totally illegal part 1 / how to build a vendor’s tray (belly shop)
last two weekends was tokyo art book fair. i finished my gap zine ‘ma’ and also had an edition of the 50fuesse printed for the occasion. a ticket to the fair was kindly provided by my workplace. the only thing i was missing was a booth, a place to present my bound paper. zines / self-publishing are independent and self-made, and so i set out to keep it that way with my booth. my neighbors recently bought a new tv. its packaging should become my exhibition space. the following is a guide on how to build your own illegal booth, sell some stuff (and maybe meet amazing people):
step 1.
find some thick cardboard in the trash. (why cardboard? it’s free, light, relatively robust, easy to work with, and can be shaped in many ways.)
step 2.
get a nice big flat piece and sketch your design on the cardboard with a pencil. this helps to figure out a shape.
don’t forget to leave some material where the cardboard needs to fold, and take some away in the places where it will be folded. sounds complicated? stepping back and visualizing the folding step by step helps. making a model first also helps. i know, because i did not make one.
step 3.
after you are happy with the design, make up some measurements which fit the material and your needs. then draw the lines you want to cut along with a marker. in my case, the designer file was very helpful for getting right angles.
step 4.
cut with a box cutter (and a steel ruler).
step 5.
fold. realize you need to change some bits, unfold, cut, fold again.
almost finished.
step 6.
attach a rope or strap. (i found some rope on the roof, so i am going to use that. but you can use some twisted tape, a scarf, a chain, etc.). practically done. now go somewhere and sell stuff. -> part 2
(i also stabbed some chop sticks through the intersections for a stronger connection. this design gives the tray some storage room while selling as well as being a bag for transportation.)
also a great guide: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n7wl0pq1ea0a5l0wkna79/how-to-small-budget-big-prints-dropbox.pdf?rlkey=jb59j5fouzs98vl8xi6uan78o&e=1&st=k3bs0wuo&dl=0