Hi Sam,
Glad you’re learning a lot here, it is a wonderful place. 
Sorry
to hear your EZ “folded” after only a few uses. I’ve had one for a
few years now & it’s still going strong - knock on wood! I didn’t
get mine from Sam’s, though, and I know that in many cases the “big
box” stores get their own versions of things made that look the same
as from somewhere else, but aren’t up to the same quality standards.
Don’t want to open a big can of worms with that statement, but it’s
something to consider when you look at where to get something, and
it may have something to do with the Sam’s canopy. Or maybe it was
just a random unfortunate lemon. That being said, and I have been
happy with my EZ as I said, at some point I do want to invest in one
that has a water PROOF top. Doing outdoor shows is stressful enough,
worrying about the weather & if that will make it a good show or
not, without also having a sleepless night listening to rain,
wondering how wet the inside of your tent is. I’ve covered my display
in plastic tarp more than once, just to be sure nothing dripped
through over night (and never actually needed it), but that doesn’t
help when it suddenly rains during the day, so hard that it quickly
starts seeping through the tent roof & dripping down on your display.
I have had that happen, though luckily it ended quickly as it turns
out. Fortunately I’m not a watercolor artist, but I still don’t want
water dripping in my space, thus the tent! OK, so I hope I haven’t
jinxed my poor tent now. 
Regarding lights, are you asking for outdoor shows or indoor? I’m
going to assume indoor since if you’re outdoors the lights
unfortunately don’t do much unless it’s fairly dark out, and many (if
not most) outdoor shows don’t offer electric anyway. For cases, I
know lots of people use the abstracta & such, though I’ve also heard
some of them say that it’s what it is and can’t really be made to
look like anything else. And they are made up of quite a collection
of pieces, though they store away in a relatively small bag. I like
to build my own, personally. A progression of my booth setups can be
seen at
though my current setup differs ever so slightly from the last one
shown. My cases are done with sheets of plexi (MUCH lighter than
glass, and basically not breakable) & chrome clips and has worked
very well for me. It actually holds up pretty well when taken care
of, and I just couldn’t manage hauling the glass so I have to do
something lighter weight, not to mention I’ve had the glass sheets
chip & cut me which I do NOT want to have happen again. I’ve had
these sheets for about 5 years now and they’ve worn very well, though
when I decide to replace them I’ll probably go with lexan to be just
that much more durable.
The stands on which my cases currently stand are wooden structures
that I built. They are a little heavy, but very sturdy. They fold up
for storage, with the plexi & fabric inside- same height & width, but
about half as deep. When open & in use they have shelves inside them
and I can have everything easily accessible and hidden from customer
view.
My lights are simply halogen track lights suspended across the top of
my booth, one per case. This setup is not complicated, the most
time-consuming aspect is all those little clips, but I’ve found some
shortcuts and over time I’ve gotten quite adept at it. My previous
setup, with the wooden tops, was based on raised-up folding tables &
was much less of a space hog in my car, but it was not versitile AT
ALL, though otherwise I liked it very much. Finding the “perfect”
booth setup is an endless quest, and when you spend lots of time (and
some amount of money) getting it “just right” you’ll likely find that
some amount of changes will need to be made over the years, you’ll
either just find something doesn’t work in reality or you’ll just
start thinking you’d like something a bit different.
Best suggestion is to go to shows, see booths you like, and ask about
them when the artist isn’t busy. I know some artists aren’t
close-mouthed about their setups for some reason, but I find most are
pretty willing to talk about that, particularly if you aren’t asking
them about the actual jewelry.
Boy, this is getting long, sorry! I just wanted to make a quick other
comment, though. I checked out your site & your pieces are very
pretty, I love all the chainmaille work, but I can’t see them very
well in your images. Please consider getting closer in to take your
pictures, make good use of your camera’s macro setting (which it
hopefully has!) When a customer is looking at, for instance, the
“graduated handmade necklace”, I don’t need to see the black patio
table, or the rock wall in the background, or even the bottom half
of the display bust. The only thing I should be looking at is the
necklace, it should fill the frame. Just a suggestion, which I hope
you don’t mind since you didn’t ask about photography.
Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher