Photo Assistant Inspects New Jewelry

While I was outside taking pictures of jewelry to post on Etsy, my assistant joined me to see if I needed any help.  She closely inspected the items as I positioned them for their photo shoot.  Only when I assured her that all was well did she relax.  Since she so rarely holds still for her own photo, I took this quick pic.

This is my assistant, Xena, in her relax mode.

It is interesting how she loves to follow me around outside until I am ready to take her inside.  Then she finds a hiding spot where she sits very still and watches me call her and call her and ..........call her.  I have found a treat she can't resist and can trick her out of her hiding spot when I jiggle the bag of them..  

I thought you might like to see some of the beads and jewelry we photographed.  

I like to photograph my beads and jewelry outside when the weather permits.  I am usually able to get truer colors with better lighting that way.  We have had so many cloudy and rainy days that it has been difficult to do that. 

Wood seems to provide a good background but I have been experimenting with stone, aluminum foil and other surfaces.  I find that with certain glass colors the background can change the color tones.  They may appear brighter or darker depending on the color of the surface that surrounds them, despite the type of lighting.

Another problem I have with photographing glass is the reflections.  No one needs to see the photographer reflected in the beads.  Some days I need an invisibility cloak for me and everything around me to get a shot without these reflections. 

You can check out these beads and jewelry and more on Etsy.  Thanks for looking.  

Let's create!
Carol

Holding on to Summer

I love, love summer!!  And I hate to see it go.  I hold on to it as long as possible. 

I savor the last cherry tomatoes picked right off the vine, rinsed off and eaten right away.  Oh so good!

My geranium still has a few blooms that are trying to hang on despite all the rain. 

I even planted a few little mums that hopefully will come back next year after supplying some color now.
So who else is a summer lover that has a hard time letting it go?

Keep creating,
Carol

New Construction Pays Off

Sometimes when your husband decides he needs to add a garage on to the house, you can also reap some benefit.  That is how I have come to be getting a new bead studio. 

It is not all fun as this is what the back of my house looks like right now.  Backyard is just one big pile of dirt and rock.  And yes, tons of rock were damaged in the making of this hole.

Today was the first day of actually putting something back.  The cement truck arrived and the footers were poured. 

This corner is where my bead studio will live complete with windows and outside access. 

 

Can't wait to see how it turns out.  Stay tuned for progress. 

 

Keep creating,

Carol 

 

 

 

Jewelry for My Scissors

Lately, I have a new project that combines my love of jewelry with my sewing.  I have been seeing these scissor fobs around and knew I had to make one for me.  This is my first attempt for one to use on my small embroidery scissors.

 

Then I made a couple more using pink glass beads.  They are easy to attach and will move out of the way when using the scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

These are very helpful when you travel with your scissors or are using them around other seamstresses.  It makes it easy to identify yours (a little like a wine charm).  I am thinking that these would make nice gifts for friends, too.   

 

These clasps would only work on the smaller scissors but I have some larger clasps that should work with my dress shears.  Will have to give them a try.  And I think my scissors deserve fobs made with my lampwork beads.  What do you think? 

 

I might even put some of these in my Etsy shop.  If you would like to order some in certain colors, give me a shout and I will see what I can do. 

 

Use some new ideas in your creating,

Carol   

 

Gem and Bead Storage

If you are looking for the Bead Soup Blog Party, please click here. 

While participating in the Clean-Up, Fix-Up Challenge, I had to find ways to store some of my gemstones and beads.  Whenever I purchased gemstones, I would keep them in the bag from the store or gem show and stuff it in to a large shoebox (no pic of this mess, thank goodness).  Soon, I had no idea what I actually had.  After much searching through hardware, bead and department stores, I finally found a solution - boxes with bottles inside.  I found these boxes at a small bead shop and at Walmart.

These boxes and bottles come in two sizes.  The shorter boxes are great for the smaller beads or small amounts of beads.  The taller boxes work for larger gemstones or a larger amount of small beads.  I further organized by sorting the bottles by color in the boxes.   

I also discovered that I could hold the box and bottles to the light and look through to see the color of the beads.  This makes finding the stones I need or auditioning for color much easier.  I also put a sticker on the bottle lids showing the kind and price of each bead, which saves time in pricing a finished piece of jewelry. (Hint:  Put the sticker on the jar, not the lid, as the lids can get mixed up. Don't ask me how I know.)

The boxes stack together and fit neatly in my desk drawers or on shelves.  So one storage issue solved. 

Organize for creativity,
Carol