I finally finished the jewelry store display case upgrade posted earlier. Last Thursday I delivered the remaining braces and and bases to the store. In total 14 cases. Everything fit well, except for the front corner cases! UGHHH, I measured these cases 2X and the first try was a bomb because of a miss-read on my measurement chart when cutting the wood. I had to buy more wood, have my husband help me recut the pieces, then recover them with more leather.
(Fortunately I was able to use the wasted leather to cover some more display platforms.) When I installed the re-worked bases, the angle was still OFF!
I didn't have enough leather to recover 2 new pieces, nor did I want to start over and cut more pieces of wood-its still over 100 degrees outside in Texas! The bases actually fit perfectly except for that angle in the front. SO...I got to work mentally deciding how I could fix this "crack.". In the end, since it is a jewelry store, I just placed a flat piece of leather on the inside of the case underneath the base, and then poured crystal vase filler on top (Amazon, glass/high end crystals). These two cases are the first 2 things you see when entering the store. The pictures don't do it justice, because the lights in the store cause these little crystals to glisten and gleam in many beautiful colors. The BIG diamond is also from Amazon-a wedding accent piece. It too works well in a jewelry case that displays wedding ring settings. The store owner LOVES it, even better than if the angles were cut correctly. SCORE! I fixed the problem and I didn't have to re-work the leather and wooden base. Whew!
You can also see the display platforms I covered. There were over 40 of them in different sizes, some with round feet and some that needed wood bottoms so I could staple the leather down. This job took a lot of creative brain work. All of the old display platforms had bonded leather that was sticky, peeling and flaking. I had to remove the round feet, which sometimes ripped off the support piece, and that had to be re-glued and clamped before re-covering with the new bonded leather. I used my sewing machine to sew the corners of each piece for a tight fit, then wrapped them tightly around the base, stapling the bottoms, Lastly, I replaced the wooden ball feet. I had to number the feet when taking them off to be sure the nails/staples went back into the original holes! The store owner saved a BUNDLE not having to replace all those displays plus it gives them new life for many more years, keeping all that stuff out of landfills!
Love it when an idea works and comes together well, plus I had so much fun coming up with the solutions.
I'll post more photos later of the cases with jewelry in them. She was still working on set-ups with the new platforms this past week.