Random Saturday - I can help!

Today is Göppinger Maientag (see here what's that about). Although there are not as far as many people in the audience as there used to be according old pictures, I am still less and less fond of crowds. The heat doesn't help.
Just now I have been told that our old costumes which have been replaced piece by piece are gone completely now, so the parade might not have satisfied my nostalgic feelings, anyway. So instead of standing in the heat, I will have a look at the broadcast of our local TV channel tomorrow.

This had reminded me, however, that I had not yet taken a picture of this year's Maientag badges to update my page.
As the motif is the Oberhofenkirche this year, the second oldest building in town and the church where I was baptized a million years ago, I got the complete set of five this time, but then gave one of them away. That wasn't a big deal as the badges' quality is a little disappointing this year, anyway. They didn't raise the price, but sacrificed quality for it. (Update: After sending the city a message, I now know that the business, which had made the badges in the last decades, closed down and they had to look for a new supplier on very short notice.)

When taking pictures of my jewelry, I lock myself in. Maybe you understand why if you read this post on Ponder's blog (which is Gundel's responsibility now). Actually this would have been a post for Gundel, but she's in some hidden spot, fast asleep, no doubt.
It's impossible to do a jewelry photo session with dem Dekan, especially with the light tent out, but I just wanted a quick shot of the badges and expected no problems with that. Just my acrylic plate, lamps on, click.

"I can help, Mom!"

So much for a quick shot. Der Dekan loves to help with everything and even more eagerly if there is a chance to 1. steal something (I knew he had his eye on the Maientag badges because he had tried to steal them from the shelf once before) and 2. to push something off somewhere. My daylight lamps had been in danger more than once although it got better after I removed the photo box.

I still tried to take my quick shot (closing the door would have been sooo much quicker). I could do this before he jumped up ... I mean, before he tried to squeeze himself in next to the lamp ... before ... before ... in the end I took my picture while trying to hold him with the elbow because he had creeped even closer, pushing the lamp nearer to the edge, AND reaching for the badges. Then I picked up the lamp and gently nudged him off the bench. He was not happy, after all he had only wanted to help.

It would have made a great video, but unlike other people I can't get myself to risk destruction for a video that probably would have been blurry, anyway. I chose an intact bulb over viral fame .... just kidding.
At least I got this one picture of him (the others were, you may have guessed it, blurry ;-)).

Light tents and cat hair and shadows and bright lamps ...

(... please sing to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music").
Only these are not necessarily my favorite things. The May/June blog carnival at the Jewelry Artisans Community has the topic "Photography". What is your photo setup, what backgrounds do you like, how do you edit your pictures, what camera do you use?

When I started out taking digital pictures - that was before I had an online shop - I had an HP camera. I don't remember the model, but I bought it used from another university employee. We met in the dark of the morning like agents on a bridge and exchanged the goods. Even digital compact cameras were still very expensive back then, even used ones.
Eventually my camera started turning all pictures a lovely purple where there was no purple. I'll never forget how a jewelry forum member told me I was trying to milk a dead dinosaur. I still had hopes that with my finding out the secrets of white balance and exposure I would find the magic cure and that it was my fault, but alas, that wasn't the problem. I had to say goodbye.
I got my Canon PowerShot SX100IS almost exactly 11 years ago and - knock on wood - I'm still quite happy with it. Of course it has one or the other problem, but those are usually things that I can deal with in photo editing.
I use an online editor called PicMonkey. I used to edit with Picnik, but they left me (and everyone else meaning they closed down to move on to other stuff). PicMonkey had a lot of features that were similar to Picnik, so I didn't have to learn everything all over again. I am completely clueless about for example Photoshop or Gimp or what else is out there, so I hope the Monkey will stay with me.

Now let's get to my photo setup which is almost as old as my camera and consists of a light tent, two daylight lamps, white cardboard, a smaller black acrylic glass stand and a bigger black acrylic glass disk (actually I have a smaller light tent as well which is staring down at me from top of the cabinet next to me, but I can't remember why I ever got it, so I'll pretend it's not there, shhh).
That should already tell you something about my favorite background. I like a black background although I took my first pictures on a white one (so my HP camera could turn that purple as well). The stand is already my second one. I used a lot of props when I had the first one, deco rocks and glasses and bowls, and I wasn't very careful with it, so it got scratches which I then had to edit out. Very annoying.
I wasn't that much better with the second one, also it was too small for some of my big necklaces, so it now serves the purpose of holding the black disk which doesn't completely fit into my tent as you can see.

Yes, my light tent IS sagging. I tend to store stuff on it like my fake grass that I use for critter pictures. In fact I cleared some stuff off to take this picture.
Maybe you are now surprised about those shadows and wonder how I deal with them when taking photos.

This is what I see when I sit in front of my light tent.
You can see the light coming through the fabric on the left and you see something darker in the middle and something on the right.
I said part of my setup is white cardboard. The tent came with some different fabric backgrounds, but we didn't get along. I also never got used to the fabric you could attach to the front. It had just a small space in the center for you to put your camera through. As you can see, I tried it out, that's why there's velcro along the opening which is only good for catching cat hair now.
Instead I put a bigger piece of cardboard inside which covers the back and the top of the tent and thus makes for a nicer reflection in the acrylic glass. I also have a smaller one on the right because the combination of reflection and light always manages to bring my stained glass windows into the game. By moving the cardboard pieces I can make the shadows look different and always get a diffuse light area on the left, but sometimes, depending on the size of the jewelry, I still have to deal with the "light slits" on the right. That's one occasion for PicMonkey's "Clone" and "Dodge" or "Burn" ... if my beloved "Wrinkle Remover" fails, that is.
I'm doing all of this quite intuitively as I'm absolutely no pro and will never be.

I also want you to meet my trusted friend, the microfiber cloth. Acrylic glass LOVES dust and cat hair. One nanosecond of distraction, and there is both, so I always have one of these cloths around to dust before I take a picture. It usually doesn't get rid of them all because the queue of volunteers is so long that they sometimes shove each other for the chance of getting on that black disk first.
That's where PicMonkey's "Shine Reduce" comes in which I can't find in the new version, though. If that doesn't do it, it's back to the features mentioned above.

I'm sorry if I robbed you of all illusions of my professionalism here ;-) but it's working for me, and that's what it's all about, right? I think these may be the strangest pictures I ever posted in my blog!

What have the other JAC members got to offer?
I'll add the links as soon as I get them.

Jewelry Art by Dawn

Midnight talk

Purple. I hate purple. Not really, no, but I hate taking pictures of purple, especially if there's just a hint of it.
Since I missed out taking pictures of this big bangle in daylight today, I decided to play a little with my camera. I used two kinds of beads in this piece by the way, darker ones with a matte rainbow finish and beads that are blue with a shimmer of purple. You'll just have to believe me.

I really like the inside of the bangle and it was fun to look inside like through a fence and ... well, just have a look yourself.
The bangle is not listed at the moment, I won't give up yet on catching the elusive purple!

Saturday night ramblings or maybe just a little fun

Just a bit of harmless fun.
I was hanging out in my armchair and suddenly felt the urge to check out the Preciosa Ornela Twin beads that I have in so many great colors. I have practically never beaded off loom except maybe two or three times, so I kept it simple for this first time. 
I used wire, the Twin beads in a light transparent green and yellow and some crystal drop beads that I mistook for regular seed beads at first. Reminder to myself ... I really need a better lamp next to my armchair, the other one is cozy, but not a lamp for beading.

In the end - meaning the end of the wire and the end of my DVD which was very good timing, ok, coincidence) a tube which I will probably put on a keychain.
Not too exciting, so I played with the camera and the tube instead ...

Bigger, closer, sharper

Once upon a time there was a lady with a compact camera. Although the lady loved that compact camera dearly, she wasn't always happy with the macro mode. Sometimes she just wanted to get closer and closer, but all she got were blurry pictures.

Then the lady stumbled upon a guy, David ... and David had a special lens ...

I won't try to explain to you how exactly it works. What I can do is tell you that communication was great, shipping fast, and that in the end I held my Little BigShot in hands.

What else I can do is show you two quick pictures that I took of the same sample piece, and you'll be able to tell the difference yourself.

Isn't that amazing? As you can see, I even got closer to my sample piece in the first picture which is the one I took with the lens attached, and it's still not blurry.
I'm only glad the lens didn't break when I had dropped it on the tile floor just seconds before, ehem.

I'm just a pleased customer, so I can't answer any questions. I'm not affiliated with David in any way.
If you want to know more, check out the videos on David's page, Little BigShot, and also visit his photo help blog, Photography Central for Online Sellers.

Interview with the artist - Nora from Borealis Art

Today I'm very happy to introduce you to a lady with many talents. I met her on deviantArt and have since then looked forward to each of her new pieces.

Say hello to Nora from Borealis Art and Axis Photography 1 ... and to one of my favorite paintings of hers "Bewitching".

 

Tell us a little about who you are and where you come from?

I'm from everywhere!  I grew up all over the world.  I was exposed to so many cultures, beliefs and countries growing up that I never really felt like I belonged in a certain place.  I was born in the US, but have since decided to settle (finally!) in Canada.

 

What's your craft/art and how did you get to do it in the first place?

First and foremost, I'm a watercolour artist and utilize pointillism for effect.  I've been drawing and painting since I could hold a pencil and have the photos to prove it!  LOL  There's never been a day in my life that I didn't want to be an artist.  As a child, I had other things I considered -- but they were to be "along side" my art.

 

I think this is one of the most asked questions – where does your inspiration come from?

Our primary home address when I was growing up was Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I was heavily inspired by the colourful geometric shapes and patterns in Middle Eastern art and the henna patterns of the Bedouin people and East Indians.

 

Tell us a fun thing about yourself.

I'm a mother of three brilliant, beautiful children (two boys and one girl) and I'm obsessed with my three chihuahuas (one boy and two girls)!

 

Do you do other crafts, if yes, what?

I'm also a photographer, jewellery designer and make custom dolls. 

The photography kind of went along with being raised internationally.  Every country we visited or lived in was a whole new chance to whip out a camera and start taking photos.  When I was very young, my father purchased a top of the line Canon and as I got older, I was allowed to photograph alongside my parents.  The first time I was given free reign to photograph whatever I wanted was on a safari in Kenya.  My first photograph was a wee bit morbid, but still interesting to this day.  Our safari "bus" passed by an elephant skull and I hung my head out the window and snapped a photo.  I still have the photo.

 

The jewellery was originally an idea to help deal with my OCD.  I thought that the repetitive nature of stringing seed beads would help -- and while it did, I was really excited by the jewellery I created and kept going with it.  I'm actually looking into trying a new style, soutache!

 

 

The dolls began because for years in the US I made very simple "teddy bears" to donate to the local hospital for when children come in.  I decided to make one just for fun here in Canada and my husband asked me, "Why don't you do something more involved?"  From there, I created my own pattern and started making dolls depicting faeries, gypsies, witches, pixies, fauns, etc.

 

Which one of your pieces is your absolute favorite? Which one was the hardest to make and why?

You know, this is a hard question because my absolute favourites change often.  With each new piece, I learn something new and get better at reaching a goal I have set for myself.  Currently my favourite piece was also my most challenging piece, "October".  I put thirty-two hours of pointillism into the piece and then it still took another four+ hours to paint it.  I am extremely fond of that piece.  Of course, I'm also extremely fond of another recent piece, "I Remember".

 

Is there someone whom you admire and who inspires you?

I find myself inspired on a daily basis by so many artists it's tough to name them all!  I do happen to be completely in love with the Pre-Raphaelite work of John William Waterhouse.

 

If you had free choice of just one supply you can use for your craft/art, what would you be dreaming of, no matter how expensive?

 

I REALLY want a Cintiq tablet.  I'd like to give digital art a shot -- but I have a regular tablet and I can't connect what I am doing on the tablet with what is happening on the screen.  My brain just can't seem to make the connection.  On a Cintiq tablet, you draw on the tablet and you can see what you are drawing on the tablet.  It's just like drawing on digital paper!  I think it would be extremely cool to have every colour imaginable available to me with just the tap of a pen.  Being able to erase without fearing damaging the paper...  Never having to drive an hour and a half for paint or a new watercolour block!  It would be like having a never-ending supply of artist tools!

Do you sell online, if yes, where can we find you?

I have my own website where you can purchase prints and original paintings here:  http://www.norablansett.com
I have a zazzle store where you can purchase my art on various items located here:  http://www.zazzle.com/BorealisArt

Is there anything you feel you need or want to tell the world outside now?

Get out there and create! ❤

Antique show finds

Always in the first week of January is a small antique show in Göppingen. Whenever we are on vacation and have the chance to go there, we do.
Sometimes there is nothing interesting at all and we don't expect fantastic surprise bargains, but over the years we have found some pretty things, some at really nice prices.

The tall guy and I have a different approach to any kind of market. I go there thinking that I won't find anything. I mostly stick to the books, old and new, and try to browse all the other things. The tall guy is, well, tall and can look at the tables a lot better. While I have to walk an aisle twice or go on a zigzag course, he'll just walk in the middle and look.

Since the antique show moved to the town hall, it's even smaller than it used to be. That leaves me a little more time to look around.
All these finds were actually discovered by me this time, maybe my eye is getting more trained to look at props for photography. Do I sound proud? Well, yes - a little because as mentioned before I'm not the master of spotting things.
I knew the tall guy would like the folding rule and even more the top modern calculator ;-) Both of them would be a nice prop for me and a great decoration for his room. He thought the same thing, so I left him to discuss the price (something I absolutely suck at) and continued my rounds.

A while ago there had been a thread in my SJA forum about photographing rings. One of the members (thanks, Andrea!) had brought up the idea of gloves. I remembered I had some old lacy gloves from a fleamarket a long time ago and I think it worked out fine, but peach and light green is not suitable for all wire colors, so I thought I'd start looking for some cream or white ones.
As luck had it, this show was just the thing. A lady had a whole box of gloves, black, brown, white, leather, wool, satin, long ones, short ones ... I picked out the two pairs pictured. Seeing how small they are, immediately images of neatly dressed young girls going to church came to my mind. I experience that a lot, that I long to know the story behind an item although I know I never will.
Instead I got to hear the seller's story (remember the sign on my forehead? ;-)).



So I guess you'll see these items more often in my pictures now, at least parts of them.

How exciting is that??

I didn't think the week could get any better, but hey - never stop hoping, right?
After weeks of wondering where the white balance was hidden in my camera (good thing when you lose the description), I finally had the idea to look it up in the interwebz. I had suspected it to be hiding somewhere behind the "func"-button and I had pushed that button a few times without getting further, though.
Today I had the perfect idea. I set the camera to German and found that gave me not only symbols, but even a few words. There it was "Weißabgleich", yay.
This is like reaching the last camp before getting to the peak of Mt. Everest. After all I am not a pro. I'm not even an amateur. I am somewhere between a snail and a frog regarding my photographic abilities. But I'm a determined snog (no, that is not a word, I know, but would be a nice name for a snaily frog, don't you think?) and eventually I'll come around.
*going off to prove her point*