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.

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.

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.