Saturday, August 25, 2012

Studio storage and finished jewelry

Storing your stash is one thing; storing your finished creations is a whole new adventure. I used to pin my finished pieces all over  my booth display panels which were stuck in a corner of my room. Some things hung from hooks I made to cling to branches (yes, from trees). But it was a mess, the pins were bending all the time,  and I feared the ruin of my display panels.

I ended up hanging pegboard. I was not sure how it would look, or if it would be cost effective because I'd need LOTS of hooks, and worried about how pieces would hang.

As it turned out the boards look really clean and their natural wood color works great as the background color. Hooks come in lots of sizes and shapes, and I slipped sturdy tubes over several pegs to help round out the way pieces are hanging.

Thanks to my hubs Mike I only bought  hooks with smaller gauges of pegs (the part that goes into the holes) to fit easily. IMPORTANT TIP if you want to do pegboard! Larger pegs distort the holes and are a pain to move around. Make sure to look for the hooks with the slimmer pegs!

I also still use my branches and hammered copper hooks so my jewelry wall has a bit more of a display feeling than just plain pegboard. Why not paint it, you ask? Because paint scratches-- and what color would match all my jewelry? Plus you can see that the pegboard matches the woodwork trim in my studio!

Now I am on the look-out for a nicer tube-thingy than cardboard to pad some hooks. Maybe there's an interesting but neutral color,  easy-to-cut hose... or the tubes used to control network wires. I'll find something.

But meantime I am quite happy with clean arrangement,  ease of organization,  low cost and especially the now-I can-see-everything-and-so-can-customers look of my jewelry wall!
PS: Yes, it's a TV, and yes, that's my Swarovski CREATE YOUR STYLE Ambassador apron on my dress form!