
Click on the photo above to see how the stand looks without the covering material.
Stand Design
A few weeks ago I had a stand a holistic fair. It was a worthwhile venture and I’ll be doing more. It was in a hotel and the organisers provided us with a table and a few chairs. Nothing to hang pictures on and no stand system like we get at Art Ireland and the Mind Body Spirit fair.
I had to come up with a cheap, easily erected stand which could collapse into as small a space as possible, as I would have to transport it and the framed pictures to the venue. One of the supermarkets was doing a promotion selling a DIY scaffolding system which had 2 aluminium ladders and a platform which fitted between them. This I used as the basis of the stand. I then got 7 sheets of 9mm MDF, 60 cm x 180cm, about 30 bolts and 6 lengths of timber.
After a bit of planning, a little cutting, some drilling I had the basic construction. The scaffold system was pretty steady and the timber and bolts held the MDF panels in place firmly. I then bought 9 metres of cream material and draped it over the whole thing. The material was over 2 m wide so it covered the panels top to bottom. It was a matter of starting in one corner and wrapping the whole stand in the material.
The next problem was how to hang the pictures. At the Mind Body Spirit fair the stand system was made of laminated plastic panels which couldn’t be nailed or screwed. I had some climbing type hooks and along with some chain and S hooks they worked well as a hanging system. So the climbing hooks went into the end ring of the chain and hooked onto the top of the MDF panels. Using S hooks it was easy to hang the picture on the chains.
It all fitted into the car but I couldn’t get any of my A0 size frames in as the stand system was taking up the length of the car. I’m now thinking of getting something that can take a decent load. Here’s the approximate costs:
Scaffold ladder system………….€100
MDF panels, timber & bolts……€140
Material…………………….........…….€70
Chain & hooks…………......………..€60
Total……………………..........……….€370
It worked well on the day. It was sturdy and there was no danger of it falling apart. It held the pictures nicely and the scaffold platform created a nice desk which held the smaller prints and would still have room for the laptop if necessary. It took me about to hours to get it up with all the pictures in place and the title cards of each piece along with the price list. Taking it down took about an hour. I’m happy enough with it for now. If I come across a system that is lighter and quicker to erect I will probably consider getting it but for now it works well.
If you’re thinking of doing something similar and you need any more details just submit a comment by clicking on the word Comments below.