This past
Saturday, my church hosted a new event called “Art With A Purpose.”
It was a sort of “talent show” for anyone in our
church who wanted to share the gifts God has given them – whether
it was through visual art, music, or other creative outlet. I was so
excited to be given a booth to showcase my art!
DISCLAIMER OF
SORTS: Please forgive all the “fuzzy” photos in this post! (They
were all taken with my phone, and not always in the best lighting
conditions!)
I have never done
an art show before, but I have assisted someone else with preparing
for a trade show, and, of course, I had my trusty friend, Pinterest,
there for inspiration. I knew I wanted to incorporate my signature
colours (green and red) into my booth, but I didn't want to go
overboard, as I wanted my art to stand out more than my table decor!
I ended up using green (I already had a lovely bright green
tablecloth, so I didn't have to buy a new one), brown (mostly wood
and some tiny brown cardboard boxes) & black (for a chalkboard
look). It ended up working out better than I had hoped!
I learned from
handandseek.com (a website that I discovered through Pinterest) that
it is a good idea to have raised surfaces for some of your art,
rather than putting all of it right onto a table. There's a furniture
store not far from where I live that sells some really cheap stuff,
so I picked up a little unfinished wooden shelving unit for around
$20! It was the perfect size. I practiced my set-up on a coffee table
at home first.
(I realize the
fabric I used on the shelf looks a bit red in the above photo, but it
is actually brown; I did try some red fabric, but it looked too busy,
so I decided to go more neutral.)
I wanted to
display “Pigs On A Bus” at my booth, of course! (“Pigs On A
Bus” is a children's book which my boyfriend wrote, and I
illustrated. Find out more by clicking here and here!)
The only problem was that it is still in the process of being
published, and I did not feel comfortable with putting the original
artwork out for people to be constantly handling. I had discovered a
great little print-shop recently who has printed samples for me of my
new wedding invitation designs, so I decided to have them print a
copy of our children's book as well. Although they provided binding
services for booklets, they offered me a cheaper price to simply
print each page and then I would cut and bind them myself. I'm glad I
chose the second option, as it allowed me to create a custom look.
My print-shop was
gracious enough to mark some guidelines on the pages to make it
easier for me to cut the pages out. Once all the cutting was over
with, I decided to see if I could staple the pages together. It
turned out to be too thick a stack for that; however, I was able to
use the holes left behind from the stapler as a guide to actually
stitching the book together! I made a few more staple marks down the
page, then used a pin to make the holes a wee bit bigger, and also to
punch the remaining pages that the stapler couldn't reach (making
sure that the holes on each page lined up with the page before). Then
I used a needle and thread to sew the pages together! I finished it
off by putting some green chevron patterned washi tape over the
stitches; the tape gave it a very clean, professional look!
I got some
business cards made at the same print-shop. I also got a few
miniature art prints made in the size of business cards – I found a
place that could do these for a very low price, so that I
could give them away for free at the show; one of the prints featured
a page from “Pigs On A Bus,” and it was definitely the most
popular print! Lastly, I had a little candy jar with some Starbursts!
I also wanted to
share a meaningful bible verse at my booth. I found one that really
defined my journey to starting my own business, and really my journey
through life as well. I bought a little chalkboard from a craft store
and wrote the verse on it using a white multi-surface pencil. (I made
sure to test the pencil first to make sure that it could be erased,
and it's a good thing, too! Because – and this is so funny – it
took me SO MANY tries to get the word “patient” just right!)
Practising my
set-up at home really helped speed up the process once I got to my
church – even though my booth ended up being at a round table,
which I had not anticipated (I only had to slightly rearrange my
things). Here's what my final booth looked like:
I have some very
talented friends at my church who also displayed their art, and who
are planning on opening Etsy shops in the near future! When they do,
I will be sure to post about it! (And in case you were wondering, I
am planning on opening an Etsy shop, too! I have got a few ideas of
things I want to sell, but if any of you have any suggestions, I
would be happy to hear them!)
Have any of you
ever displayed anything at a show? Feel free to leave a comment and
share about your experience! :)
Alison
