Artist Alley Display Height

chibimonster · March 09, 2012, 06:18:55 PM

I'm planning on having a PVC display at Fanime, and am considering how tall to make it. Does anyone know if there are any restrictions on how tall our displays are allowed to be? I haven't found anything on the website or the forums other than "If it looks unstable or falls down, we'll ask you to remove it".

Is there a height restriction, or can displays be as tall as we want them to be as long as they don't look unstable/fall?

Laggy · March 09, 2012, 11:56:19 PM

Thanks very much for asking this. It'll be my first year too, and I was wondering about that.

arcadiapandora · March 11, 2012, 03:08:21 PM

Also curious - we have plans for a vertical display as well.

Alexie828 · March 11, 2012, 10:33:19 PM

It really depends on you. I wouldn't make it any higher than 5 feet(60 inches), otherwise people are craning their heads to look. However, if you don't have much merchandise, than 5 feet would be too high, eh? That's what mostly what happened last year with my friend and I. We only had like, 3 prints apiece and sharing a table, and people had to look up high to see our art. Then again, if you are planning to sell in the future and think you will expand on your merchandise, then just get the longer pipes for now and find someway to hang the art lower. :)

What I would suggest is figure out what prints you're planning on selling; do a little sketch somewhere to organize the prints in a way so they all fit. Most likely, you'll be printing in measurement of inches, so for your reference, the table is 6 feet in length, which is 72 inches. :) Do a little math to see how many you can fit horizontally, or be creative with your arrangement. You'll want for your customers to see you, so make sure when you extend your prints downwards vertically that you leave room for yourself to be seen. I know an artist who leaves a tiny little window in the middle for people to see his face. It's really cute, haha, but really hard to see him. Assume you will need about 2 feet(12 inches) of space from the top of the table. Just do a little calculator crunching and sketching to see what works. The height should really depend on how much you sell. Just don't make it too high, haha.

arcadiapandora · March 12, 2012, 03:58:48 PM

That's useful info, but I'm more interested in actual restrictions on height. It's not just about displaying what you want to sell, but signage.

Is there an official area of the rules that specifies it? Or maybe a mod can comment with specific rules?

chibimonster · March 12, 2012, 09:02:57 PM

A lot of conventions do have height restrictions (AX limits you to 7ft from the ground), but I don't know if Fanime has set any limits yet. My current PVC display is about 4 ft tall, and I put it on top of the table, so it ends up being a little more than 6 and a half feet tall. I was considering adding another half or whole foot to make my display a bit more noticeable. I use good supports, so I'm sure it'll still be stable. I just want to know if adding more height is allowed or recommended.

ttyls · March 13, 2012, 04:00:50 PM

From what I remember in the past, there's no actual height limit. The only requirement is it has to be stable. Not sure if that's changed though?

For those of you who've made PVC displays, how did you construct it? I've been thinking about making one too, but am not sure what sort of construction would be sturdiest. I'm thinking of making it reach around 7 ft high, if that's alright.

chibimonster · March 13, 2012, 05:23:08 PM

Mine is like a 3 sided rectangle. Going from side to side on the table, it has one pole across the top (I hang my art here) and two poles going downward at the sides. On the botom of these two poles, I have supports (2 ft long), going from the front of the table to the back of the table, to make sure the display is stable.

That's a really complicated explanation... Anyway, here's what I used to build it:

8 2 foot poles
1 1.5 foot pole
2 elbow connectors
4 slip connectors
2 T connectors
4 end caps

4 of the 2 foot poles were used to make the vertical sections
2 2 foot poles and the 1.5 foot pole were used for the top section
2 of the 2 foot poles were cut in half to make 4 1 foot poles, which I used for the supports.

Here's a picture (sort of).

I tried to indicate where I used the connectors. Anyway, it's really stable; You don't even need to tape it down/secure it to anything. (I recommend doing so anyway - just remember to bring your own tablecloth). I used 3/4" PVC, and I don't think you should go any smaller, and you don't really need to use bigger PVC unless you plan to hang heavy things on it.

octorok · March 14, 2012, 05:42:14 PM

Quote from: chibimonster on March 13, 2012, 05:23:08 PM
Mine is like a 3 sided rectangle. Goung from side to side on the table, it has one pole across the top (I hang my art here) and two poles going downward at the sides. On the botom of these two poles, I have supports (2 ft long), going from the front of the table to the back of the table, to make sure the display is stable.

That's a really complicated explanation... Anyway, here's what I used to build it:

8 2 foot poles
1 1.5 foot pole
2 elbow connectors
4 slip connectors
2 T connectors
4 end caps

4 of the 2 foot poles were used to make the vertical sections
2 2 foot poles and the 1.5 foot pole were used for the top section
2 of the 2 foot poles were cut in half to make 4 1 foot poles, which I used for the supports.

Here's a picture (sort of).

I tried to indicate where I used the connectors. Anyway, it's really stable; You don't even need to tape it down/secure it to anything. (I recommend doing so anyway - just remember to bring your own tablecloth). I used 3/4" PVC, and I don't think you should go any smaller, and you don't really need to use bigger PVC unless you plan to hang heavy things on it.

suuper useful, thank you so much!

chibimonster · March 14, 2012, 06:27:03 PM

It better be useful; I spent several math classes drawing diagrams of my PVC stuff... :P Anyway, you're welcome.

To others who already have PVC: Were your pipes really dirty when you got them? When I got mine, they weren't even white... they were more like light brown. I'm trying to find a good way to scrub off all that dirt... so far I've been only partially successful. I suppose I'll paint them once I get them mostly clean. I want my PVC to look nice, not like it's just been buried in my backyard for several months.

LiL Moon · March 14, 2012, 08:33:17 PM

So....if there's no height limit.....can I like dominate the air with my display? Time for a 10ft tall display! XD I'm joking, I'm joking. I kinda wish there was a limit just so I could feel comfortable with my display. I have one that goes with AX's height limits. I'll just test mine out and see what works.