When Cupid Strikes

Well Cupid isn't striking me...but I am always in favor of a little extra love going around.

This cutie is now in my StudioMarcy Etsy shop.  He is a bead and can be made into a pendant if you are careful, but with having appendages coming out at a few angles, I think he'd be adorable as a little hanging love charm on a stand (I can make you one, if you need one), or hanging in a window.  He's typical bead size, under two inches-ish and is so very sweet with his bubble gum cheeks.  They get pink when he's flying and asserting himself.  So if you need or know someone who can use an adorable love charm, check him out here.

Musings On The Importance of Name & Reputation

Every so often I visit the Neiman Marcus website.  Sometimes it's just to dream over some of their clothes and other times it's to see what they are offering in the jewelry section too.  (I drool over some of it.)

I was thinking about it this morning and their Glamour Heart Pendant by  Baccarat.  The tag line says, "Baccarat: A long-standing tradition of excellence in exquisitely crafted crystal and glassware."

This little Valentines Day necklace has the following features "Ruby full-lead crystal, Sterling silver, 1 1/8"H x 1 1/2"W & Handcrafted in France."

This little baby retails for $225.00

I wanted to contrast it with this cute, but relatively unknown winged heart that I'm offering for Valentines Day.

•  Two colors of glass

•  Will add Sterling if requested

•  Handcrafted in Atlanta, Georgia

•  Glass from 2 Continents, not just one.

•  Name of actual artisan known

This little baby retails for  $19.00

Okay, so it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but I think my slightly quirky heart measures up just fine.

And I know that I need to build my name  and reputation.  Because honestly I think Bacarrat's product is beautiful, but our lampwork hearts and other offerings are creative and wonderful in our own right.

Experimenting With Photography Backgrounds

As much as I love very plain light backgrounds for photographing my glass pieces, once in a while I try something new for a little variety.

Here is blue enamel on a hanging aqua heart lampwork pendant, which is one of my pieces photographed yesterday.  Check out this background.

So here is my latest experiment.  I used the cardboard aluminum foil lid of my take-out food container.   

Some of the things I like-

1. It reflects light and made the darker day natural light shooting a little brighter.

2. It shows up as mostly "gray",  which works well as a very neutral background.

3. (Don't laugh at this one) It will not get wrecked if there are a few drops of water on it.  I'd better explain this one.  I clean my beads first thing in the morning and then I photo them almost immediately afterwards.  Sometimes they haven't dried all the way, and a drop or two of water comes out.  It can wreck the paper I use as the background, due to the water spots.

4. And depending on the item photographed, sometimes it reflects some of the work and adds a little artistic flair to the image.

I'll have more items in my Etsy shop later today and through the week, which use this background so you can compare them.

Do you have any photographic backgrounds that are a little different and you like?  Please comment and share them with us.