Indoor Lighting on a Budget

I was faced with either dragging my mannequin to the shed out back through 3 feet of snow to get natural light for photography, or not making and shooting new designs. I didn't really like either choice, although my mannequin is light, the shed is about 30 feet from the house and the chances of my making it there in the snow without tripping and landing on her and the new Aprons is pretty slim.

I decided to look into lighting for the house. I did a little research and found a pretty nice photo lighting set on Amazon. Some days I almost have enough light in the house during the day using my manual camera settings.

This is how it looks in the box. Really folds compactly. I like that for storage.






This is what came. It was much nicer than I thought for the price of $41 (I have Amazon Prime and have free shipping). The kit contains 2 adjustable stands with sockets. The sockets have switches, this really surprised me for the cost. I was planning on having to unplug to turn off. It also comes with 2 light diffusing umbrellas that fit into the sockets, and 2 full spectrum light bulbs. The light bulbs alone sell for about $25 for a pair.

Each light stand can be as low as 4 feet or as tall as 8 feet with bubs (list 7.7 feet). I had to lay it down to measure, because my ceiling are not that high. Not sure why you would need it that tall, Maybe if you want to photograph that humongous spider on the ceiling. Although the cord is a nice 9 feet long, you have to remember that it comes from the socket at the top of the stand, so fully extended, you will probably need an extension cord to reach power source. The base is only about 2 feet diameter, but the umbrellas take up more like 4 feet of air space. I have a fairly small space and trying to set them up with umbrella and still have room to shoot the model was tricky.

If you look at the product reviews, you will note that the bulbs are not bright enough. I purchased these to soften the light coming into the room. Sunlight and my ceiling light were creating shadows and this setup really worked to soften the light. I tried to do photography when the sun set and the bulbs were truly not bright enough for my full body photography. I haven't used it for close items, so I'm not sure if they are bright enough for that, but if it's a matter of one or 2 brighter bulbs, it's still a great deal.

This is the negative, but not really too bad. There are no assembly instructions and DON'T write me to ask how. It's pretty easy to figure out. There are no use instructions either, so the locks could be a bit tricky to figure out if you've never used adjustable stands. The only thing I don't like is the way the tripod base unfolds. It's a bit hard to open. I had to first spread the feet and then push the top of the legs down the center pole.

All in all, I really like the setup. I am learning how to adjust my camera now to get the best shots.

The Last Splurge of 2013

I went shopping today, December 31, 2013 and boy did I splurge. I bet you all thought I didn't know how to live it up. I know how to have a good time. Like take this new fancy glass butter dish I got.
This is quite an upgrade from the $1 plastic butter dish I had. It was ALMOST $4.

I also bought some stainless steel measuring cups and spoons, total cost about $8 And a really nice $3 wooden spoon (maybe I should dip the handle in paint and make it worth $20). I can't believe what a wild spender I was today.

This, this was the real splurge. A foot bath that bubbles, heats water and has a spinny, scrubby thing. It might have been expensive, but today it was half price and just under $10.

I bought a $1.50 Santa hat for one grandson and some poppers for New Years Eve. I spent $7.50 on a case of 12 pint jars to put my bagged bulk spices in to get them out of my cupboards and on my bakers rack with the smaller jars of spices. I have a few left over to make some food in too.


My favorite purchase of the day though is the new $5 back brush. Now I won't have to fight so hard to clean my back in the shower, although I must admit, It does help to keep me flexible. Not a big deal though, even at 60, I'm like one of those rubber bendy dolls. Guess when you're double jointed, they still kinda stay that way even when you're old. Now I'm like a normal jointed 20 year old. Not so bad.

TMI? Well I'm in a good mood tonight. After all, I just splurged on myself.

Have a Wonderful 2014 and a prosperous healthy future for 2014 and beyond.

Adventures in Photo Editing Part 200

This post is going to be mostly pictures. You'll like it.

This is what I've been up to. I make eye jewelry, but didn't have photography in all of the colors I can make. I can actually make them any color, but mostly just 5 sell well.  So I wanted to offer 5 colors and thought it would be easier to do this on Photoshop. Actually it takes a lot of time too. For those who don't have Photoshop, I really like pic monkey. It's a great editing program. Adobe is also offering a fee to use program now, but it's not really cheap either. I use an old program, you might find one on eBay.

Here's how I started. I took my eyes and photographed them on the printed sheet with the lenses over them.

Then I did some photography.

 Then I made a template with blank areas. I pasted my eyes in the "holes" and scaled to fit. Voila I made new images.

 


Then after making each piece of jewelry I made a band of all the colors. And here's the final images.

Bow Ties for Guys - The Easy Tie Way

Bow Tie are so popular now. I just had to create some fun ties for the coolest guys. I know, the really cool guys know how to tie them, but who has the time? And those little bungee things make your ties all twisty and fall down and are a pain to adjust right?

My ties are on a super comfortable Grosgrain ribbon with velcro closure that is adjustable and so easy to wear. They are even comfortable enough to wear on a bare neck. Women can be styling too. The great thing about them (here comes some technical stuff) is that the ribbon is the same width as the knot, so no twisting and falling. I mean, unless your friends lift your collar for a closer inspection, there's no way they'll know it's not knotted.

Some ties are made from vintage fabrics, some are my own custom design that I have printed. I can make you, anything you want. This is just a sampling of the fun ties I carry in my shop. Stop by Poppy's Garden Gate for more.

Etsy Closed My Shop Part 200

OK, that's an exaggeration, but apparently Etsy did another big Friday sweep and once again I received emails from sellers wanting to know what to do. So again I post my piece of mind.

Etsy TOU's or Terms of Use are so all encompassing that every seller is probably in violation of something. For instance, if you have collaborative work with any other Etsy seller and you don't have the link to that shop on you shop, If you say ANYTHING negative about Etsy on a public venue (believe me, they are watching), and of course if your items are in handmade and don't look handmade. One of the most common reason's for having a shop shut down is copyright infringement. If you want to sell on Etsy, only sell "fan art" that is "inspired by" the genre you are representing. The don't seem to understand the law on reconstructing materials either via the First Sale Doctrine. But that's another long story.

Point is, they can find a number of valid reason's to close your shop. Sometimes you can get it reopened, sometimes not. I think it depends on how penitent you are. Do you grovel, or are you snippy and snide? And I also think it helps to have had white backgrounds. The have a preference for shops that display works on white backgrounds. Look at the front page, right now, go.

Do they need your shop? No, not anymore, they have thousands of shops. Your 3.5% doesn't mean much to them anymore. Even if your sales mean food on the table for your family. That's what happened to my daughter, because she was supporting her family on the money she made on Etsy. Her 3.5% was about $90 a month, she was doing very well and they still didn't care.There is no Heart in Etsy.

The first thing I suggest to anyone selling online at any venue is to get a web page. You can get free ones. weebly.com has free sites. Buy your domain name someplace cheap and buy a site if you can. Put that address on your business cards and link your "shop" page directly to your selling site. That way if anything happens to your site, your buyers will ALWAYS know where to find you.

Don't think you're immune either. I've had friends who have had their images stolen by off shore factories and posted online. These are honest shops who have had their copyright infringed on, and Etsy forced them to prove that their merchandise was handmade. DO NOT think that a watermark will save you. They are easily removed with Photoshop. I've seen the images that prove it.

And remember, if you do get your shop closed, you can contact me through this blog. At least I can hold your hand and lend a shoulder.

The Career Game

As my life is settling down a bit. I'm not playing Manic Monday any more. At least not until I have a manic day. I am back at "that" house so things may change at any moment.

I was looking at my DD's keyboard and the ten key at the side and remembering when I was a bookkeeper. That bought me to think of all the careers I've had. I'm going to try to remember them all and list them for you. Some, you will not believe.

My first real PAYING job was at age 16. I did evening billing for a local department store. It was long before computers, and we used adding machine to tally receipts and hand write the amounts on cards for the customer's permanent file. We also subtracted the amount of checks paid. I wasn't very good at it, and I quit before I screwed up too many bills. I've always been dyslexic, and was much worse as a teen.

Next career was more in my line. For several years as a teen, I did freelance crafting. Macrame accessories and clothing, hand painted leather jewelry, beaded jewelry. But for the most part, I didn't get money, only trade. But for me, that was awesome. I kept some of the trade clothes (my fave) for years.

I finally got another Real job when I was 19. It was temporary, but real money and something I could do. I managed a booth at a local mall, selling little glass blown figurines. I found I was actually good at handling money, and managing employees, even at 19.

The next job was selling memberships at a national auto club. It was pretty horrible. I had to make cold phone calls and even drive out to the clients houses wherever they were, even in the city, to close the deal. I discovered that I REALLY hated solicitation.

I moved right from phone sales to department store sales. Quite different. First I was a floater, moving from department to department, then jewelry took me. I liked that, and much different when the buyer comes to you. I had my eye on the art department and the pet department, and when I finally took an offer from  the pet department, I got an offer for art. Too bad I didn't take it. Might have changed my life. Pet department was mostly fun, I wore a snake around my neck at work, and occasionally brought home bags of frogs or snakes to transfer from one store to another. I became a supervisor at 20, and things were great until my married boss made advances. It was a whole different world back then. No protection for employees. I quit.

What would a young girl of 21 choose to do next? Why become a store detective of course. I started with a national detective agency as a store detective and eventually progressed to an undercover detective, working in factories to ferret out thieving employees. It was a lot of hours, writing reports every day, and the deceit was hard for me to handle. I couldn't tell anyone what I was doing, especially friends I made on the job. I finally quit. Not something I was cut out for, but interesting all the same.

I had met the man who I would marry while I was a detective and during our transition from dating to marriage, I got another job in sales at a clothing store. I also did a little repair sewing when they found out I was a seamstress, having taken tailoring in High School. But it was time to have kids and I stopped working for a few years.

Finally when my youngest was only 3 months, I decided enough was enough. If only there was online sales back then, how different my life would have been too. But I got a part time job as an evening bookkeeper at my husbands auto service garage. I worked there and other stations for quite a few years while also going back to school. School would end up taking 11 years to complete.

Bookkeeping turned to station management and eventually computer accountant for the entire Cleveland Area. But I was stubborn, when the company refused to give me the $.25 an hour raise they promised me, I quit. It cost them quite a bit too, because my replacement payed every employee holiday pay, and corporation payed them too. No employee told, my husband was one of them. Karma will get you every time.

While I was finishing school a friend offered me a job at her interior fiber design studio making drapery and slip covers. It was fun, but interfered too  much with my difficult program in industrial design. So I had to quit that job too.

While at school I took various jobs, like part time assistant in school departments, summer school art instructor, and computer tech. I loved computer lab tech, because I was so strict, no one came to use computers on my watch and I could do my own work on several at a time. They were pretty slow for graphics back then.

Graduation time and I had my hopes set on toy design. that was my focus at school, but actually I had more experience in home fashion and lighting design it was. That was supposed to be a temporary move, but lasted over 15 years. My focus was Tiffany style lighting and painted finishes. I decided to move around to get better positions and well, that was my downfall.

After my last full time job as designer, and art director, I got some work as a freelance paint finish designer, working for a US lighting company a few times a year in China. Money was good. I also sold supplies and children's clothing on eBay.

Then came the market crash and a little place called Etsy. Lighting wasn't selling, but handmade crafts were. I still sell online and do a little freelance lighting design. Not sure what the future holds, but I'll keep you updated. I'm thinking of writing an illustrated children's book.

Craft Seller Tips - Sample Making Pt 2

My first post showed how I was going to try to do something simple to make new purses without really making them. See Craft Seller Tips - Sample Making Pt 1

Well, I made my Purse sleeves and did a photo shoot. But I wanted to make more purses that I didn't have pictures of so I did some Photoshop. You be the judge. What is real, what is a sleeve and what is Photoshop?

This is a purse that was made and photographed

These bags were sleeves over a purse and photographed

These two purses are Photoshopped panels in older photographs

I can't decide what is better. I'm not sure either of them look any better than the other. I am beginning to think that I don't even have to make the sleeves to make the presentation, as long as the image on the bag is the right size. I can cut out the panels and shoot them and "shop" them into already modeled bags. And Although the crease in the smurf bag doesn't look great, I think it actually makes it look more "real"

What do you think?

Etsy Integrity Inquisition - Ha Ha funny if you've had your Etsy shop closed

It's been quite some time since my daughter and I had our Etsy shops closed. We are doing very well now, no thanks to the site we promoted and loved who dumped us without so much as a chance to protest.

Ebay has learned that sometimes the hand that feeds you also bites back, as many sellers have sued them for similar practices. I'm sure this will happen to Etsy eventually.

Since my original post, I have met many crafters who have had their shops closed by Etsy. People like my daughter and me, who have invested a lot of time and money in their business, only to have the mustachioed "rug" pulled out from beneath them.

As I always recommend. Please don't set yourself up to fail. Etsy is a great place to sell if you can #1 compete with the resellers #2 keep your mouth shut publicly about their evil practices #3 protect yourself by linking your shop to your own website and sending out business cards with that website address only, with orders. That way you can link to a new site IF Etsy shuts your shop down.

I thought you all might like this entertaining parody of Etsy discriminatory practices. Really, it's funny (not if you've had your shop closed though)

Craft Seller Tips - Sample Making Pt 1

I'm a maker. I designed a purse, but labor is high and material cost is not great either, but the profit is good when I sell. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how I can show different options without making several new purses with buckles, zippers linings with snaps, and also not use up all the materials I have and the space in my house.

I thought about Photoshop. I'm good at it, but you see how the fabric folds on the bags in use, That's hard to "shop".

I sell a lot of these Rainbow Brite Purses.

I had a few samples made, so I got a brilliant idea. What if I made "skins" for the samples. You know, just the outside panels and gusset to slip over the purse. I think it will work. I'm going to work on these for a few days and post my work for you. Maybe you can get some ideas too of how to make samples easier too.

My clutches would be hard to do this way, because I put in the zipper un-assembled, but the purses are perfect. I want to make a nice Messenger bag too. I can make the lining only and make "skins" for modeling those too.


Picture above is skin being sewn. Below is a picture of 2 of the skins after pressing. Skull and Roses and NKOTB Jon.

I'm not positive how I will attach the skins. I know basting will work, but not easy to switch for photo shoot. Carpet tape would work, but might also leave sticky residue on the original sample. I will keep posting my progress on this so you can see the finished product and maybe you can figure out a way to save time and money on your samples. Maybe set stones in bezels and glue to one band just for ring photography. Just like artists or photographers can use the same mat or frame for display.

Here's a picture of the NKOTB Joey skin slipped over the matching purse. Once I figure out how to stabilize the top edge, I think it will work. I'm open to any suggestions.

Keep watching. I will be back with more on how I solved my sample making issues.

Business Tips - Packaging and Tagging

I know, I'm sorry. I just don't give you enough tips for you business anymore. After all, who wants to hear about the crazy lady next door ripping open her garbage and throwing it all over the yard, or see pictures of the tree that fell on our house. You want to see better ways to sell your wares, right?

I had to share this one, because I'm very proud of the idea. I've been wanting to wholesale, because I really hate craft shows, but online just doesn't get the traffic I need. If only I could sell what I make at the winter holidays, all year round. But to be able to wholesale, you have to still have a profit with a hefty discount, and I didn't have many items that could support that.

Recently I started making bow ties. They're very popular and material cost is decent. Time needs to be worked on, but I see ways that making larger quantities can cut that down. My bow ties are easy to use and can be sold at a pretty decent price for bow ties.

The problem with wholesale is packaging. You can't just tissue wrap and tie with ribbon. Smaller items need to be carded or window boxed. I ordered clear pillow boxes, but those still need cards and the cost is bout $.25 each.

Then I thought that Post cards might do the trick. They're about the right size I could match them to my business cards, and have info and care instructions on the back.

Here's the front and back of the card. The bow will be on the front and the ribbon band will wrap across the middle of the back. I can reasonably make custom cards for the seller too. And I can whole punch the center for hanging.

There was a sale. So the cards cost about $.10 each and they are nicer than if I printed my own, which with ink, could cost more. Click to enlarge. I got them at overnightprints.com. Their quality is pretty good and I like their postcard size better than Vistaprint.

My daughter uses business card to print little tags, by having 3 tags printed across the vertical card. She cuts them in strips and uses a swift tagger to tag them on a seam of her clothing. Merchandise can't be returned to her if the tag has been removed. Another clever idea.

When you buy business cards on sale from vistaprint.com, they are incredibly reasonable. Much better than printing your own tags.

I'm also considering making fabric labels at spoonflower.com. Their quality is much better than my printer printed labels, and at $15 a yard, I can get a LOT of fabric tags made. I think I can use a spray fabric stay to keep them from fraying too.

Hope this gets your creative juices flowing. There's a lot of innovative ways you can use the resources available to you. Why you could make cute tags for your jewelry boxes from those little business card strips, couldn't you? Oh and of course you can make business cards or post cards too.

Just another Manic Monday - Photo and Filters

I took a lousy picture of one of my new pieces last night. With flash. Never list an item with flash photography. You're better off just taking a picture in the dark and posting that. Flash makes everything look flat flat flat. Washes out beautiful detail. I am not kidding, look at the difference here. 

The picture I took looked so bad that I thought, maybe with the right filter they could be improved. I really don't have any filters and no Instagram (lucky you who do) so I did some searching on the internet without much help. Lots of sites recommended Picnik, but you know what happened there.

Then I remembered Photobucket used to have some filters I never used. I use Photobucket for my photo hosting for Ebay. I gave them a try and this is what I did. Not great, but more attractive.

Then I got carried away with the filters. Here is what I did next. Click on the images to enlarge the before and afters. I really don't like Photobucket, but it is working better on Chrome and I might like to make some cool pics and features with their filters, frames and other editing tools with all my free time.

I Used to Sell on Etsy

Another friend got a warning from Etsy. She used licensed materials in her product, which is perfectly legal, but she got her first warning. I used to sell on Etsy too.

Etsy has so many sellers and so much money that they really don't care about you. They might pretend that they do, but they don't. When I was having problems with Etsy, I was advised to contact a certain person for help. My friends assured me that this person was wonderful and that he would certainly help me. But almost immediately after I wrote to him explaining my problem, instead of having the one troubled shop reopened, all of my 4 shops were shut down.

I personally didn't violate any policies, as a matter of fact, although my daughter was called out, she didn't either. She was legally reconstructing licensed t-shirts and vintage sheets. Etsy didn't even want to discuss it. They shut down her shop and my shop that had a link to her shop. Yes, if you have a link to a friend or family member, you can be shut down permanently too.

I reopened a shop in my name only, and that worked well, but my daughter couldn't, and she struggled for a long time. We were already struggling financially, so my Etsy bills were at the bottom of my list of priorities. Food for the kids, and shelter came first. I got seriously behind and Etsy shut down my shops and demanded payment in full to reopen my shops. I was already struggling, so there was no way I could pay it off, and there was no negotiating. They would not accept partial payment and a payment plan to reopen. They just wanted to get rid of me.

Fortunately I had another shop open with some of my product, and fortunately I had downloaded my CSV.
Although the information was a bit outdated, I was able to open a new shop at a new venue pretty quickly. As for traffic, that has taken a few years to develop again.

Now I have my own website. I have a shop page, that can be linked to any venue I want to sell at. Today it is Artfire.com, tomorrow it may be storenvy.com or the new Handmadeology.com marketplace.

I also know if you possibly can, download a CSV. You never know what can happen. People have had their shops shut down, just because Etsy suspects they are having items made outsourced. While some shops blatantly violate and still remain, others get shut down for nothing. Oh and by the way, discussing anything negative about Etsy publicly is a violation of their policy and a reason for getting your shop shut down too.

I used to sell on Etsy, and it is so liberating not to have those "evil eyes" watching my every move.

Put Your Geek Stuff Here - Artfire Collection

Poppy put me in a collection. Isn't she sweet. Love the geekery.

Put your geek stuff here!

  Curated By: PoppysWickedG...

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

Recipe for Success - Listening to Buyers

Oh I should be writing and posting a food recipe, I know. But unless I have something truly unique (and I do) why would you want to come here instead of Pinterest?

I thought I'd share a secret with you. It's called a buyer.

While my shop and most of my designs have come from my daughter Poppy, some have been inspire by buyers.

I love when buyers give me something absolutely impossible to make, because that's how I've come up with some of the best selling items in Poppy's Garden Gate.

Can you make an apron that isn't ruffled? Can it cost a little less? My sweetheart apron made with a 15" strip of 44" fabric - economical and still cute.

How about a tie. I need a tie out of your cute fabrics. This is where the inspiration for my Bow Ties came from. I still haven't made a suit tie yet. Haven't figured out how to make those economically, but they might come this summer.

Can you make me a purse that looks like this with a pocket and adjustable strap? I'd like it to hold more and close with a zipper. I'd been wanting to make a purse, or messenger bag, but didn't have the guts to try. The order for 3 different bags at $85 during the slow Summer season, convinced me to give it a try.

Another wonderful addition to my shop will come just in time for Wedding Season. I'll be making wedding garters out of cute genre fabrics. I made a custom New Kids on the Block one. Why didn't I think of that? Matching bow ties and garters for fun and funky weddings.

My daughter has the same type of inspiration from some of her buyers. Some of her best selling items, came from custom requests.

Changing the Way we Create - One Puppy at a Time

"Sit in this cubicle, with these gray walls, don't talk to any of the other designers, don't leave the office, and create something amazing that we can sell or you will get a pay cut and a demotion. Remember, don't talk to anyone and don't use the computer for anything other that communication with staff or to do your design work on. No browsing websites."

Does this sound familiar to any of you? If it doesn't you haven't ever worked in an office as a professional designer. Maybe this is too extreme. I was allowed to browse the internet occasionally and I did talk to the designers, but then I got written up on it at review time. I talked too much. How does one stay creative without ANY outside influence? I did get to travel occasionally too, to Mexico, Asia and shows in other states for work. Not totally sheltered, but not as much stimulus as a designer really needs.

I got to the point in my life, where I decided that I would rather have a job standing and scanning, than having a supervisor standing behind me, watching me work, over my shoulder. As a matter of fact, mid menopause, I blew up at the owner who was doing just that. There was more to it, but the explosion left me totally disillusioned and needing to escape. I joined the circus, figuratively. First starting on Etsy, then moving around the internet and now on Artfire and my own website. I did a little freelance work at first, and still do a little, but I seem to pick the scariest companies to work for. I think there must be good ones too.

Creativity has to be fed. No matter what way you find you need it. If human contact is the way, or travel, or just browsing the internet for inspiration. Did you know that many art museums have virtual exhibits? They do. It's pretty amazing. Better in person, but not bad online.

I think, like our country, the model for the workplace was created by old school white men. I think if we want to get anywhere in the global economy, we all need to tear down those gray walls install lavender sofas, and all sit down with a puppy, next to a bouquet of roses with a cup of Chai tea, a sketchpad and ideate (that's a product design term) together.