My name is Judy and I’ve been crafting for over 33 years. After struggling with canopy setups for a number of years, my husband and I, who work at different heights, have reached a compromise. We drilled holes 16” from the ground that would be the first “setup” position level to work at on our King Canopy. At this level, I can easily reach to attach sidewalls, interior display curtains and reinforcement bars for our display. Once these are hung and in place, we then elevate the canopy to a show height. Now, it makes me crazy to see people straining to put on their sidewalls with the canopy extended to show height as a first position. Why strain if you don’t have to?!
I sell jewelry that is displayed on individual item cards. For awhile I used wooden shutters as display racks. They worked great but take up so much room in our truck or my car. I’ve also used the white closet shelving for display racks but they are quite heavy and tend to be real knuckle busters. Then I discovered a lighter weight, wire grid system that really satified my needs. And, they can be easily folded and slipped back into their boxes. Now I use black wire dog exercise pens. They come linked together as eight 24” wide panels in several different heights. I separated each boxed set of 8 panels into 4 sets of two panels with hang as either 48” long by 24” wide or 48” long by 30” wide. A standard 10’x10’ canopy is 120” on each side or 3x30” plus 24” on two sides and two 24” and two 30” on the third wall leaving the front open. But, everyone’s setup is different. My sister likes to use tables and uses some of the two-panel sets A-framed on the tables and some as hanging racks. We are limited only by our own imaginations.
Most importantly, never leave home without heavy duty clamps, bungee cords, zip ties and duct tape. With these and scrap wood or cardboard we could build a shopping mall - or, at least, solve any minor problems that come up. Expect the unexpected and always be flexible in your thinking.
