One of the major problems with creating something, that one wants to sell or even just show on the web, is getting great pictures of it. A regular flash only blows out black and white photographs leaving them very lackluster and flat. The beauty of black and white printed by my husband is the shine of silver - when it is washed out you are left with what looks like a print from a house printer - ugly, ugly, ugly. My fabric art does not show at it's best either. Suggestions to shoot in natural light works only when you have really good natural light to shoot by and we all know the light changes during the day. Solution, purchase studio lighting. Ours came with two strobe lights, one modeling light, softboxes, synch, three backdrops plus stand for backdrops. None of which I know how to use - thank heavens for a photographer husband. We are working on how to set everything up to best shoot what we want to shoot. Dave will also use it to shoot new studio photographs - think macros of flowers.
So what we have now is part of the basement devoted to a place to shoot photographs, another part devoted to my studio, another part devoted to my oil and fabric painting, and a rather large room devoted to Dave's darkroom. All of this for our small businesses. No excuses to not create for either of us anymore. Will post pics as soon as it is all setup. He is down there working as I write this.
Speaking of creating I have decided that I want to make beaded evening bags. They will be my designs and will be priced way above my other work. Beading is a very labor intensive process made even more so by the fact I prefer the very small Japanese glass beads that take 350 of to cover one square inch. They are not cheap either. I have to decide if I will make or buy the fringe for the bags. Guess it depends on if I can find the right fringe in the right colors. Making fringe is also very labor intensive - but you know what - if I am going to spend time creating something - it has to be something I would purchase.
In the meantime I am also creating one of a kind decorative pillows and hand painted canvas bags for the beach. Not to mention I am honing my skills with couture sewing.
Back to work
May life treat you well,
Caroline
