My brand new bag

My journey into art fairs started with greeting cards that were easy to pack. When I discovered wire jewelry my initial inventory fit nicely into vintage cookie tins I owned, and all my pendants fit nicely on one tray.

A few years later my inventory is up to more than 200 in stock (and 445 creations), and the tissues and boxes approach doesn’t work as well anymore.

I had started packing up at Creative Coworking’s Art & Wine night when someone picked up earrings that had a matching pendant, which of course was at the bottom of one of my boxes. After digging through I found it, but it wasn’t convenient.

So I started looking into a different way to transport and store my inventory. As I searched for jewelry transport bags I found an online shop, Gems on Display, that has just the right supplies!

I found a bag that allows you to stack jewelry trays inside of it, and then online customer service directed me to one that had a shoulder strap. Then I checked out the trays and the liners, and took notes on the variety of options.

I measured out my pendants one by one to see what would fit in what compartment. At the Custer Fair I also scoped out how the jewelry trays were set up in the booths there.

On Monday I made the calculations for the depth of the trays, and opted for a few 2 inch trays and mostly 1 inch trays. 1.5 inches was an option but I was afraid I would get the measurements wrong so I went with even numbers.

The shipment arrived on Wednesday and all of it fits perfectly together.

Unfortunately two trays broke in transit, but replacement parts were shipped immediately, so I could try out my brand new bag for Swedish Days. Look at all these lovely compartments.

Big sigh of relief that online measurements met offline estimates.

How well it all fits!

It was fun lining everything up.

The earring liner is so helpful.

Boxes that fit into two bags before are now contained into one.

I still set up my booth the way I usually do, but when I packed up I purposely didn’t stack the trays so people could still browse, which garnered a last-minute sale.

Not only is it easy to carry my new bag, but it is also an instant at-a-glance storage solution.

I’ll never have to dig for a particular jewelry piece again!

They’re all easily accessible and viewable.

It’s so exciting when an online purchase works out the right way!