My New Store is Open

I worked on my new store in the Ashland Artisan Emporium today from opening time at 11 to almost 3 (with half an hour off for lunch). I promised you a blow-by-blow, so here's what it looked like when I got there, if you recall from last week.

Daniel lent me his Montero, which has a big cargo space, and fortunately, I was able to pull up onto the sidewalk in front of the Emporium to unload. A passing True Gentleman offered to carry in the bookcase and the toy chest, and I thanked him profusely as I amassed a heap of stuff just inside the front door. Then I parked the car and came back to tote everything back to my space, about 70' from the front door.
Here's what I brought:

• toy box
• bookcase
• a small folding table
• two painted cardboard display boxes for prints and unmatted artwork
• two boxes of autographed books
• a box of large framed art
• a box of prints to put in display box
• a box containing a bird mobile
• step ladder
• printouts of my booth plan and proposed arrangements
• tool caddy containing pliers, scissors, velcro, tape, pegboard hooks, tape measure, paper punch, pen, tags, etc.

It all looked really confusing and imposing at first, so I unpacked the boxes of books into the bookcase to get started, then hung the mobile from a stout wire protruding from a pegboard hole and wired to a pegboard attachment. This mobile gives the booth some movement while being airy enough to not block the view. The birds are computer printouts of a painting I did, glued to black foam board and cut out closely, then hung on brass rods with fishline.

My first casualty was a hanger on the back of a large, heavy painting. The nail head was apparently smaller than the hanger hole, and it pulled out, leaving the hanger attached on only one side. So I unhung the promo piece which had supports UNDER it, and used the hangers for that to support the painting instead.

That left the promo without a hanger, but figured out that I could unhinge one side of the upper two bulldog clamps and hang the piece from that (see the image at left).

I wanted to hang the book display boxes with the attached books/magazines next to their paintings, but the magazine containing one illustration was fragile so I had encased it in a plastic sleeve. At first I had hung it beside its picture, but that put it above eye level and the plastic sleeve glared from the overhead lights (see the glare in the image at right). Putting it below its picture resolved that problem.

Finally I had the main wall tweaked, and worked on the two side walls, putting up a display of prints for sale on one wall and non-illustration personal art on the other.

BTW, regarding business cards, I didn't put any out because I am pretty well booked up and don't really want to solicit work at the moment.

Here's the final result. I had brought the little table to work on, and also had the idea that I MIGHT use it for something, depending on how it looked. I really like it there in the center, even though it isn't doing much.

And it hadn't occurred to me until I was standing there, exhausted, just looking at everything, that if I put the bookcase and toybox/print containers in the corners at 45 degree angles, the booth would look much more welcoming and inviting, sort of like open arms.

So there it is. I think I'll redo the banner later and NOT laminate it. It won't be as sturdy, but it won't glare from the overhead lights, either, which would be better.

I have to go back tomorrow to fix the broken hanger on the picture, and I also think I'll take some Blu-Tack, which is a kind of sticky clay stuff to press under pictures that aren't hanging straight. By tomorrow they should be hanging as crooked as they plan to, and I can straighten them.

I am elated that I managed to pull this thing off without forgetting something major ~ or even minor! This has to be a "first" for me!

If you happen to be in the neighborhood, the Ashland Artisans Emporium is at 1670 Ashland Street, Ashland, Oregon, the main drag coming into town off the freeway. I'm in booth 116, and I hope you will stop by. I won't be there, most likely, but feel free to browse and see first hand how it turned out.

I hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions I might be able to answer, feel absolutely free to comment below and ask! I'm always happy to answer questions.

On Pegboards and Hooks

I've never been really fond of pegboard, but in terms of creating a base that will support just about anything, it is probably the most practical all-around foundation for the widest variety of uses.

Let's assume you are considering creating/designing/setting up your own pegboard booth, and I'll give you my thoughts about it in this and the next few blogs.

Pegboard is a thin masonite-type of board with holes punched through it on a one-inch grid. I've added a quick little sketch of a picture hung on pegboard with a pegboard hook, just to make sure we're on the same page here.

In former times, the holes were small, about 1/8", and hooks fit in firmly. But now they make them with a larger hole, about 1/4" in diameter. So if you plan to use old hooks from that can in the basement, you will find that they flop around in the hole a bit. In some cases, this won't matter, but you should be aware of the potential problem. I've seen large hooks that fit the holes, but they're not appropriate for most arty uses in a small booth (they're better for hanging up heavy tools). Smaller-wire hooks are still sold, and in the package are included ugly black plastic straps to hold them in place. The emphasis here is on UGLY. So avoid using them if possible (why don't they make them white, a much more common color for pegboard?).

The hooks cost between 20¢ and 25¢ each, and sell in packages of 8, so if you have lots of things to hang it can be a considerable outlay. Try to find old ones lying about in tin cans in a handyman's dusty workshop since most people at some point thought they'd get organized ~ then didn't. Those old hooks are still lying about. Also check garage sales.

I've been making some of my own hooks because a huge hook holding up a tiny picture looks ludicrous. Last night while watching TV, I busied myself with pliers and wire and created sixteen small wire hooks for the prints-in-sleeves I plan to hang. Here are some sketches of the wire and how to bend it. My first two or three were a bit clunky, but soon I improved my skills and they got nice and smooth. You can take advantage of my experiences here to make your own tidy little hooks.

The prints I want to hang are in sleeves about ¾" bigger than the print, so I'm going to use a paper punch to cut a tidy round hole exactly in the center of the sleeve edge (off-center will make the print hang crooked), so each can hang in its sleeve, ready to purchase. This should look a whole lot neater (and totally cheaper) than if I were to use the big ready-made hooks. And yes, I know the manufacturers make a lot of different hook shapes and sizes, including a smallish hook much like this one I've made, but I priced buying, say, 20 of these online. At 22¢ each, the price for 20 is $4.40. That's not too bad, but when you add in shipping, the price more than doubles, so it's not cost effective. Unless you're lucky, you won't live anywhere near a store that carries a selection (and has the particular ones you want!).

I also need to hang the book displays from the pegboard, showing an example of the book next to the art which illustrates it (I've painted all the boxes a light green using a flat water-based indoor paint). Hanging the boxes isn't hard if you think ahead.

I'll use the big hooks here since they'll be out of sight behind the book. The hook has to be able to punch through the display box, so use the hook itself to determine how far the hole should be from the edge. Punch the hole with an ice pick or some other sharp object that will give you a hole about the same size as the wire of the hook.

Then using a ruler to make sure you get the hooks the right distance apart to fit into the 1" grid on the board, punch the holes in the correct spots. The image at right shows one of the hooks inserted.

Here's what the book display looks like before and after the book is attached. You could use this technique for attaching any sort of container to a pegboard panel.

Attaching the labels is an interesting project, too. Since I like the looks of brass fasteners (and since they're reusable and hold things remarkably well), I use them to attach labels to anything I can punch them through. They work really well for attaching things to the lightweight foam board, too.

I posted instructions for making a box like this here. It's at the bottom of the blog entry.

More about labels, foam board, and brass fasteners next time.