Sunday the plan was for Ron to build cart(s) for the merchandise bins, while I worked on pouches, and purses - I need to make both a large rectangular purse and lace mania purse in black.
Ron was debating one cart or two, I think we decided on two, so we set out for Menard's to get some more supplies. On the way we revived the idea of road cases - when we were hauling the big trailer to events regularly, we'd come up with idea of building road cases that could double as tables/display areas, with access in the "back" side of at least one to get to belts.
We're not taking the big trailer any more, but the small U-Haul trailer habit seems to be growing on us.
So, we wandered over to the aisle with toolboxes, etc., and found a contractor's tool bin. We waffled a bit, found an employee, asked some questions, I went over a couple aisles for a measuring device, then we found wheels, nuts, bolts, and washers, weather-stripping, and the new road case followed us home:
Yes, it's already become a horizontal surface. In our defense, Robin was in the process of shifting the miniatures from his room to his desk when I took the picture, the fabric-wrapped bundle goes in the road case, and the tools are from putting the wheels on.
It's 4' x 2' x 2', with recessed areas for the handles on each end and places on the front where it can be locked. It's got forklift lift-channels that act as feet on the bottom, that appeared to be pre-drilled for wheels - and the wheels we found are a perfect fit. By our rough calculations it will hold about 11 of our merchandise bins. With the wheels on it's just about table height - throw a tablecloth over it and voila!
The plan is that it will live outside - it is a bin designed to do so - and be locked to the house or trailer or fence. It's got a decent lip on it, but Ron added the weather-stripping for extra insurance. No, the contents will not be climate-controlled. They aren't in bins in the trailer, either.
We will have to look at the loading ramp we have, and see about adding wood to give it a smooth-rolling surface, and doing an event all by myself is Right Out, but solo events have never been high on my list anyway. The plan is to start packing pouches, then the "one of everything" belt bin, and then the belt backstock last - because we have to be able to get to belts easily during an event.
Yesterday afternoon we set out in search of MDF to make dividers, then changed our mind and headed to The Container Store. We came out with not what we originally went for, but some bins to help prevent things from shifting sideways, and that would stack, so that there would be fewer worries about crushing items on the bottom. Except we were mistaken in our belief that we could get the bins into the road case. If we had a precision teleporter we could do it, but not with today's technology.
A little while later we went back and fiddled some more, and got some of the bins (which we had two sizes of) in. That left what seemed like dead space, which Ron promptly filled up with gridwall hardware (shelves, quarter-round hanging bars). I said that the hardware still left a lot of dead space, Ron countered that this way the hardware is less of a pain to transport. He's the transport/packing expert, so I defer to his judgement.
Sunday afternoon I flailed about in the workshop. Not pointlessly, but it was bits and pieces for several things. I did cut out and get ready to assemble new case for Ron's leatherman from a piece that was supposed to be a purse gusset, but ran into a problem with splitting down in thickness. Robin didn't get to bringing in the rest of the merchandise bins (puttering in his room and doing homework) and thus we didn't do inventory and re-pack on Sunday. Therefore, my plan for yesterday was to have Robin bring in bins and help me with inventory, then work on pouches and purses.
Not happening. I spent Sunday night/Monday morning sick sick sick, and most of yesterday asleep.
Ron said something about getting Robin to bring merchandise in and doing inventory tonight, but if the "rain turning to snow and freezing, icy slippery drive home" forecast holds true, I'm going to suggest a delay until, um, Thursday (tomorrow night Robin has karate unless too much homework). And I'm not sure I'm up to the bending over and moving around that inventory and packing the new road case would entail tonight.
And sometime Real Soon Now I need make the curtains for the quarter-round bars that go on the gridwall. It isn't a hard or lengthy job, except figuring out where the pre-washed off-white canvas ended up...
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