Coming back to life over here...

I seriously burned myself out before the holidays, and have been neglecting my jewelry work since. I've finally recovered and also picked up some wonderful new supplies at a show in January, so be looking for some new items up in my shop over the next couple of weeks. Hrm...make that three weeks. My mom is coming to visit over the long Easter weekend, and I think I'll be cleaning my house until them. OMG MOM!

I'm just glad the spring season is quickly approaching. Maybe some of my bright, sunny pieces will even make more sense. Living a couple of miles from the beach makes relating to winter pretty challenging!

A picture is worth everything.

Nevermind what I said a couple of days ago about thinking I had taken good photos. When I posted Silver Twist and Dots to Etsy, I realized that the images were actually pretty lousy. It's an eye-opener to discover that what might look passable as a larger image actually looks dingy and dark as a thumbnail, especially when compared to a clear, bright photo (Sunny Daisy).

I was really disappointed and decided to redo all of the photography that I did on Sunday afternoon. That will teach me to take photos on an overcast day, and trying to compensate by using a lamp from my living room with a fluorescent bulb in it. The wrapping paper that I tried to use as a background on some of them didn't help either, since the hot pink showed through and made the white back look muddy. The only way to get everything done before heading out for Thanksgiving at my in-laws was to drag all of my items, camera, and background watercolor paper to the office and attempt to take photos during lunchtime. It would figure that the day was beautiful and bright until late morning, when the marine layer made an appearance again. I packed everything up and drove a couple of miles inland to find sunshine and set up shop on a bench in front of Mission San Luis Rey. It actually turned out to be a nice way to spend my lunch - actually leaving my desk and spending time outside! I'll need to go back soon and walk through the gardens there. But I digress. Just for comparison purposes, here is the difference a little sunshine can make:

This is my original photo of Dots (Blue). I thought it looked nice enough at the time.

This is the image taken with sunshine. It really pops much better than the original in the thumbnail size.

For another comparison, here is my first photo of Silver Twist (Blue). It absolutely died as a thumbnail.

And then the revised image.

So, which version would entice you to click through to check out the item? Every item that is posted in Etsy scrolls through that front page for about 30 seconds. For those brief moments, every item has the same chance to get noticed...if the thumbnail image is well done. I have followed these links on many occasions, bookmarking many and even discovering Black Sheep Beads where I have spent a chunk of change on some fantastic vintage beads.

I really have been struggling with my photography over the last couple of weeks. I think my next step is to work on softening the harsh shadows from the strong sunlight, which are a bit distracting. I'm planning on building a lightbox using directions from Strobist, a great site that was linked at fabulous Etsy for Everyone. We'll see how that goes...

Thoughts on design.

My husband pointed me to this great blog, A Brief Message, which is made up solely of brief writings on design - 200 words or less. The first entry I read, Arrogance and Humility, is an interesting essay on whether design is arrogance, humility, or a little bit of both. The piece is thought-provoking, especially when applied to architecture, which does truly run the gamut between the two. The trick is finding the balance, which is so often elusive in my profession.

From one Etsy newbie to another.

Wow. I wish I had found this blog about two months ago. The author, Gila, has writtien so much information about Etsy and how to get started and it really has become a must-read for anyone getting started with the service. Heck, it is so good that I would recommend that anyone selling on Etsy check it out, newbie or oldbie. Even more impressive is the fact that English is not even her native language and it is absolutely impossible to tell from her writing. It is wonderfully well done.

Especially helpful is her information on graphics and photos. Good images seem to be absolutely key to selling your work, and I have really been struggling with my photography over the last week or so. I think I did manage to get some good photos (with a bit of photoshop help from my husband), in spite of the fact that the marine layer kept blowing in every single time I set up to shoot. Boo.

From all of my looking around at various shops and items over the last few weeks in preparation for setting up my own shop, I have one piece of advice. Be absolutely certain that your photo that will become your main picture (the first one you upload) is cut to a square or that the part of the image you would like to show is absolutely dead center. Etsy automatically crops the thumbnails to a square, and I can't tell you how many images I've seen that really don't describe the item for sale since what is left in the thumbnail is most likely what was not intended. I've seen so many pictures of jewelry that is likely very lovely that just don't make me want to click and look further.

If your top picture does not describe and really show off your item, who is going to look at it? In my browsing, it seems that excellent photography is one thing that really sets the top shops off from the others.

Finally getting this little project up and running.

I love to make things with my hands, and I think I've tried just about every craft possible. I learned to make jewelry shortly after moving to San Diego and have pretty much given everything that I have made away, except for a few notable pieces for myself, including the jewelry and headpiece I wore at my wedding.

This past summer, I made all of the earrings and necklaces for the bridesmaids (including me!) in my sister-in-law's wedding. Her matron of honor was impressed and asked me if I had ever thought about selling my work. Honestly, I never really had. With that little seed planted in my brain, I set up a shop on Etsy and am now FINALLY just about ready to start posting pieces.

I'm still waiting for part of my packaging material to arrive as well as my business cards, and then I should be good to go. In the meantime, I've included a preview of what is to come.