A photographer's lot....

is not a happy one.

As a little follow up to my last post, I thought I would share with you my recent, very mixed attempts at capturing the glorious allure of my latest jewellery pieces. I was so pleased with myself at managing to reproduce the hidden heart in my Rainbow Obsidian necklace, as seen here:

The other day, I had a lovely session with the camera and produced these:

Not bad, eh? Then, towards the end of the session, things started tailing off:

They don't look too bad on here but they are definitely not in the same league.

Today, I tried again:

Still not wonderful.

Why can't I keep them consistent? The studio set up is exactly as I left it. Background, lights, mirrors and assorted reflective surfaces have not been meddled with. The camera settings have not changed. White balance correct, flash off, macro on, etc, etc.

It must be me. Oh well, big sigh......     I'll keep trying.

I Sold Something!

This morning, I woke up to a sale in my Artfire studio. This necklace:

and these earrings:

will be off to the USA on Monday morning!

Now I have a decision to make. I was in the process of moving everything over to my Etsy shop and my soon to be launched Bluetina website. Should I stay or should I go?

Will there be more sales or is this just a blip?

Decisions, decisions......

Taking stock.....

in more ways than one!

I'm counting beads. It's that time of year and the bookkeeper in me has to take stock. I know I'm a bit OCD about it. I pick up a packet of beads or findings and I know I could guess the contents pretty accurately but no, I have to count the bloody things! It's going to take me days at this rate.

I am also "taking stock" in another sense. There has been a lot of fuss on Artfire lately regarding their proposed "Assurance Scheme". I have read many of the forum threads with a sinking heart. I do hate it when people I know and like start ripping each other to shreds in public.

The upshot of this being that I have reopened my Etsy shop. I am not leaving Artfire - I've put a lot of work into my studio there. But, so many sellers were upping sticks and leaving for Etsy, that I decided to revisit the venue. I haven't been there for aeons. It's another country altogether these days. Totally unrecognisable.

However, they appear to have done a decent job of overhauling the site and there are some new features with which I am muchly impressed. I only have one item listed as of today's date (my Solar System necklace) and that was just to test out the listing process. I will add more when I have familiarised myself with "circles, teams and treasuries" etc.

My Solar System necklace on Etsy

2012 is also the year that Bluetina will have her own website. At last! Finally! I have snagged an account at SupaDupa.com, a platform for building one's own boutique on line. The templates look very professional and customer service would appear to be second to none, according to friends of mine who have taken the plunge already.

All I have to do then is market them all to death with Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus! Oh, and blog, of course. Oh dear, I have my work cut out for me, don't I?

Saturday, 6th August...

This is going to be a very short post! Missed one yesterday, I was very busy and then we went round to a friend's house for drinks. There very nearly wasn't a blog post today, either. I had a terrible hangover this morning!

I've spent most of today checking out the big changes at Artfire.  My studios both look great but there are some bugs, which is only to be expected. My statistics don't make sense at the moment but I'm sure they'll get it fixed soon.

Go have a peek at the new look! Bluetina and Bluetinatoo both looking good!

How do I love thee, let me count the ways.....

I have been challenged, with the temptation of a possibly winning a few dollars to spend, to write a little blog post listing the five things I like best about Artfire. This is not much of a challenge. I would find it hard to stop at five!

OK, here goes....

1. My studio design is customizable. I can arrange everything just as I want it and I can add widgets and badges and other neat things.
2. I can have up to ten photographs for each listing. This is an essential for online selling!
3. I have statistics! I know how many times my pieces are being viewed and also, if I'm found from outside, I can tell where the views came from and what search terms were used.
4. I get a lot of help! Artfire's admin team are always coming up with new ways to teaching this old dog new tricks. In the last year, I have learned all about SEO (that's Search Engine Optimisation to the uninitiated!), blogging, Facebook, how to write good descriptions, take good pics, etc., etc., etc.
5. I love the Collections feature. It's a lot of fun choosing things to make up a collection hopefully good enough for the front page! My stuff has been on the front page three times now.
6. I love the Guilds! They are a great way for fellow artisans to help each other become successful.
7. I enjoy visiting the Forums too. All the people are so helpful and friendly and they are quite happy to answer any silly questions I come up with.
8. I love the fact that my studio comes with it's own blog!
9. And, last but not least, Artfire is CHEAP! For a very small monthly flat fee you get all of the above and more! It's the best value for money I've ever come across.

Well, I was right, I couldn't stop at five. If you have the urge to create yourself an online presence, you could find no better place to start than Artfire. To that end, I present to you the following link:

Become an ArtFire Pro with this link and get your 3rd month free!

Click on that, sign up and you'll have your third month free! Go on, you know you want to!