Realistic or Pretty?

Sunday morning... Usually there is lots to do, and I never get to the computer until about 11 o'clock, but yesterday it was my daughter's eighteenth birthday party, and Rod and I went away; now we are back, but people aren't up yet, so what a perfect chance to do one's blog!

I've always wanted to write about photography. Everybody knows how important it is, especially to show your beads to people who want to buy them. The beads should look good but realistic. A lot of bead artists use very strong lighting for their shots, or take photos with a flash. What I found is that all this changes the colours a lot - or is it just my camera? So I usually opt for either very soft and "peaceful" (as I call them) shots of beads on my window sill, or in the sunlight - for a much stronger sparkly effect.

For example, when I was preparing this shot for my book, which in the end didn't make it, I laid out this "Mermaids' Eyes" bracelet on the window sill and just had to wait for the right light. It happened in the end, but this was one of the most difficult shots I'd ever taken. The reduced Double Helix Triton dots have a lot of colour in them, and it changes depending on the angle at which you look at them. It was important to capture this incredible change.

This other photo shows more amazing colours you can get from Double Helix. It was taken in the open, but not in the sun, as I was worried about "overcooking" the colours - you can get a whole rainbow effect from these, but I always leave this to the customer: when they open the parcel and discover beads which look even better in real life than on the photo, I should imagine they are going to be very pleased!

Becky's Blog, 111 stars and Taking Photos in the Rain :)

Becky Fairclough of Chameleon Designs, being an amazing glass artist and making amazingly beautiful beads and things, also is a truly beautiful person. Whenever I see her at fairs and meetings, she always smiles, always happy, always has a chat with her numerous friends and acquaintances. I was really happy when she told me that she ordered my book; now she received it and wrote a whole blog about it! :) You can read it on http://www.chameleonsdesigns.blogspot.com/ . I am feeling so fluffy inside! :) :) :)

Yesterday I realized that now I have 111 feedback stars on ebay! I thought it was a pretty cool number. It shows that you are not a novice, and you have sold a considerable amount of stuff, and that customers care to leave a nice feedback about what they bought from you. I always thought that once I have over a hundred of these stars I will be very pleased indeed (you see, some customers don't leave anything, and it isn't because they are dissatisfied, but they might forget or be busy). But now, of course, I am dreaming of, say, 500 stars! I don't know if I'll ever be able to produce as much as feedbacks for a 1000 items! But you never know...

Also yesterday I was very clever and I took photos of the beads I was going to put on ebay in advance. I usually list items on Friday, and usually Friday is a very hectic day: choosing and additionally inspecting beads (lots of noise, I tell you!), cleaning (for a 10th time) and polishing (for a 20th time) the beads which would be ready to be photographed, taking photos, choosing photos, tagging and naming them, ooooh! busy. Then the actual writing of the descriptions, measuring etc. When I woke up I saw a lovely sunrise, which was surprising as all night it was raining. Remembering where we live now (it rained a LOT LESS in Norfolk) I used the sunshine for these great photos of my beads. Here's one. I should have called the beads something like "Lunaglow", but this great thought only came to me this morning, so they'll just have to be simply "Lentils"!

After the Rain

So what's new? Yesterday was the day of Faith, Hope and Love (this is the Russian variant of the name translated into English). I love that day: 30th of September in Moscow would usually be quiet, no wind, with golden leaves and that special autumn sunshine - soft and kind of meaningless...

Today it was raining ALL day. I even posted a pic on Facebook - nobody commented! I think everybody was a little annoyed with me, stating the obvious. So I have posted these pix here! The thing is, in Norfolk it isn't actually as wet as in Derbyshire. But after all that rain this beautiful rainbow came. It was huge, double or even triple, with many layers which, unfortunately, can't be seen on the photo. It was here only for about half an hour, but it changed everything: the light of the sky, the air, my mood. I forgave and forgot the rain. It was lovely.

I must sort out my torch. Otherwise I am having too much spare time, doing absolutely nothing. Who cares about unpacking anyway? It's boring, it was very boring packing, I only did it because I had to. Tomorrow. Definitely. I'll do it.

Last week, thanks to Dominique, I received the first big and important parcel to the new house - my book. This was the first time I saw the new cover and the actual book. Mixed feelings... It is great to see something that you've sweated for in your hands, having taken on a real shape and form. The trouble is, when I "flick through" it I remember all those days of hard work - not even a year ago! But it looks very pretty, and I do hope there is a lot of good advice in it for people like myself.
One critisism: if it were entirely me, I would have had more pictures of the final finished jewellery pieces - after all, they are the end product, and those pictures were the most difficult part of it all. For example, the shot of the "Mermaids' Eyes" Bracelet took me nearly two months to get right: the shape of it, and the lighting seemed for ever not quite right, but in the end it was cropped - had I known, I would have produced something similar without so much sweat.
Anyway, the work is done, and the book (hopefully) will be on the shelves as from 7th November (Great October Revolution day in Russia!), so... happy shopping and lampworking and jewellery making!

Busy-Busy Uploading on Flickr

What a morning! I'm sitting here uploading lots of photos on Flickr. Just the beads at the mo, jewellery will be coming soon too. Unfortunately, I am still unable to create "galleries", as the instructions are so poor. I've tried and tried, again and again, but the "Add to a Gallery" still doesn't come up, apparently, because of some security settings - well, these are my pics and I haven't set anything private or whatever, but it isn't happening. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Anyway, I can't waste any more of my time, especially as I'm going to try out some new ideas, so... Flickr will have to wait!