Idea for a birthday present

A birthday present doesn't have to be expensive to be appreciated, sometimes the time and effort you invest in it means much more than the number of $$$ you've spent.
There are lot of blogs, forums and sites where you can find great ideas and instructions on how to make some things yourself. The item you make or decorate doesn't have to be perfect, but the love you make it with will certainly bring a wide, happy smile on the recipients face ;)

Most of my friends already got my jewelry for their birthdays, so I had to move on :D

Here is the picture I made for my friends birthday (click on the photo for larger sized image).

First I bought a simple glass picture frame and some paper napkins. Acrylic colors,patina liquid, decoupage glue and gloss varnish I already had at home.

On my way home I was contemplating on how to arrange the paper napkins, which one to use to match the colors and motifs...

When I formed the basic idea on how this should look, I arranged everything on the frame to see if it would work in practice and finally got on to work.

With a small sponge I applied a first layer of light ivory acrylic color (it's recommended to use light colors for base, usually white) on the whole glass surface (it's better to use the sponge then brush because you get the even layer of color through the whole surface and there are no lines which you'll get when you apply the color with the brush), then I used my hair dryer to speed up the process :)
After that I started adding the napkins starting at the bottom. Here you can find decoupage instructions .
When I added all the motifs from paper napkins where I wanted them to be, I waited for a while for decoupage glue to dry.
Here starts the really fun part... I mixed some colors, hid all the edges and merged all the motifs in a whole. After another session with a hair dryer I decorated the picture with platinum white contour, applied some patina liquid (use the sponge) and in the end finished it with the gloss varnish.

I hope she will like it, I sure enjoyed making it :)

Simple wire wrapped ring- free tutorial

Today I have a free tutorial for you. Here you can see how to make a simple wire wrapped ring.

This are basics of wire wrapping, you can add beads and adjust the design to your preferences.

The length of 18 ga wires you have to cut, depends on the size of the ring you will make.

Enjoy!

 

If it's too small picture for you to see properly, you can see the full size photo in my photobucket album Wire wrapped ring tutorial

Jewelry photography- tips and tricks

Jewelry photography is not a science, you can make great photos if you follow some basic guidelines.

Quality of the photos is really important if you are presenting your work on the internet. While the good photo might interest the customer to check what you have to offer, because of the bad one, he won't pay attention, and your goal is to get the attention and the interest of a possible buyer.


Here are few examples of bad and low quality photos:

First wrong thing about this photo is the poor choice of a background that completely swallows the necklace. Another is the white balance which makes everything look yellowish. To avoid this, adjust the white balance settings on your camera.

In this photo you can see another example of inadequate background. While it would look great with some other pieces, it just doesn't fit with this necklace. If you want to put a personal touch to your photos to have something more special than just a piece of jewelry on a white background, you can add some nice details that will complement the photo, but won't distract from the jewelry. You can use flower petals, potpourri, etc.

Here you can once again see the bad white balance, the item is blurry and overexposed.

Here you can see why it's not a good idea to photograph jewelry on a direct sunlight. Wire shines too much and you'll find it difficult to avoid these dark shadows.

Here we have another example of the bad white balance, photo is to dark, colors are unreal and altogether it gives a bad impression.

These are just some of the most common examples I find browsing galleries.
Here are few tips and tricks on how to avoid this:



1) Background matters. Ideal backgrounds for photographing jewelry are smooth white or light grey. For some pieces you can use black as well. Recently I invested in white and black reflector boards for photographing jewelry and here is the result:

You can find them on Ebay. Price range is 10 - 20$, depending on the dimensions.

As a background you can use glass surface as well, you get the impression that jewelry is floating and there are no shadows (you'll have to hold the white paper app 30 cm bellow the glass ).

2) Good lighting is essential. If you are shooting in a poorly lit, enclosed room where the only available light is a lamp, it is very likely that the result will be: the bad white balance, blurry photos and too dark or overexposed photos as a result of using the flash. Avoid the flash whenever possible, unless you have an external flash.

Here is the example of the photo ruined (among else) by using the flash.

If you are working long hours and can't catch the daylight for shooting outdoors, make an investment in a light box. You can buy it on Ebay for app 18$.

So, the ideal shooting conditions are: daylight, outdoors in a shadow to avoid direct sunlight, or indoors with lots of windows.

3) Regarding the camera settings, each one of them has the macro option, just find the flower in the settings and turn it on.
Most of the cameras have the option to adjust the white balance as well.
And remember, turn of the flash!

4) You can use various props for photographing jewelry, eg. glasses for shooting earrings, neck displays, bottles or plants for necklaces and pendants with chain, etc.

5) It is good to photograph jewelry on a model or in a hand so the potential buyer would get the better impression of item's dimensions. Description alone sometimes just isn't enough.

I hope some of this tricks will be helpful. If I missed to mention something you consider useful, feel free to comment and I'll add your advice to the list.