Countenance Jewelry Featured in Etsy Treasury

'Fading Away' by GoodMemoriesCafe

Rescued Vintage Tool Box... fadedprairie $36.00	Vintage 50s Cat Eye Glasses.... CollectableSpe... $70.00	VINTAGE HANDBAG MADE IN MACA... uncommonstuff $55.00	1930s Tan Mesh Oxfords Size ... lousybeatnik $35.00
Smoky Quartz Bracelet, Sterl... CountenanceJew... $55.00	Simple Primitive Rag Doll fr... theprimitiveho... $22.00	Faded Denim Flower in a Cup ... tekaandzoe $32.00	The crux brandmojoimage... $26.00
set of 6 frosted drinking gl... ModishVintage $30.00	INCREDIBLE 1950s Pale PINK C... VintageFrocksO... $225.00	Vintage Celluloid Collar Box GoodMemoriesCa... $45.00	Russia3 - Faded pink coloure... tomokotahara $32.00
Vintage Baby Pink Lace Satin... SkivvyLuLuVint... $48.00	DIGITAL Download SCAN Antiqu... fadedtatteredr... $3.99	VIntage Kodak Bantam 35mm Be... C3L35T3 $16.00	Fading Glory Fine Art Print ... wondrousstrang... $12.50

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My First Front Page.... Hopefully Not My Last!

I can't believe I missed it, but about a week ago a piece of jewelry I have for sale on Etsy (middle picture, top row) was featured in a Treasury created by another Etsy jewelry designer, JennyBunny, and landed on the front page of Etsy. Fortunately, another user (monaraebeads.etsy.com) was kind enough to send me a congratulatory message. Otherwise, I'd never have known. Etsy is a wonderful community of very giving, thoughtful artists!

Getting on Etsy's front page is a big deal in Etsyland! To be in someone's Treasury is a real compliment. It means the curator somehow came across an item in your shop and liked the photo enough to use it when they had a chance to incorporate it into their Treasury. I've never attempted to create a Treasury myself. In the first place, they are very hard to come by as only a limited number can be created and posted at any given time, and it looks like it would take time, patience and of course talent, to make a good one. To see what I'm talking about, go to http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php and check it out for yourself. To see the current front page Treasury, go to Etsy.com.

Treasuries are picked by Etsy staffers to appear on their front page for some limited length of time. Unfortunately, not all of them make it. When it does, it gives all of the sellers in the Treasury free advertising and exposure, but most importantly of course, it provides that oh-so-coveted 15 seconds of, well, not 'fame' exactly, but a sense of affirmation that what you're creating is appreciated by other artists. Yes, that is a very big deal!

Many thanks to JennyBunny and Mona Rae Beads! Oh, and to Etsy, too!

Photographing Jewelry: Summed Up In One Word

ARRRGGGHHH! That would be the word.

I think most amateur photographers like myself would agree that it is a pain to take decent pictures of small shiny objects like jewelry. Since I'm endeavoring to sell my jewelry online, taking decent pictures (forget great pictures) is really a minimum requirement and sometimes achieving even that makes me a little crazy -- okay, a lot crazy. (For proof of encroaching insanity just look at the whole of my blog!)

The laws of human nature are such that:

a. Most people won't spend their money on an item sight unseen.

b. Most people won't spend their money on an item only slightly seen.

c. Most people get really mad if they buy something only to find that it isn't what they thought based on looking at the pictures.



My photography equipment includes a light box that I point very hot lights at, with considerable effort made to keep the bulbs from touching the oh-so-flammable material. Sitting on a teeny tiny stool at the foot of this setup, I aim my little camera at the piece of jewelry I've ever so artistically arranged in the light box, and start snapping. I constantly check and reset my camera settings: program mode, aperture priority mode, ISO speed up, ISO speed down, adjust my white balance, check for shadows, check for bright spots, shoot at a left angle, right angle, side, go low, go high, get the whole piece in the shot, get just an edge in the shot, zoom in close, pan out wide, go team go!



Seventy pictures later, when every conceivable angle and technique I know has been used, I can finally download my pictures, and voila! I've got four or five decent shots if I'm lucky. Wow. This is when I do some soul searching. Just how bad are the pictures, really? Can I bear to sit on that hard little stool with my arms hanging in the air in order to retake some shots? Do I wait to post my listing until tomorrow when my arms have stopped shaking? Or do I just throw myself into another round of picture taking?

Fortunately, the above scenario isn't always the case. Some jewelry, because of the colors of the components used, can be much easier to photograph than others. Light colors mixed with shiny sterling silver make good photos especially difficult to achieve -- for me anyway. I know there are a lot of people out there who have mastered the art of jewelry photography, and with equipment similar to what I've got. I'm getting marginally better as time goes by.

I think, however, that I will buy a cushion for my stool. It's a business expense, right?

(I was wishing I could get rid of the black spot that showed up in the middle of each of these shiny sterling silver rounds in this photo. When I looked closer, I realized that the black spot was actually a reflection of my camera with my fingers surrounding the lens. I was quite pleased with the effect once I realized what I'd captured, even if it was accidental.)