It’s been a quiet week in the shop, so I thought I would start upgrading some photo backgrounds. These “I Want Candy” magnets look happier against a proper dinner setting, all set for a Labor Day picnic!A very happy Labor Day weekend to one and all.
I was so happy to find myself in an Etsy Treasury West today! Many thanks to tasteslikepurple for including me in “Violet, You’re Turning Violet!” I couldn’t get ScreenGrab to capture the image (just the frame) but here’s an image extracted from printing to a PDF (I'm in the bottom row on the left). Or you can visit the Treasury live before it expires here.
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Not a lot going on this week, so I thought I would play with the Etsy Mini and see how much I could squeeze into one post. It looks like the answer is 7 rows!1% of the sales price for these items (and all my Etsy sales) donated quarterly to earth-friendly nonprofits.
These green striped magnets are fairly dark and were completely defying any attempts to photograph them. I tried paintings, magazine covers — none of my usual background strategies were producing a result even close to the way they look in person. I had resigned myself to the fact that they needed a white background (a prob since I am able to turn even snowy white backgrounds gray). But then I stumbled upon these vintage drawings from the children’s page in a local newspaper, circa 1911.
The white balance and color levels are still giving me trouble — and for some reason Picasa’s sharp display image blurs each time I hit “save,” which is driving me nuts — but I love the drawings! The frogs (top) were what initially caught my eye, since the magnets are green. But I also liked the tiny child fairies playing on the books in the bottom image. Maybe the pixies here can show me how to use my camera properly!
1% of the sales price for these items (and all my Etsy sales) donated quarterly to earth-friendly nonprofits.
I can’t decide if this is more lemony or limey. But it was fun to take the photos — this was one of several sets this weekend that did not want to show up against the first several backgrounds I chose. While I'm not convinced this is the final version (and the colors look better on Etsy than they do here), I had the best luck when I fell back on trusty old magazine covers, from the one magazine I never throw away! Here’s a raised glass of the cool beverage of your choice. I refuse to acknowledge that summer is waning!1% of the sales price for these items (and all my Etsy sales) donated quarterly to earth-friendly nonprofits.
In my continual quest for interesting backgrounds, I remembered that a few Christmases ago my mom gave me a lovely book featuring women painters of the 19th and early 20th century from our state. The prints are beautiful, and I also really like them as colorful backgrounds for my latest glass bubble magnets.
There’s some tongue-in-cheek irony here, since 
I use upcycled images from fairly prosaic sources — here product inserts and grocery coupons for a newspaper ad for dorm room comforters in the Flower Marché magnets (above) and a newspaper ad for dorm room comforters in the Watercolor Pastel magnets (right). Yet these very quotidian 21st-century images felt like they wanted to be paired with their fine art cousins!1% of the sales price for these items (and all my Etsy sales) donated quarterly to earth-friendly nonprofits.
My Favorites section on Etsy is overflowing — I wish I could make a slideshow here to highlight everyone, including Design By Vanessa’s fab Funky Wrap Bracelet, which is an ongoing fave. But since I had a good weekend sales-wise, I think I want to give a little shout-out to a shop that’s still awaiting its first sale. Kaleikyn has such pretty jewelry, most of it in silver tones with a lot of delicate blues and pinks. I’m a big fan of her necklaces, especially Cherry Blossoms by the Lake as well as Persephone (pictured here). All of you amazing and talented jewelry artists face a market with lots of competition — and we all remember what it was like wondering about that first sale! I’m sure Kaleikyn won’t have to wait too long, but I wanted to send some blog ♥s in the meantime!
Image copyright © 2008 by Kaleikyn’s Jewelry.
I have to pace my Etsy listings, since once school starts I’ll have much less time to make things and I need to start stockpiling for Christmas! But I made these last week and decided I didn’t want to wait. These were part of an indoor photo shooting day, and I’m actually happy with the way they turned out.
I’m also continuing to try out new backgrounds. In the Mini Etsy at right, the top image is one of the sets of African Print magnets that I re-shot against a picture of a stringed guitar-like instrument from Mali. For the other African-themed set in the shop, I re-shot against
a Western Civ textbook page about 17th-c. West African cultures. I also re-did the Sedona Sunset magnets (also at right in the Mini) against a map depicting 19th-c. southwestern territories. And for the Happy Sea Monster set above (still a bit too dark), I chose a couple textbook maps illustrating the Renaissance-era Voyages of Discovery. It’s endlessly convenient to have textbooks in the house, even if white balance and I are still fighting with each other, LOL.
1% of the sales price for the Star Moon Heart and Sea Monster Happy magnets (and all my Etsy sales) donated quarterly to earth-friendly nonprofits.
It’s been a quiet week in the shop, so I thought I would start upgrading some photo backgrounds. These “I Want Candy” magnets look happier against a proper dinner setting, all set for a Labor Day picnic!
These green striped magnets are fairly dark and were completely defying any attempts to photograph them. I tried paintings, magazine covers — none of my usual background strategies were producing a result even close to the way they look in person. I had resigned myself to the fact that they needed a white background (a prob since I am able to turn even snowy white backgrounds gray). But then I stumbled upon these vintage drawings from the children’s page in a local newspaper, circa 1911.
The white balance and color levels are still giving me trouble — and for some reason Picasa’s sharp display image blurs each time I hit “save,” which is driving me nuts — but I love the drawings! The frogs (top) were what initially caught my eye, since the magnets are green. But I also liked the tiny child fairies playing on the books in the bottom image. Maybe the pixies here can show me how to use my camera properly!
I can’t decide if this is more lemony or limey. But it was fun to take the photos — this was one of several sets this weekend that did not want to show up against the first several backgrounds I chose. While I'm not convinced this is the final version (and the colors look better on Etsy than they do here), I had the best luck when I fell back on trusty old magazine covers, from the one magazine I never throw away! Here’s a raised glass of the cool beverage of your choice. I refuse to acknowledge that summer is waning!
I use upcycled images from fairly prosaic sources — here product inserts and grocery coupons for a newspaper ad for dorm room comforters in the Flower Marché magnets (above) and a newspaper ad for dorm room comforters in the Watercolor Pastel magnets (right). Yet these very quotidian 21st-century images felt like they wanted to be paired with their fine art cousins!
My Favorites section on Etsy is overflowing — I wish I could make a slideshow here to highlight everyone, including Design By Vanessa’s fab Funky Wrap Bracelet, which is an ongoing fave. But since I had a good weekend sales-wise, I think I want to give a little shout-out to a shop that’s still awaiting its first sale. Kaleikyn has such pretty jewelry, most of it in silver tones with a lot of delicate blues and pinks. I’m a big fan of her necklaces, especially Cherry Blossoms by the Lake as well as Persephone (pictured here). All of you amazing and talented jewelry artists face a market with lots of competition — and we all remember what it was like wondering about that first sale! I’m sure Kaleikyn won’t have to wait too long, but I wanted to send some blog ♥s in the meantime!
I have to pace my Etsy listings, since once school starts I’ll have much less time to make things and I need to start stockpiling for Christmas! But I made these last week and decided I didn’t want to wait. These were part of an indoor photo shooting day, and I’m actually happy with the way they turned out.
a Western Civ textbook page about 17th-c. West African cultures. I also re-did the Sedona Sunset magnets (also at right in the Mini) against a map depicting 19th-c. southwestern territories. And for the Happy Sea Monster set above (still a bit too dark), I chose a couple textbook maps illustrating the Renaissance-era Voyages of Discovery. It’s endlessly convenient to have textbooks in the house, even if white balance and I are still fighting with each other, LOL.
