committed to repurposing

Preparing for craft festivals means not only designing and creating more jewelry and paper goods, but working on table/booth layout as well. Just as i use found items in my paper crafting and broken pieces in my jewelry, I am committed to using repurposed objects for display.You might recall that at my first jewelry show i had a light fixture that i'd saved from the trash and turned into an earring holder and a candleholder -also saved from the trash- that i flipped to hang necklaces.
But even a year earlier when i did a table of found objects for scrapbooking at my friend's charity crop i used my own collection of vintage glass and relish dishes to display metal and glass:

as well as a wooden flatware divider (50 cents at a yardsale that i then hand painted with 3 colors of metallic paint - funny story: the next time i used it for the same display at the National Road yard sale someone asked if it were for sale so i sold it for $3) to show vintage postcards and Victorian scraps from the 1860s,

and a basket that we've had for eons -mom put napkins in it- that i dressed up with wire and a hand-colored silk flower.






The last show i did at the beginning of May i was supposed to share the booth with another jeweler so i designed the table layout for half a space and at the last minute she pulled out so i suddenly needed to fill a lot more area. The solution was a new earring holder made out of an adjustable window screen and 2 shelf brackets:

My covered memo pads and mini-memo books were set up in old CD racks,
while the flower pens were bunched in vases and mini pitchers.




Perhaps my favorite repurposed item so far is this display tree:

Unfortunately the before picture is lost, but try to image a wooden Christmas tree in 2 shades of green that had twinkle lights pushed through holes, with white rick-rack zigzagging like garland and large star sequins and pastel plastic bulbs with curling ribbon bows hot-melted on the front. It was hideous and lived in my screen room for 4 years since i acquired it a work yardsale for free.
All the junk had to be stripped off. The lights mostly pulled out okay, but 2 bulbs broke and had to be pliered out. The front was painted cream and decoupaged with vintage sheet music that i found at The Book Thing while the back and base were painted black. While everything dried i hit Home Depot to find wooden pegs which they didn't have in the size i needed so instead I bought 2 eight foot dowels of the correct diameter (yes, i measured and all, but i took a twinkle bulb with me to be sure), cut them into 4 inch lengths and rounded the ends with my Dremel.
The pegs can be moved around to display bracelets or necklaces in different configurations.
 Next i need to find a better, cooler way to show rings.
Does anyone know where to find mannequin hands?