It's always worked out for me in a sort of homey way, but I recently realized that the huge variety might end up overshadowing or obscuring the work. I also wanted to make sure visitors knew that both the maps and the jewelry were made by the same person. I did some brainstorming with a friend and decided that the deep red chests (which I came upon by lucky chance at a yard sale just days before my first craft fair ever!) should determine the look of the rest of the setup, since they're my favorite part. Besides those dark-colored display pieces, though, most of my work (especially the jewelry) looks better on light colors. I decided to go with a frame theme to connect the art to the jewelry, and also to set off the jewelry in their own spaces for each type. It's difficult with work this varied and individual, but I think my solution worked out pretty well:
I kept the earring stand, but painted it to match the fittings on the red chests, and replaced the old plastic cross-stitch mesh with light cream cross-stitch fabric, which still has holes for earrings to go into but is less translucent (so the earrings don't end up being backlit, which gets annoying) and also more organic-looking. I also kept the red frame with white lace since it's always caught people's attention, and goes well with the chests. For the flower earring display, I scrapped my old system of a cigar box with plastic mesh (too distracting and thrown-together) and hung the earrings with more space on two blank canvases hinged together like a book. I like the way it all comes together, and I think visitors enjoyed discovering the jewelry without having to search for it. We'll see if it works as well in the darkness of the Burren's back room this weekend!
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