Necklace and Earring Display tutorial

I will be doing my first craft/vendors market on Saturday and I am working with a budget. I generally like to do things myself if I know the design process is simple and can be completed with minimal investment. One of the things I am making is a necklace and earring display from foam board. I am also making a bracelet display and small earring displays. This tutorial is a simple step by step on how to make the necklace/earring display with a few materials and depending on what you already have, only $10.00.

Materials:

11x17 office paper (or a large piece of newspaper)

20x30 foam board (black or white) 1/4" thick

Heavy duty double sided mounting tape

Pencil

Scissors

X-acto knife 

Ruler

Hole punch

Metal jump rings

1. Fold the office paper (or newspaper) in half, draw and cut out your pattern. The design needs to be similar to the one below but you must scale it to the size you prefer. The top (neck) width of my pattern is 7" (and tapers down) the length of the neck is 6". The length of the front base is 1", the base itself is 2" inches tall by 4" inches across/wide. The back support is 6" long and the top flap which is what holds everything together is 4" across. 

2. Place the pattern on the edge of the poster board and trace around it. I was able to make 5 displays by placing them as close as possible to each other. 

3. Once traced, begin to cut into the poster board along the outline but don't worry about cutting completely through. You may want to work on a workshop table or something you aren't worried about damaging. Once cut, hold the poster board up and proceed to slice through it. It will be easier then trying to cut completely through the first time. 

4. Measure 1" in from both edges and mark with pencil. This will be the notch for the necklace. Measure 2" in from the necklace notches and mark with pencil. This will be for the earring holes.

5. Using your ruler, place it along the area that needs to be folded and fold. This helps because the thickness of the poster board is difficult to man handle without a guide. Keep in mind the top flap needs to be folded in the opposite (outward) direction from the base folds. 

6. Manually hold the display together and determine where the flap needs to be taped then trace the edges. 

 

7. Place the double sided tape on the flap then using the traced outlines as a guide, adhere it to the opposite side. 

8. Using the X-acto knife, cut out two small notches where you placed the lines in step 4 then using a hole punch, punch two holes where you placed the indicator lines leaving a top edge. 

9. Place the metal jump rings in the earring holes. 

 

AND, done!

*Note: You may need to weight the displays down by placing a flat and sqaured heavy piece of metal or pottery on the inside of the base to avoid any tipping or falling from wind.