What do you think?

I am torn between using the wonderful pieces of driftwood that were in my mothers things or just straight jewelry. I usually do not use props but seem to be drawn to pictures that use them. I have read many discussions online regarding this and both sides have some good points. I do think that using too many can be distracting. What do you think? This is a set of beads that I have had on my bench for awhile. I do not know why I did not think to combine it with copper before. I love the look of copper but struggle to find colors that I like with it that are not just fall colors. I am not sure if this set will be for me or for sale. I visualize it being worn with a denim shirt and khaki slacks and maybe a white shirt.


I also have finally got a pair of earring beads that I am going to list. I have been remiss in regards to my etsy account. I just have had local orders and family events that have taken all my time and the beads that I have been making. I made myself a pair of earrings similar to these (different shape) and I love them. I made a pair for a gift and she seems to love them. So I decided that maybe I should list a pair. I have a necklace started with some of them and I am going to have a hard time parting with it. I guess I just love this combination. Simple but goes with a lot of what I wear, black. They have a gold tone to the bubbles but go well with silver also. The bubbles are much prettier in person. That is the trouble with selling online.

What did we do before the Internet?

Today, thinking it might be my last snow day this week, I wanted to concentrate on trying to get some half way decent pictures. I read two reference books this morning, printed out two tutortials took 35 more pictures and tried to edit them to the best of my ability. Still not the pictures that I desired. This definitely is not the camera. I used my daughter's Cannon EOS Rebel XTI for the pictures. I then took a break and was reading some web pages from a bead artist by the name of Julie Nordine. She has a blog that had a post that shared some of her tips on bead photography. She shared where she got these tips and I read those sites also. Maggie and I both learned from this. We made the changes to the settings on the camera and I took more pictures made some more changes and took more pictures. I had to do very little in the software program to make the pictures absolutely sparkle. Now they accurately depict the beads, flaws and all. That really makes you pause. But that is really what is best if you are selling something on the internet. I want the buyer to actually see the item for what it is, HANDMADE.

These beads are not cranked out of a machine in china. They are hand crafted one by one in with a single torch on a mandrel and then put into a kiln, cleaned by me and inspected by me. The tips that Julie shared were not major changes but just enough to make the big difference. I am consistently amazed at the sharing of knowledge that occurs within this community of artists, they share freely, they teach each other, they exchange product when needed and treasure each others friendship. I have been involved in other artistic endeavors but never have I seen or experienced a group of people like this. It is wonderful.

The pictures above all have been posted prior to today on etsy, facebook or in this blog. I my opinion they are so much better than the first attempts. I got so excited that I didn't even miss not making beads tonight. It will make me a better artist just knowing that I can present a accurate depiction of my work for sale.