Taking your art on the road

DIY tutorial on road-show kits

As an artist, one of your main goals is to sell your art. There are many avenues you can take to accomplish this, such as galleries, Etsy, your own website, Society6, and the plethora of other social media outlets available to us today. As most artists are aware of and are actively doing, another great way to sell your art is to go set up a booth at an art festival in your area. The challenging part is that you have to literally take your art on the road with you. In this blog post, we are going to cover putting together what is called a "Road-Show Kit". They are simple to make, look great to your customers, protect your art, and are easy to pack and take along with you.

You can make a Road-Show Kit with your original artwork (as long as it is on paper) or you can make it with Giclee prints of your artwork, which is what we will be using here. So with no further ado, lets get started!

Here is what you need:
-Artwork
-Mats cut to fit said artwork
-Backing board to fit mats, in this tutorial we are using acid free foam board, you can also use matboard. 
-Acid free protective bags
-Tape 

These are four Giclee prints, printed by Farrell's Frame and Design. The talented artist is Karen Mosbacher, you can see more of her work here: 

Click to visit "Studio Querencia"

We are using a bright white mat, the mats' outside dimensions are 11x14. This is a standard size, so your roadshow kits are easy to frame, if your customer does not want to get a custom frame made. The inside dimensions will vary depending on the size of your artwork. For this tutorial, our mats are cut as follows:
1) 11x14 mat with an 8x10 opening
3) 11x14 mats bottom weighted with an 8x8 opening. 

Here are our 4 pieces of acid free foam board cut to 11x14, that we will be using for backing. As mentioned above, you may also use matboard for the backing.

These are the protective bags we will be using. As you can see, they are sized at 11x14. These bags are available in a variety of sizes, and you can get them at most art supply stores, or online. 

We will be using Linen Hinging Tape to adhere the art to the mat boards. If you missed our blog tutorial about what kind of tape to use, and how to adhere your artwork to the matboard, please jump over to this blog post (click on the button below), as we will be using the same process to attach Karen's artwork.

T-Hinges and The Great Tape Debacle

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Step 1: Attach your artwork to the matboard! Please follow the step by step instructions listed in our blog post, "T-hinges and the great tape debacle" if you aren't sure how to do this. 

Step 2: Slide your artwork into the protective bag, making sure that the lip of the bag is on the front side, so when you fold it over, it will adhere in the back

Step 3: Seal your protective bag. Do this by pulling off the strip of plastic covering the adhesive strip. Once that is off, fold the lip of the bag over and press it closed.

Repeat this step for the rest of the road show kits you are assembling, and there you have it! Beautifully matted, protected, easy to transport and best of all, ready to sell!

Making your road show kits the same size and having them in matching mats, makes them look great in groupings, and encourages the buyer to purchase multiple pieces! Don't these two following groupings look great together?

Here is an image of how nicely they stack together, you can just load them into a bag, box, or print bin, and you are good to go!

Now, I know after looking at these amazing pieces of art, you are ready to see more of Karen's beautiful creations! Here are the websites you can find her art on, and more information about her. We also have prints as well as originals available at our shop! Come on in and see them in person if you are interested.

Click to visit "Grief Exposed"

Click to visit "Studio Querencia"

Click to visit "Mosbacher Studios"

If you are interested in getting Giclee prints made of your original artwork, this service, as well as road-show kits are available at Farrell's Frame and Design. 

Thank you for tuning in! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for a blog post subject, please email, comment or come by the shop and let us know!

-Much Love-
​Amanda