My new SS stuff

I've put up some pictures of 4 of my sterling silver necklaces. I haven't added links on my web pages to the pictures yet. I still need to add some better descriptions and my standard website menu stuff. But I wanted to show them to y'all.

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These pictures were taken with my new digital camera..but I still need to work on lighting. However, you can get better detail if you click on the picture.. then click on the enlarged picture.

-m.

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Reply to
chaddock
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Very lovely, Mary. I too have a new digital camera and am having trouble getting enough light and detail on the jewellery. My daughter took a few with her $2,000 camera which will no doubt be WAY better than mine, LOL. She forgot to help me figure this less expensive Canon out. I did try it in a north light and that works OK. Someone on here suggested trying that......also making a box.

Have a look at the following website and see if anything there helps. It covers a lot of questions.

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Cheers.....Heather

Reply to
Heather

I got a Canon too!! Mine is a PowerShot SD750. I bought a cheap tripod to go with it.

One of my next big purchases is going to be this Jewelry Photography Kit:

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-m.
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Reply to
chaddock

Mine is a Powershot 560....no tripod, grin. I figured I would just keep photos of things that I am making in order for my slightly *ancienne* brain to remember exactly how I did it. Eventually I will keep a scrapbook other than on the computer.

Daughter (Elayne) is a graphic artist and photography is her passion... hence the amazing camera. I would imagine her lenses cost more than our cameras!! But she does wonderful calendars, etc. for Xmas presents of places she goes to in Europe on holiday.

That Photography Kit looks to be what you need. I am not anywhere near that stage yet. Still pottering around making things for myself and am constantly amazed when people want to buy them. I am trying to build up an inventory of finished jewellery, but go slightly bonkers when I look at the raw goods and totally lose sight of what I was thinking of making, LOL!! Is this a common thing??

Off to make up something now that I have said that, grin.

Cheers.....Heather

Reply to
Heather

In message , chaddock writes

Lovely necklaces, I would be proud to wear any of them.

I sometimes struggle with photos, but I found I got better pictures of jewellery if I did it outside. I hung my tassel on the yew tree to take the picture.

Also I have a tendency to put them on the scanner and scan them. Before putting the lid down I put either a piece of fabric or coloured paper over them to make the background.

Good luck to you with your sales. Hugs Shirley

Reply to
Shirley Shone

Nice work. The copper in the Bali with the pearls gives it a nice warm look. I always use the Swarovski pearls instead of real ones, because they're so durable. The exception will be the ones in my daughter's wedding jewelry.

Tina

Reply to
Christina Peterson

That's the one I got. Very easy setup. Unfortunately, I still don't have the right lights for it. I need to make more money selling jewelry, so I can afford the lights to take better pictures so I can sell more jewelry. It's a conundrum :)

Cheers, Carla

chaddock wrote:

Reply to
Carla

Thanks. The copper in the Bali is actually gold plated. I had intended to use 14K beads, but.. well.. it didn't happen this time. If this one sells, I may make another with the 14K.

I thought about using real pearls. But I'm pretty picky about pearls and there is no way I'd be able to sell a necklace made with saltwater pearls. (Although I'm seriously considering making one for myself).

I think another advantage to using real pearls is the ability to clean the jewelry. I was told it may be difficult to clean a tarnished item that includes Swarovski pearls. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but that's what a jeweler told me.

-m.

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Reply to
chaddock

I've tried scanning them before. It worked pretty nice, but I have problems figuring out how to arrange them. I never tried the color background. That's a pretty neat idea.

Normally I try to take the pictures outside. On a couple of those pictures, it was getting late and I wanted to get them to the store the following morning. It was either get what I could inside, or wait another week before I could get them in the display.

btw, I looked at your jewelry on your website. It's pretty impressive stuff. I don't know if I'd ever have the patience to do that type of work. How long does it take you to do one item normally?

-m.

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Reply to
chaddock

Carla, My biggest concern is how much space it will take up when I'm not using it. My work area is my dining room table, and my husband (fortunately) is not very tolerant to messiness. So, I try to put things away for a few days at least once a week. It sounds silly, but it makes me feel I still have some organization in my mess. :-)

-m.

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Reply to
chaddock

Ahhh... so the consistent comments about my prices being low are not only for my well -being, but a concern on the competitive market. Gosh, I hadn't thought about that. It does make it easier to increase the prices based on that argument/justification.

-m.

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Reply to
chaddock

I'm surprised. I know real pearls require extra care, and have heard the Swarovskis are tough as nails.

So are those Bali beads plated or vermeil? Vermeil is plated, but 1) it's plated onto silver which is precious metal, and 2) it has a better bonding process and is a much thicker plating. It is much more highly regarded. The bad thing about vermeil is that the silver really shows as not being gold when the gold wears, and sometimes they use a higher karat gold which is softer and wears faster.

I only use vermeil where the gold can't touch anything and wear down.

Tina

Reply to
Christina Peterson

Mine is folded up right now and it's not much bigger than a record album (if you're old enough to remember such things ).

Fortunately, hubby and I are both pretty messy, so we have to be tolerant of each other's messes.

Cheers, Carla

chaddock wrote:

Reply to
Carla

The "bead store" part of mine lives in buckets (with lids - sometimes rather hard to tell which is which - and you really don't want to lift a bucket full of seed beads if you can help it, so the seed bead buckets have lighter weight things on top of the seed beads). And my non-beadstore stuff mostly lives in buckets too, and some (used) USPS flat rate boxes, and clear plastic containers that I get from my green papaya salad that somebody at the farmers market sells and that I got rather addicted to.

My work space is a "banker's box" lid. I used to use a soda can tray, but they tend to have holes > > Carla,

Reply to
Maren at google

With the rise of gas prices and the mortgage crisis, Americans are being forces to more realistic about our wants and needs. Sure I WANT a 3 bedroom house (bedroom, office, and guest/craft room) in the suburbs for just the two of us. Lots to heat, a big mortgage, a big commute, etc. But I'd rather have this smaller but paid for house. Out of town, but we both disabled/retired, and we heat with wood, and do batches of chores when we go to town.

Because we're out of town, we have no garbage service. And at the dump (transfer station) they have a roofed over cement pad for things to re-use. So lots of people dumpster dive, or at least get out of the car to peek at what's out there. It's almost a social thing.

The talk of recycled and make shift organization items reminds me of that. I would suppose people would do more of that in Hawaii because of an island mentality. Use what's here, 'cause it's hard to get; and re-use it because it's even harder to get rid of.

I keep my things in plastic boxes, like tackle boxes, in bookcases, and am probably going to transfer them to a long short chest of drawers (from the dump). But a lot of stuff ends up piled on my desk (from the second hand store, but there are often similar ones -- old metal desk, possibly military -- at the dump), often pretty high. I do always have a Work In Progress mess somewhere/s (desk, living room table, or even just on an up-ended box or crate, because Pete's stuff in on the dinner table), even though I also have a larger area for bead storage.

I have a fantasy about getting an old type chest. The kind they use to store type for old printing presses, which require many flat shallow drawers and that can hold the weight of all that glass.

I don't know how I'll live with a tidy person. I find Creative Mess to be a fact of my life. There have been comments here, long ago, about that Glad Press and Wrap used as a portable work board I got some, but my stuff seems to like to live out in the open.

Tina

Reply to
Christina Peterson

Your work is lovely, Mary!

Initially, I wasn't impressed with the pictures, but You can really see them well when you click on them to get the enlarged pictures.

Reply to
Beadbimbo

Unfortunately if I don't have a good small image, no one will be interested enough to click to see the details.

Here's my newest one. I spent 2 HOURS today trying to get the pictures better. Are they any better?

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-m.
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Reply to
chaddock

Beautiful work. Can you get closer or crop closer shots, might better for online purposes. But your work is great. Lois

Reply to
A Beaded Affair

Lois, Thanks for the suggestions and compliment. If you get a chance, take a look at these pictures (cropped) and let me know if they work better. I don't know why I have a difficult time judging my own pictures, but I can judge others easily.

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The original ones (if you want to compare) are still online at:
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-m.
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Reply to
chaddock

Check out Magpie Gemstones for inexpensive ROUND akoya salt water white pearls. Tell her Realtychik sent you. Might not help but couldn't hurt. Lois

Reply to
A Beaded Affair

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