Photographing Beautiful Jewelry Finally!

Well I finally caught on! This is the result of at least two years of hard work. Well, maybe the last two months were the most intense, but I think I have the procedure down, and now I can move on to the decoration part of the photo. I read all the posts about photographing jewelry. I re-read them. I took about a million bad, really bad pictures. Yet, every single time I posted a picture that I thought was an improvement, it looked the same. Too dark. I went to the forums and asked. Too dark. I purchased a new camera. Still too dark. I went to my Etsy Columbus Team members and they said,,,,"Just use photoshop and clean it up." My vision of using Photoshop meant using the "eraser" tool to turn everything white. Nothing worked. So I took all the constants in my quest. I had a lightbox that was huge, so I cut it down. My camera settings were on Macro and No Flash. I had two "utility" lights with 100 watt compact flourescent daylight bulbs. I bought two more lights and two more bulbs. You know if it's too dark, you add more light. Still too dark. Still too dark. I went back to the drawing board time and time and time again. Finally, I started turning the "wheel" on my Canon A590IS. This wheel changes the type of picture you are taking. You want to take a snow picture, put it on snow. You want a portrait, put it on portrait. I took a picture at each setting. I kept all the other contstants constant, with four 100 watt bulbs. I put them on my computer and FOUND the setting that I needed! Yay!!!! The old setting I was using was automatic. The new setting was M for Manual. It has a MACRO setting and it has a No Flash setting. I took two lights away. This may not be perfect, but I am going to use it for a while. They are so much better to me. They are very comparable to others. It's time to post and sell my hand-made jewelry on etsy with my new and improved photos. Have a great day!

About Volunteering and MLK and Barack Obama and Heather

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Happy Pre-Inaugeration Day! I am a core member of Etsy Team Columbus. So I am on a committee and there is one person that just joined our committee and you know what she wants us to do? She wants us to all consider volunteering!!! What? Why do I want to do that? I am on this team to mingle and learn from like minded fellow artists. I am on this team to sell my jewelry. Now you want me to do what? I can't believe it. I don't have time to volunteer. I only have enough time to run up and down the highway and earn a living. I don't have time to volunteer, there aren't enough hours in the day! I don't have time to volunteer and you can't make me. So what does that Barack Obama do? The guy I helped vote into office. The guy whose hand I shook while I was in Philadelphia. What does that whole Obama family do? They volunteer on Martin Luther King Day! I didn't vote for that, did I? I can't believe it! Oh, so now I HAVE to volunteer! So ya take the lemons and ya make the lemonade. And you share your skills and the results of your labor. And everybody is happier than they would have been if you hadn't done something! Oh! Now, I think I can! Now, I think I can squeeze a few more things into my day!

I think I could figure out how to add volunteering to my agenda. Okay, I suppose it's probably taken a little longer than the time its taken to write this to decide that I need to volunteer. I know it's taken a lot of soul searching and prodding to arrive at this decision. I'll be on the volunteer wagon in my neighborhood. I'm gonna look forward to it too.

Gee, thanks a lot Heather, and Barack and oh, yeah, Martin Luther King!

Jewelry Marketing Idea Turns into a Weekend Project

Happy Saturday! It's up to ten degrees and I'd really like to take a drive in the country. We've got a lot of snow and I think the pictures could be fantastic. I've got a snow setting on my new camera too! Can you imagine, a snow setting? Technology is something else! So as I wait for my precious husband to get ready, I thought I would write. I am preparing a portfolio that I can carry down to my friend's place of business to sell my jewelry. One simple request via email and my mind creates a weekend portfolio project. It's gonna be beautiful when I get done! It's going to be portable. It's got to help sell the jewelry or I can recycle it into something else. I'll be using a large sheet of cardboard that I'll get from packing at work. I am continually amazed at the amount of recyclable materials that I can get from packing materials. There will be a little cushioning on top of the cardboard and then I will cover it with fabric. The cardboard is folded like a notebook with a spine that will accommodate the hanging configuration inside. It'll have handles. I'll take some pictures and post them when I'm done. I love the idea of using black and white velvet on the inside. Not together though. At least I've learned that jewelry needs solid color presentation. Whew! Is that a term or what? Solid color presentation as opposed to a loud print presentation! I know anything will work but I want the best presentation ever. Solids are a must. Well I just heard the bathroom door. I think that must be a good sign. So I'll see ya later. I'm off to a drive in the country and a stop at the fabric store. Could a Saturday afternoon get any better? I think not!

Happy Beaders with Too Many Beads or Too Few Beads

Happy New Year and to all I wish you SUCCESS! Success in all your endeavours. I have many beads to convert to jewelry. It's simply amazing how one can have so many beads in such a - okay - midsized area. And yet, I can look at them and cry that I don't have enough! Tragedy, that's what it is. As an artist, I believe that I can create what ever it is that I want to create. So I got all these beads and have kind of depleted my stock and I suddenly believe that I don't have enough. Do you have this problem? My hands are itching to bead something. I'll let you know what I end up creating. I have enough beads to do several sets of jewelry. I have a mind that for some reason has not come to terms with it. Oh, my land! This is the dip in my beading career! Doesn't "beading career" sound nice! I plan to keep my beading career as I learn to market and sell my beads. That is what I need to learn. Perhaps the dip is only a shift. Perhaps as my supplies of beads has dwindled, I've felt more pressure to expand my business. I have noticed that as I have developed my business, there are many more facets that I need to explore. So maybe I don't have a beading career problem after all! In dealing with a smaller supply of what I need to make my hands happy, I am finding that there are other things that I need to learn. Marketing and selling for which I will need consistency also. That will feed my supply facet, and therefore keep me from crying about not having enough beads. That should make my hands happy too! I want happy hands!!!

Merry Christmas Crafters and Beaders and Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I wish you a Merry Christmas! My fellow crafters of the world. I have learned so much about crafting this year. I have learned so much about the crafting business this year as well. I know I still have untested waters that I will soon be stepping in. I hope they are a little warmer with the coming year. I believe I can wrap up my 2008 crafting year with hope and diversification needs for the next. I am again reminded of one of my college professors. Back in 1979, I was to have an internship with a local clothing store. I was going to learn every aspect of the business. I was excited. My professor questioned the store owner about his future inventory. He was of the "preppy mindset". He believed whole-heartedly that the classic style, the preppy style, would continue into the future without problem. It would never die. Nearly thirty years later, I am reminded that, just as the market did change for his classic style, it has changed for my beaded jewelry. I've remembered her question and his answer many times since 1979, but I haven't lived it like I did this year. I've recognized the need to diversify in order to survive as a crafter. I wilsh you a Merry Christmas! My fellow beaders of the world. I don't regret a single solitary minute I have spent learning about beads! I love beads! I love beautiful stone beads from the earth. That there is so much inside the earth continues to amaze me. How awesome is it that you can find the most beautiful gems or the most beautiful green rocks! Maybe it's because I live in an area where there is mostly limestone that makes it so fascinating. The methods that have been invented to manufacture Swarovski Crystals and Pearls is quite spectacular. Crystals from Swarovski continue to be some of my favorites! I work with them and re-order them and sell them and re-sell them. And I haven't ever tired of opening a package from a bead supplier that sends me Swarovski Crystals or Swarovski Crystal Pearls. They are splendid. Daniel Swarovski did very well when he invented their process! The last but by no means least favorite of mine are the freshwater pearls. Can there be no end to Mother Nature's beauty? Finally, if I were to zone in on what keeps me beading it is that beaders don't bead the same ways! This is the very fact that propels me to continue beading. Creations are always spectacular and there are so many methods that anything is possible and the possibilities are endless! If you were to give the same identical beads to ten different people and asked them to make a necklace, there would be no duplicates! That is so stunning! I wish you a Merry Christmas! As my cold and laryngitis are finally going away, I extend my deepest sympathies to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I am so sad that I couldn't join you for the Christmas concert. I was so looking forward to performing a solo with your group this year. Perhaps, next year. As the year comes to an end, I am filled again with great dreams for success. Merry Christmas to everyone, may this season be one of renewal for you. And may PEACE prevail in 2009!

Things I Learned at the Craft Show Yesterday

Weather reports should be checked. The amount of money you spend on the entrance fee might coorelate with the amount of sales that you get. I still don't like craft shows. I guess that might be key. I want to stay HOME! That's my goal,,,,staying HOME! I don't want to go to craft shows.......well I don't think I do anyway. If I went to a craft show and actually SOLD something I might have a different opinion. I want to stay home and I want to make some money. I might re-visit the craft show occasionally. That is probably the best statement to make. Stay home Mail packages from home Make jewelry from home. Go outside to go visiting. DON'T GO OUTSIDE TO WORK! Well, that is the way it is, Sunday, December 7, 2008.

Beaded Jewelers: Find Your Niche and Set Yourself Apart

Dear Beaded Jewelers, I went to a craft show yesterday. I was full of excitement. Amy met me at the door and checked me off of her sheet. She then motioned and I followed her down the hallway to where my name was on a sign. She pointed to the floor and said that I had the area from that piece of blue tape to that piece of blue tape. I looked at the shop that was set up right next to me and said, "But she has jewelry too!" Amy, the gracious hostess, said that she would move me to another spot. As the set up time continued, the people with the booth next to me came in and they had JEWELRY! I made it through that entire craft show without a sale! I have been put in my egotistical place once again. Oh great. At one point in the craft show, my friend walked around and looked at all the vendors. She estimated that one in three or four was selling jewelry! This was a craft show for the elementary PTO. They made out like bandits. Each of the booths paid for their space, albeit a small amount, if you don't make your signup fee back during the show, you are certainly, most definitely in the proverbial HOLE! Since I know that I didn't have any sales and I know my friend didn't have any jewelry sales, I can assume that the sales were few for the other vendors. The traffic wasn't there. The weather was awful. There were too many jewelers too. So I have to dig deeper to find my niche. Finding a niche is a really great idea! I have to set myself apart from the competition. Adding services like credit cards will help, but it's not always the lack of service that inhibits the sale. Diversification of Product. Find your niche. Your niche is not jewerly,,,,it's not even beaded jewelry anyone can string beads. More on my niche tomorrow.