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.

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.