Better Tools, Better Photos

New photo "stage"

On Friday my new portable photography stage arrived in the mail.  It is wonderful!  The company is Modahaus, in the UK.  I love this product because it collapses down to nothing and can be easily stored.  My original set-up was made out of cardboard, it was taking up valuable space in my studio, collecting dust, with the paper was getting wrinkled and funky.  The “Steady Stand” allows me to take photos pointing straight down, without a tripod.   The plastic allows light to flow through evenly.  It makes photographing my work much more simple.   Also, I can use a number of colored backdrops that look professional and clean.  I’m so excited!  Anything to make the photography easier is a good thing.  

"Steady Stand" The hole at the top is for the lens to point down at the subject.

With a blue background

Gift Wrap

Gift Wrap Example

 

If you’d like to order a gift from my Etsy Store, and want it gift wrapped, I can do that!  Just message me before making your purchase to let me know.  Be sure to include a short note for the gift card.  Your jewelry will be placed in a Kraft box, wrapped in white tissue, and tied with raffia.  The gift card will be attached as shown.  If you want the gift mailed to the recipient, make sure you give me the address. 

Valentine’s Day is coming up….hint, hint!  ;-)

Facebook Fan Page

My Facebook Fan Page

To help support and promote my new Etsy store I have created a Facebook fan page for my jewelry designs.  Following me is a great way to stay up to date on what I’m creating and selling, as well as special discounts for my subscribers.  When you go to the page you can click “like” or “subscribe” to follow my work.

Here is a link to the page:

https://www.facebook.com/PamelaHeydaJewelry

Open for Business!

My Etsy Shop!

After 5 months of hard work and planning in my free time, my Etsy shop opened today.  I feel very satisfied seeing it come together, and proud that I stuck with it even when things got difficult.  As I’ve said from the beginning, this is all a big experiment.  This way, if it doesn’t work out to my liking, I can chalk up the experience to a great learning adventure.  I still have a lot more work to do; this is just the beginning of my business, and my life.  I hope you can stop by the store to check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PamelaHeyda

Bookmarks

Five Bookmark Design

It has been recommended that I include a little something extra with my Etsy order, as a thank you for the purchase.  After some thought, I decided to make bookmarks.  These were fun to make!  I used scanned drawings of five bracelet designs.  The images were printed on cardstock, hole punched, and accented with a black string and snap tassel.  They are so cute!  I hope to give away many of them.

Etsy Banner

Etsy Banner

Creating a banner for the front of my Etsy store was a must.  Luckily I was able to use the banner I made years ago for my art website, www.pamelaheyda.com, with a little tweaking.  I’ve used it for eight years and still like it.  It contains my name and tree symbol.  I’ve been drawing that tree for more than 20 years, so it was a natural choice for an icon.  It symbolizes my potential and energy, love of trees, and passion for nature.  The store should be open in about two weeks.  Stay tuned!

Postcards!

Postcard Front

Postcard Back

After designing my business cards I started on postcards.  I created them to put in the envelope with purchases.  The printers called me the day after sending them the images.  For some reason the text had pixelated.   I blew up the images to 300% and sure enough, there were little gray dots all around the letters, when printed they would show up as a shadow.  I’m so glad they caught that and called me to fix it!  After some experimentation I found that my Photoshop files were clean.  The pixelation happened when the file was converted to a jpeg.  Easy fix!  I just sent them the Photoshop files instead.  For the future though, I need to figure out what happened.  Any suggestions? 

Business Cards

Business Card Front (the black border will be trimmed by the printers)

Business Card Back

Last week I got to work designing my new business cards.  I wanted something a little more fancy than what I’ve done in the past (Microsoft Word and “snap to grid” Avery cards.)  I think they will come out great, but I won’t know for sure until they arrive in the mail.  It’s always so nerve wracking, pressing that final “send” button, knowing that if I change my mind, the order can’t be undone. 

Cabinet of Curiosities

A couple nights ago I had a fantastic dream.  I was in a crowded place, perhaps a store.  I walked up to a cabinet filled with fascinating things.  There was a large box of toys, some from my childhood and some imagined.  Then I found some little self-published books by different artists, notebooks, and miniature carved animals attached to sticks, books of Buddhist poetry with golden binding, and more.  “This stuff is amazing!”  I exclaimed.  The best part was knowing that everything in the cabinet belonged to me.

I woke up filled with tremendous energy and inspiration.  It was 3am.  As I waited for sleep to embrace me again, I thought about this cabinet.  It seemed to be filled with all the precious ideas I've had over the years.  It was my artist’s wellspring.  Surely it was inspired by getting close to launching my Etsy shop.   I couldn’t help but think that every person has this wellspring, a cabinet of curiosities, where they have tucked away all the seeds and gems of a creative life.  For some it is buried deeper than others. 

So I’m wishing for those reading this, a magical dream tonight, of your cabinet.  May you awake feeling ready to explore all that fascinates you in this life. 

Setbacks

Large surf at Tennessee Valley Beach on January 5th, 2012.

I’m a week behind on working on my January Etsy goals.  Sometimes the unforeseen gets in the way.  Last Monday I decided to start the New Year with an updated computer, and downloaded Mac OS Lion 10.7.2.  Little did I know that my most important software (at least 10 years old) would be inaccessible!  I was so upset!  I managed to get most of my programs updated this week and my computer is almost back to normal. 

The only major disappointment is that I am locked out of my website.  I designed it with Adobe Go Live, which was discontinued in 2008.  If I want to update my website I’d have to undo Lion and everything else, and I don't want to do that.  It was time for a change anyway.  As soon as I get the Etsy stuff up and running I’ll create a web based portfoilo. 

The good news is that I’m ready to move forward with designing a postcard, business card, and Etsy banner with my new Photoshop Elements.  I’m so excited!  It will be easier with this new software.  So things are moving forward.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” – John Steinbeck

Product Description

"Oneness" earrings.

In the typical Etsy shop, the customer will click on an item of interest to find out more about the merchandise. There can be up to five photos of the item plus a detailed description. I have been working on my descriptions! Here is an example for the earrings pictured above:

*****************

“Oneness” Earrings

The idea behind the Black Snap Collection came in a dream in which I was making necklaces out of colorful snaps. When I woke up I immediately went to my grandmother’s sewing box to see if I had the fasteners. I was curious if they could be easily linked like in my dream. I was thrilled to discover my dream was possible and went about creating the work you see here. They are striking conversation pieces that look good with casual or dressy styles.

The “Oneness” earrings are named for the symbol of the circle and the belief that we are all one consciousness, made of energy and stardust. They are the companions to the “Oneness” necklace.

Length: About 2”

Materials: Black snaps (tin), two 1 1/8” hand fused, hammered, fine silver rings, Sterling silver filled jump rings (stronger and more silver than silver plated), sterling silver wire (on the rings), and sterling silver filled French hoop ear wires.

$51.00

This item is mailed in a gift box. If you’d like me to send it directly as a gift, please leave a note to the seller with your gift message and I’ll include it in your package.

Please Note: Orders placed before 5pm (PST) will be shipped on the next earliest Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

Handmade in the USA

Thank you for your interest!

Artist's Statement

A wind direction sculpture I discovered at Fort Mason on Monday.

I worked on my artist's statement last week and thought I'd share it with you. This is the statement I will use in my Etsy shop, so it is geared towards the jewelry shopper. Artist's statements are so hard to write! I find myself wanting to say so much about who I am and my artistic vision. It is hard to sum it up in a couple sentences. In this case I think shorter is sweeter. Any feedback is much appreciated!

***

“Making art and jewelry has always been the center of my life. As a child I was lucky to spend much of my time in the presence of two excellent craftswomen - my grandmothers who inspired me to pursue my own creative interests. Throughout my childhood and beyond I’ve dabbled in many types of media. In college I attended the San Francisco Art Institute, majored in painting, and graduated with a BFA. For the past 15 years I have been teaching art to elementary school students in public schools.

I am inspired by color, shape, line, Bay Area artists and most of all, nature. I am happiest when making things with my hands. Jewelry is the perfect art because I get to work with a wide variety of materials and create small beautiful things I can wear wherever I go. My portfolio of skills also includes painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and mixed media sculpture.

I hope you enjoy my Etsy store. Come back frequently as my work is always evolving.”

Packaging

I'm playing around with how I will package my jewelry once I sell it. I really like using plain brown boxes, they reflect my environmental awareness, there is no plastic involved, and they look simple. They can easily be dressed up with a rubber stamp. Being a tree lover, I decided to go with that theme. I hope to design my own rubber stamps one day. Each box will be tied with a piece of raffia. What do you think? My only question is how I can keep the necklaces from sliding around inside the box while being shipped, and should that matter?

The Crunch

 

I’m in the home stretch!  My goal is to have my Etsy store up and running by the end of January.  There is still so much to do.  I’ve learned I can’t always know how long a task will take.  I can only hope most of these will be quick and easy.  I think my greatest challenge is creating a new business card and postcard.  My strategy is to do the hardest things first.  I’ll be blogging updates all month.  It will be challenging because I am hoping to teach two after school classes a week, so I have less time than usual.  Hopefully I won’t fall behind on the blog like I did in December.  I don’t know if you noticed, but while on vacation I made up for all the blog entries I missed.  

Wishing you a warm, wonderful New Year!