5.12.2009

DIY Instructions - How to make a ring display for craft shows!

I had a big show last week and needed a new ring display. I wanted something sturdy and with a little bit of chunk to it, so I could show off my Glitter PoP Rings.
To make your own, you can get some ideas from this tutorial. Scouting out the right box and fabric are key. You can make any kind of ring tray you want with this in mind. Mine cost me about $16 total. You can certainly buy one already made for that price, but making you own enables you to customize it to your own ring size and make it match the rest of your display more than the commercial ones.
This is my first blog tutorial, so bear with me!

First, I had to decide how many rings I wanted it to hold. I estimated about 40 or 50 each, as I have about 100 + rings.

Supplies:
-trays (mine were $7.00 with a coupon)
-foam , just larger than your tray (mine were $7.99, but look at the thrift shop, or take apart your own chair!)
-opaque fabric, twice the size of your foam (the first one I used was too sheer and showed the green foam through it, and I had to find some more opaque fabric)


Tools:
-scissors
-box cutter
-marker
-ruler, or any stick to stuff fabric down (hand works too)


I found some bamboo house ware trays at Bed Bath & Beyond. They are stacking, and these would have been great if I could have had a little less foam, then I could have set up the rings at home and just stack them and bring it to the show. But I wanted the rings to sit right at the brim for easy viewing. Plan this when purchasing your foam. How thick do YOU need your foam to be?



Above:
I bought two trays. The green foam is from Joanns fabric, and is for seat cushions. They had all sorts of thicknesses and densities. I got one that had a big of heft to it, so that the rings would stay in the tray. If it is too floppy, your rings wont have anything to grab them, so go for dense.


Above:
Lay your tray over the foam, and score a line where you will cut it. I used the outside of the box to measure, knowing that I need a tight fit. If the foam is larger than the box, when I put it in the box it will expand and stay put. I did this all by eye and just winged it.



Above:
Cutting was satisfying..it made a nice clean line. Snip snip! But the foam was a bit thick so I found myself cutting twice over every line. I had to be careful not to shred it, but it was easy.


Above:
Stuff the foam in to check the size. if its tooooo big, just snip again. Mine had to be stuffed into it, which is what I wanted. I don't want it to move AT ALL.

Above:
I then set my intended rings onto the top to see how far apart they needed to sit. I have large rings, that needed a lot of space. I marked with a sharpee where I would need to cut.
Take the foam out of the box again and cut on the lines!
Note: I thought I would just need to kind of slice halfway down the foam, but decided to cut the foam completely at each black line. So I marked the foam #1-#12 so I could put the puzzle back together after cutting them. Once I sliced completely through, I stacked and stuffed the foam back into the box. There was a lot of finagling and wiggling to get it to stuff back in and look neat and tidy. Just work it in.
Next, lay the fabric on top. I found the center of the fabric by folding it in half, and stuck the middle into the middle foam crease. This helped me evenly distribute the cloth.


Above: I had to cram the fabric into the sides with a ruler and my fingers and lots of tug-o-war. So dont be afraid to really get in there. I had to do it twice on each ring box, take the fabric out and put it back in to get it to look nice. Make sure you get the fabric ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom so that it doesn't come out when people are trying on rings.
You can see that this was my first try, and you can still see the green through the fabric. I switched it out the next day with a velour sort of fabric. This felt nice to touch and made the rings look a lot more refined as well.


Here's my final product! This is what it looked like at the craft show (boy what a messy table). I think I will go back and get a few more trays. They had smaller ones and I think I want a small tray for each of my fused glass rings with different prices. I also had a lot of foam left over to do this again. This was an easy project that didn't require any glue. I love that!



edit: here's a new photo. I also use the larger box to hold cuff bracelets and matching rings.

edit: some people have been asking where to find the rings (thanks!) - I make them myself and sell them in my online Etsy shop. www.popko.etsy.com






34 comments:

Tammy's Treasure Chest said...

What a great idea for rings! Great tut too!

Orion Designs said...

Awesome ring display. Thanks for sharing!
Vicki

Catherine said...

I'm so impressed. A lot of the affordable ring displays out there are cheap or dull - my mind is racing with ways to personalize these.

Thank you!

Wendylee said...

A great idea, effective and looks fantastic!

Evie's Tool Emporium said...

Perfect for customers to shop from! Excellent work!
Michelle-

Sandi said...

This is such a great idea. Love it. The tutorial was very good. You did good. I plan on making one for my rings. Thanks so much for sharing.

Sandi
Impatient Cajun

shopPOPKO said...

oh GOOD! Im so happy that people are getting some ideas to make one! If you take this basic design, you can really personalize it.

Leeya Engel said...

What a fabulous idea! Well done! I have been searching for exactly something like this and have been pushing off going to the store to buy one because they can be expensive and usually hold very few rings anyhow. This is great! A bit of work, but I'm sure I'll get to it. When I do Ill be sure to thank you in my blog. :)

shopPOPKO said...

thanks! I just realized that i forgot to mention in the article that this only took about 30 minutes. It took longer than that but thats because I had to learn to do it myself. It shouldnt take long!

ColourLab said...

Thank you so much for sharing this great idea!!!! Seems easy and simple...I will definetely try it out!!!!

The Beading Gem said...

Just wonderful! I am in need of a ring display. Will link in a future blog post.

Unknown said...

Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing.
Tammy

shopPOPKO said...

thanks again all! i made a few smaller ones recently too, and they really made a big impact for my table. see this post for a photo, they are at the front of the table
http://popko.blogspot.com/2009/09/start-on-street-2009.html

Just Me said...

Is that you in the background? It looks like there are earrings hanging off of the sweater! I may just be hallucinating...LOL

Bonhomie said...

EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you so much!

Pumpkin Pye Boutique said...

ah this is great! I will be making this! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Gunn said...

Great idea, thank you for sharing!

AJSnow said...

Oh Thank You for posting this! Its EXACTLY what I need for an upcoming show! Phew!

BlueBoxStudio said...

What a brilliant idea and a great tutorial. I need something for displaying a range of cufflinks and think I can adapt your idea to make something suitable.

eryn hannig said...

WOW! LOVE this...thank you SO MUCH!! I was stressing about how to display my rings at my very first craft show coming up this weekend...you have helped me a TON! ...going to show mine tomorrow on my blog with a link to this post! thx again! :)

autumn said...

Fantastic tutorial! Thanks for all of the info! I don't make rings yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to pass this info onto some other crafty pals!

Anonymous said...

You are wonderful! Thank you! This is amazing! So simple! I have cupcake rings and they're bigger than normal jewelry boxes, you have such a great idea!

creativebeadz said...

Great tutorial--well explained and illustrated. Thank you!

Robin
www.creativebeadz.com

Mandanya Rafa said...

This is great!
gonna make it today and post a link to your blog ^__^
Thanks for the great idea :)

Mandanya Rafa said...

This is Great!
Gonna make this today and post a link into your blog ^__^
Thanks for the great idea :)

starbrightgirl said...

Fantastic post - thanks so much! Am going shopping for supplies to make my own today :) xx

Natalia Araya said...

This tutorial is the best! I always buy displays and end up not liking them and throwing them away this is perfect!

Thank you so much! I am spreading the word :)

Anonymous said...

You have no idea how long I've been looking for a ring display box!! I'm not a crafter or a blogger but I love rings and have close to 100 of them, but no where or no way to store them in anaerobic that allowse to see them all at the same time. I came across your blog and was totally inspired to make my own. I went out yesterday and got an antique looking box with the Eiffel tower on it, the foam and matching fabric and made the whole project in about 15-20 mins. I sent some pics to a few friends and now I have a few requests to make them one too!! Awesome idea and thank you for sharing. Any ideas on earring displays? :)

shopPOPKO said...

I'm So thrilled that you are all still finding this tutorial! Thank you for commenting, its great to hear that you've been making the boxes for yourself, or getting an idea.

Kushiel said...

THAT IS FANNNNTASTIC!!!!

Just what i was looking for!!!!!

I am outfitting my new display case....

Memories for Life said...

Your ring displays look great...thanks for the tutorial! And your entire display looks great as well...very bright and inviting.

Unknown said...

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Vanessa said...

those glitter rings are so pretty!

http://cafecraftea.blogspot.com/