and my earring display boards...

    I also think for the image you could consider centering your wall displays. It wouldn't work at a show, but it would balance the image and give you more room to crop in close around the front corners of the booth without worrying about cutting off any of your display.

    Good Luck! Love the dark stained wood.
    • I forgot to add: attach items to fabric panels using curtain (drapery) hooks. That is how I attach the posters to the curtains.
    • I invented my own hanging system when I couldn't find something that already existed that did what I wanted. I wanted the panels to hang without being mounted on anything that ate up floor space (as had been the case in previous designs). I also did not want to use any kind of rigid panel (pro-panels, gridwall, or similar) that would change the overall "look" of the booth, particularly by hiding the curtains. The obvious choice then was to suspend the panels off the top bar of the canopy frame. I resisted this idea for months, because of the problem of the panels swaying with the wind. I finally gave up and implemented this, and am now trying to solve the swaying problem without compromising "the look." I'll be testing a new idea this weekend!

      The panels themselves are 1/2 inch MDF. There are some D-rings mounted on the back (used for framed paintings) to which I have sewn a large ring of ribbon. A short length of PVC pipe is threaded through the rings of ribbon and on each end of the pipe is a length of rope (sash cord, actually) and a large hook. The hook goes over the top bar and the sash cord is the same color as the curtains (disappears!). I found the hooks at my local surplus store (Ax-man). I have since discovered that Flourish (makers of the Trimline canopy) has hooks designed to hang 2-D art which may work. I will consider switching. My panels are packed away right now since I'm leaving for a show tomorrow. I'll take a photo of all this over the weekend.
  • Why not put some additional pieces on the other table or spread your work equally across the two tables. I agree with Larry about the earring displays on the side. Maybe put fewer pieces on them or try to fancy them up somehow. Perhaps a border to match to wood on your tables. I'm assuming that is your mirror on the left without the glass. If the border on that matched the wood on your tables it would look nicer, IMO.
    • The panels will probably need to change color at some point, but I don't have time to make big changes before the photo-shoot. That IS the mirror (WITH the glass) on the left and it won't ever be changing. There is a braided motif on the border which mirrors (pardon the pun) some of my work, and people love discovering the connection. It is part of my marketing and it won't be going away. I may consider staining it dark, but that cannot be undone so I'd have to be certain it was the right thing to do in the long run. I will be removing many of the earrings (perhaps even two of the panels) and rearranging the work on the two tables, and I think those are good ideas for easy changes to improve this version.

      Thanks everyone!
      • Hi Jan,

        Take the mirror down for the picture because if anything is reflected in it, it will be a distraction. Usually when there is a mirror in a booth picture, either for jewelry/clothing or even artists that make mirrors in their medium, I drop a gradient into the reflective part of the mirror for the booth image.

        Larry Berman
        Digital J u r y Services
        http://BermanGraphics.com
        412-401-8100
  • I'd maybe add some flowers or a plant on your counter to make it a little more inviting. Or perhaps a necklace on a form so the counter just isn't so blank. It will help to balance out the display.
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