Photography props and backgrounds

My thoughts…

I’m practicing again with my photos…

Backgrounds….

Many pictures of jewelry are done with solid background. Typically, a clean slate really focuses the attention on the piece not the background. I personally love black backgrounds, though some designers feel they are visually stale.

If you have a flowery swirly jewelry design, with a paisley, checkerboard or overly textured background the photography is going to seriously distract the viewer. You’ll want to give some serious thought to what are you selling, the fabric or the jewelry. Does the fabric detract or enhance your jewelry design.

Now, if your jewelry designs are going to be in a catalog or a similar publication you will have to follow submission guidelines; most often requiring a solid background. When using stark white background against color; especially dark colors, the contrast is extremely high. When photographing with a white background you have to verify the white actually comes out WHITE and the design colors actually comes out the proper color! Many photographs can be ruined simply because the white background appears greyish, off color, and the piece will often have an unusual color cast.

Props

Props can add character, tell a story; thereby ADDING TO THE VISUAL appeal of the design. The use of different colors and/or props can make a stunningly gorgeous statement. They should be simple and focus attention to the piece. The whole prop does not have to be in the photo to be effective, its shadow or texture can reflect the beauty of the jewelry design.

Some of my favorite props are things found in nature. While my designer friend Lola from Metal Chasers loves using antiques, especially glassware, bronze candlestick holder and similar objects. Lola was the inspiration for this blog and has greatly helped me improve my photography skills. Much of what I’ve learned about photography has been gleaned from Lola.

Recently I received a wonderful suggestion from eSMArts team member, Stacie of Creative Junque, suggesting that I use ceramic tiles as background props. Looking forward to trying this suggestion, I really believe this will add interest without distracting from my designs.

Practice, practice and more practice

I suggest, taking several photographs with several different props, backgrounds, camera angles, and lighting. This will give you a selection of photos, which gives you the ability to choose the photo that shows your design to its fullest potential. What works for one piece may not work for the next. The more photos you take, the more experience you will gain, you will find your style, and hopefully photography will become second hand…

I’m still practicing…

A Game of Internet Tag!

I’m It…
I’ve been tagged…
eSMArts team member Tina of Links and Loops has tagged me…

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)
3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random Things about Me…..

1) I breed Parrotlets, the smallest parrot kept in captivity for over 12 years

2) Jill is my middle name, and I’m not telling my first name. I was named after my Great-Grandmother. She didn’t like her first name either.

3) I married my best friends brother 20 years ago; his family said I’d never go out with him.

4) My son finally got married, and I have a wonderful Daughter-in-Law

5) I have a son, daughter, and step-daughter, and 4 grandsons. My family is the most important part of my life. I miss my daughter and her family horribly, they live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

6) My a 4^th generation Californian, but have lived in Georgia 35 years.

Now I’m tagging….

Kateri of The Writing's of Presumed Royalty
Willow at Simply Willow
Wilma at Wilma’s Whimseys
Izzy at Precious Creations by Izzy
Barbara at Magpie Dreamers
Michele Cook of Michelle Cook Designs

Egyptian Flower Princess

Behind the Mask - My Bead Embellishment Challenge

The Beadin' Path in Freeport, Maine issued a challenge to beadwork and fiber artists from all over the world: to accept, be inspired by and submit a mask for a show entitled Behind the Mask. Thirty Seven artists joined this challenge, creating beaded masks using varying techniques; such as bead weaving, stitching and embroidery, sculpture, mixed media, clay and more.

All of the artists started with the same basic white plastered paper mask, producing 37 totally different translations.

I begin my journey

I still have no idea why I decided to participate in the Behind the
Mask Challenge, though I thought this was an interesting concept, and might push my creativity into a new arena. I learned a lot from participating in my new challenge, what worked, what didn’t work, and what I would do differently in the future. The other artisans provided support, knowledge and ideas.

My basic background design is composed of 11/0 champagne seed beads, gluing each bead in place, using larger beads as accents, and design components. I started my mask by attaching the plum delicas on the lips, then encasing the face with the seed beads, using bugle beads as the base of my flower petals, and finishing with the 12 gauge coiled headpiece.

As the mask progressed, the basic original design concept continued as planned, but my design ideas also continued to flow, ideas that I hope to use in a future design concept. If I had the time, I would do things very differently. With many hours already committed to the mask, now was not the time to change my direction. I worked on my mask from October 2007 to April 2008, over 1000 hours spent gluing each and every beautiful bead in place.

An opening reception was held at The Beadin' Path in Freeport, Maine on Friday, June 27th.

It was open to the public and was a great opportunity

for attendees to meet with many of the artists and discuss their process and statement behind their mask. Unfortunately I was unable to attend…

The Beadin’ Path will have another challenge in the fall of this year, will I participate? Looking forward to what the next challenge might bring…

Artists of the Round Table

I belong to a wonderful group "Artists of the Round Table... A.R.T. for short" a mixed media art group.

A.R.T. is a group of mixed media artists, who offer warmth, support, and outstanding artwork. Here are just a few of the workshops A.R.T. has offered in the past; Wire Wrapping, Polymer Clay, Texture Effects, Art Stamping, and many more…
I love their tutorials

Mission statement

We are a group of artists working in different media with experience from beginner to professional. We are cross-cultural in all nuances of the word. Our vision for Artists of the Round Table (A.R.T.) is to have an online community where race, creed, faith, gender and age is not an issue. Where unity is accomplished through our common gifts of creativity. It is our vision to have a rich treasury of information and tutorials available to anyone who inquires, to have many court activities where all may participate in the festivities, to have wonderful and tasty feasts for the imagination and an overflowing of friendship from your goblet! Please stop by the castle at Artists of the Round Table

Artists of the Round Table

Making Wire Jewelry … My A.R.T. online workshop

Two Sizes of Wire - Lesson three

Lesson three combines different wire gauges to create different textures. “The necklace was designed especially for a plain round neckline.” I choose 14 gauge Gold Parawire and 18 gauge non-tarnish Silver Parawire to complete the project. Again the 14 gauge wire proved to be somewhat a challenge, I found that my wire coming off my spool was very wavy, and I was very concerned that I would never be able to form the design correctly. But once I filed and rounded the ends, and made the first loops, the design formed beautifully with no wavy wire. I did change the size of the mandrel after making a few silver coils, and if I had more time, I would even make them smaller. Maybe next time…

The Leaf – Lesson three

This leaf lesson is considered a simple design with the intent to teach you that the process of bending wire, while promoting your growth in bending wire for future lessons. The leaf dangle was not difficult to accomplish, and would make a lovely necklace or bracelet. In a future design I hope to incorporate beads to add some interest to the overall design concept.

In this lesson we were given the option of making a necklace or a pair of earrings.

I choose the leaf earrings as my project. Wish I hadn’t…. making a matching pair of earrings proved challenging, though I finally completed a matching pair.

The earrings are very practical and comfortable to wear. They are designed as a two sided earring, were the back is as pretty as the front. Especially nice for women with short hair or women who love wearing their hair up and off the back of their necks. I was slightly disappointed when I found that my ear lobes were too small to carry off the leaf design successfully. I liked the two sided design concept and will try creating another pair of two sided earrings in a future project, just not in a leaf design.

Moving on to lesson four…

My Second Wire Wrap Jewelry Charm Swap

Swaps n’ Challenges

Summer-Patriotic Theme

Kites flying in the summer skies, Angel Fish swimming in the ocean, 4^th of July picnics, dancing feather floating in the summer breeze, ice cream cones on a warm summer afternoon, gone fishing...

My charm swap arrived today….

Wonderful designs, created by lovely ladies…

Kites/God’s Eye was the theme of Donna Clark’s wonderful charm. With a little imagination you can almost see Sue Schoch’s angel fish swimming in the sea; coral, shell, glass bead bubbles and green kelp just completed the picture. Valerie Jewell created a fantastic fishy; her design represented fond memories of the 4^th of July, summer picnics and going fishing. While, Pam Takacs created a patriotic and beautifully designed Lampwork bead, in what else red, white & blue. Not one, but two delightful dangle charms were created by Jayne Jackson representing both themes; 4^th of July and her wonderful patriotic hearts. Sherry ”Dancing Feather” created one of her signature copper feathers in a patriotic theme; a lovely design and a very useful cell phone charm. Our swap hostess, Karon Adams designed an amazing pair of Ice Cream Cone earrings.

This was a small swap, only 10 participants, lovely charms were made by all. I will treasure each and every charm.

My little devil....

Which little devil could that be?
Well her real name is “Samantha”, but fondly called “Sam”. It isn’t that we planned on calling her by her nickname, it’s just she’s always in trouble, who has the time to yell out Samantha when she’s getting into anything and everything.

Even as a very tiny kitten, she was well known at the veterinarians. It was time to take her back to have her surgery stitches checked, they were the new super-glue type, and guess what, Sam had decided on day nine to start licking them, so she had to have the real thing, more stitches, more recovery. That was the day the vet tech said, don’t worry, we’ll always remember Sam, she’s one of a kind…”She’ll always be a kitten”

Well, she loves my beads, wire, everything…She even helps me with my photograph, if I want her to or not, which usually is not. She seems to have the expertise of locating great finds, and of course borrowing them. Sam doesn’t really want that single bead, she wants the whole completed piece. She almost always waits until you either have your back turned or even better yet, late at night, she loves borrowing things. Often I’m awakened during the night, to hearing her taking what ever it is she wants, she has the habit of dropping them to the floor, which I hear, which is what woke me up, but off she goes, and sometimes it’s days before I finally find the missing item.

I have found it necessary to lock up the family jewels, well maybe not the family jewels, but all my under constructions projects. Nothing like getting up for a glass of tea, and returning to find something missing. I know I made 10 wire wrapped beads, but I only have 9, am I have another senior moment…know Sam’s been here, my little devil….Life is never dull…

I wouldn’t trade her for the world….