The Comic Book Store

Since I have gotten so involved in jewelry again, I have a lot of finished pieces to store. Currently, they are all laid nicely in a tray. But...... now it looks more like a heap and when you try to pull something out at the bottom, things get tangled and it's just a mess!I am glad that I will be so well stocked when I do my annual Art Fair this June (where I pull out all the stops with my display with mannequins, busts, peacocks, etc..), but there are a lot of other scenarios of traveling with my jewelry. The pieces that are listed on Etsy aren't really a problem, but at one store I sell at in town the owner likes to choose what she takes because she knows what her customers will buy. Another thing I do sometimes is bring a bunch into work for my co-workers to shop. Yeah, the tray is easy to transport but then you have to organize the jumbled mess at the destination, it takes a lot of time, and sometimes people don't get a good idea of how a necklace would lay.

So my dream was to have them on boards that stood up for people to flip through. But, as you probably know, real jewelry displays can be quite expensive. So I racked my brain to think of anything I already had at home to use. I'm a scrapbooker, but even card stock from that seemed too thin. Hmmm, cutting up a cardboard box..... file folders..... I don't know. I brainstormed with my co-workers yesterday and my genius friend Kristen said, "Why don't you try a comic book store - they store all their books in a plastic bag with a board in them." Hooray!!! I called the local store in town before heading over there after work. Once there, I just went over to the shelf and grabbed a bag of boards and a set of bags. At the counter, I was informed that I had a different size board than bag. Uhhhh, they all looked the same to me but, the measurements can be different and they are so small you would hardly notice. The guy gave me one of those chuckles like "this chick has no business being here". He then asked what year comic books I was working with!?!?!?! I had to come clean and tell him what I was really using them for. He set me up with the right stuff and I was on my way. A small $16 investment for 100 of each seemed perfect to me.

So today, I have just starting putting things together. I cut 2 little notches at the top of each board for the necklace to hang from. I wasn't initially thinking bags too, but I am glad they offer an even cleaner look and protection. I am so pleased with this solution! I am always looking for better ways to organize. The only thing I forgot was they probably had a box that was the exact size for these puppies, but hopefully I can find one in my basement. Once they are all put together, my brain is already thinking of organizing with tabs/dividers. Since I like to experiment with so many types of looks, I can already see that I will have one tab for vintage looking, one tab for peacock designs (of course!), one tab for really colorful summer stuff, etc....... I know I can also fasten bracelets to the boards and then I'll probably put several pairs of earrings on a board(s). These can be reused over the years and depending on how motivated I feel I can even decorate them up with my logo/name, peacock stamps, etc.... I hope others might find this a good solution as well! Have a great day!