Indoor Craft Show Lighting at Reasonable Price

[Isculpt]

I'm preparing for an indoor show, and I need to come up with better lighting than I've had in the past. I thought my lighting was adequate until I set up my booth and found that, compared to other booths, mine looked like the black hole of Calcutta. I don't have shiny surfaces on my work, so I don't need blinding lights, but I do need to make the booth bright enough for potential buyers to SEE the work. I've searched the archives for this topic, and although I'm sure it's been covered, I can't find anything by typing in "lighting for indoor craft shows" in the Search box. Any suggestions on lighting for a 10x10 booth or for finding a post covering this topic?

thanks, Jayne

[Chris Campbell]

If you look in the ads in the back of sunshine artist magazine or check their online forum etc ...

http://www.sunshineartist.com/

or google craft booth lighting you will find booth lighting specialists ... If you describe your work they are very good at recommending the exact lights you need. Don't scrimp on booth lighting ... It makes a huge difference in the appeal of your work at a show.

[GEP]

Jayne, when you say "reasonable price"what is the budget you are trying to stay within?

 

Here are some old threads from a few years back:

 

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/topic/1421-booth-lighting/page__hl__ikea%20clamp%20light__fromsearch__1

 

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/topic/528-lighting-for-pottery-display-booth/page__hl__track%20lighting__fromsearch__1

 

 

Mea

[Isculpt]

Thanks, Mea and Chris. I checked out the craft booth lighting advertisers on the Sunshine Artist forum as Chris suggested, but the $650 and up price tag is just too steep for me this year. I checked out the links that Mea sent, and I think I can afford track lights from a big box store. I just need to read some more to understand how to quantify the amount/type of light that I need, and whether those track lights can provide it. I did find an article (http://ezinearticles.com/?Lighting-a-Fine-Craft-Trade-Show-Booth---Options-for-the-Budget-Conscious-Artist&id=496824) about this subject, written by a jeweler, where she described purchasing track lights from a big box store and using 8 halogen bulbs, 50 watt, par 20, with a mixture of floods and spots. The price tag on that set up, with tracks, extension cords, etc, etc was under $250, which is in my budget. Now I guess I need to find a technical article (that I can understand!) about lighting....

[GEP]

Jayne,

 

I have 8 fixtures in my track lighting. I use (4) 75W halogen spotlights (900 lumens each), and (4) 50W incandescent flood lights (490 lumens each). I think my booth is bright enough, however I usually think I have one or two corners that I wish were brighter. I just finished a show this weekend that included some nighttime hours, once the sun went down I saw other booths that were brighter than mine. So now I want to add maybe one or two fixtures to my setup, or get new bulbs with more lumens.

 

Although, I've never felt my booth wasn't bright enough at any indoor show, so the above is plenty of light for an indoor space that comes with it's own ambient light.

 

Another thing ... I bought my bulbs several years ago ... I would not recommend halogens or incandescents now, because they get really hot! My booth was really warm, whereas if I stepped outside the canopy it was cool and breezy. If I stand right in the path of a halogen, I feel like I'm in a broiler. The bulbs also seemed to attract gnats ... ugh. I'm thinking of switching to those new LED bulbs. From what I've read, they do not get hot or attract bugs. They are about $12 each, not cheap but still cheaper than the halogen spotlights, which were $15 each.

 

Mea

[Mark C.]

Mea

(those new LED bulbs)

If you get these make sure that they are the warm light ones as many cast a colg grey light which is off color. The warm ones are way better on product.

mark

[Up in Smoke Pottery]

Jayne, I poised this question a couple years ago, had a very limited budget. I ended up purchasing 6 "brooder" lights from a home repair store, approx $6 each, had 4 50watt flood lights, and 2 50 watt spot lights. Our booth was very brightly lit and was much brighter than many of those around us. We have used those lights many times for indoor shows, open houses and various other projects where i needed more light. They clamp on and can be angled to any direction. drawback, the halogen lights did get a little warm. As stated in our previous thread we have redone the booth layout, but not sure if new lights would be better or not, might have to look into LED bulbs though...

 

 

 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_203198-1373-FL-200NPDQ12_0__?productId=3122289&Ntt=work+light&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dwork%2Blight&facetInfo=

 

 

 

Chad

[Marc McMillan]

Regarding LED bulbs:

 

I'm a marketer for a commercial lighting company.

 

Let me make a recommendation:

 

Go with a good brand. If you haven't heard of them before I would strongly suggest you test them with one before buying a bunch. The color of the light (the CCT) is important. Warmer is better for your booth. Color rendering (CRI) is an issue. It's how well the light renders color...yep that's a biggee for you. You can create an energy efficient LED lamp without paying any attention to color. The unknown brand might put more emphasis on energy efficiency and cost than color.

 

Brands you can feel comfortable with: Osram Sylvania, Philips, and Cree. I've been testing out the first two in my house and like them. The color is good and they dim well. The last brand has recently come out with an A-lamp style product that is supposed to be really good and inexpensive.

 

Good luck!

 

Marc

[Isculpt]

Thanks, all of you. A lot of useful information to think about! I never considered the issue of heat with the halogens. Marc, is there a number designation that I should look for regarding the color issue (CCT, CRI) with the LEDs? And since you obviously know a great deal about lighting, can you make a recommendation regarding the quantity and output if I were to use LEDs in a 10x10 booth?

[Mark C.]

I cannot make a recomendation-only have used LED in my studio and home-and color is important-As far as display indoors you usually are not paying thge power bill and I I use old super bright flood lights once a year (only one simi indoor/outdoor show)You will need high output warm bulbs no mater what stye you choose. I would buy 1 as noted in above post and take it home and try it.

Mark

[Frankiegirl]

I had the same issue. I went to Lowes and bought 3 nice track lights for about $50 each. They were easy to mount and take down too with cable ties right onto the pipe and drape. Cheap and easy and they are very bright.

[Marc McMillan]

I checked on their sites and most are at 80+ CRI. Higher is better, but I don't know if they will indicate this on consumer packaging. If you stick with the three I mentioned you will be fine. They tend to adhere to a standard. Most of the lamps in the stores will be a warm white (2700K) which is good for a booth. We also want the people visiting the booth to look good. The reason I am stressing the brands is some off name brands tend to be very blue or render colors poorly.

 

I think the layout of the booth would be critical to lighting it properly. There is nothing like testing out different scenarios.

Good luck!

 

Marc

[Isculpt]

Thanks again to all of you. I feel much more confident about choosing lighting. That's the beauty of this forum: although I spent several hours researching the topic online, I gained much more useful and pertinent information from the helpful comments of other forum members.

Jayne

[Biglou13]

Might want to check with venue some are very strict with what is allowed . Some fire safety issues, logistic, electronic