May bank holiday 1

I thought would take a break from my knitting to blog over this bank holiday weekend.  I am still contemplating what to do regarding a website and am not much further forward.  I have however been working with different photographers to get a different look to the pieces I make.

I am not always good at asking for help but when this friend offered to take pictures I snapped his hand off.  Just like when another photographer friend from the the day job took amazing shots of my pieces.

These are two of my favourites shots from Saol Photography.  My other friend has put a different slant on my pieces.

I feel really blessed to know such talented and creative people who have the ability to my pieces look amazing.

I also have some things in the pipeline with these cufflinks which are made to order from my Etsy shop.

Taking photos

When an email went round at my day job saying there was going to be a photography club I got really quite excited as I thought I would be able to learn more about taking better pictures of my jewellery.  Nearly a year on I can honestly say I have learned loads about taking photos and how important a good photo helps sell a product.  Here are a series of photos I have taken of a pair of earrings that I have made.

This picture has been filtered with Instagram

Before I go through my earring photos this picture was was the original photo I took with a Canon Powershot A400 (3.2MP, 5.9-13.2mm 1:3.8).  This was given to me by a dear friend and I will always appreciate this.

 I was then given another point and shoot by a family member, this was a Nikon Coolpix S210 (8MP, 6.3-18.9mm 1:3.1-5.9).  The following photos were taken with my Nikon.

This was taken outside.

I am not entirely happy with these photos, but they are not the worst one I took.

 Then just before the Olympics I made the decision to buy a more powerful camera.  I had the chance to hold and use a DSLR from Saol Photography and know I wasn't ready for a DSLR and settled for a bridge camera.  I am now owner of a Fuji Finepix S4400 (14mp
f=4.3-120.4 1:3.1-5.9)  What sold this to me was the macro settings of 2cm and the 28x zoom.  The next set of photos were taken with my Fuji.

I am happier with these photos as I think they are clearer, the detail is more prominent & they look more professional.  The best piece of advice I have been given is to use as much natural light as you can, along with a tripod.
There is still a lot of learning to be done but I am really enjoying my photography journey.

What's happening - Part 2

It been a while since I set up my website. But it has not brought the sales I would I of liked. There has been a few peaks in traffic, especially around the time my stitch markers were featured in Let's get Crafting magazine.

My stitch markers are at the top of the page

So I have decided to start again, it is important to have a website for customers who don't use social media. In the meantime I did think about using Etsy as my selling platform but I'm not sure yet. So I will blog with the items I have for sale I and will continue to post my photos on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Pintrest.

Drop me an email at poppybead@gmail.com if you want to buy specific pieces or to arrange a bespoke order.

A colourful year

Three weeks ago I read another blog entitled Mellow Yellow by a really nice lady who designs beautiful sock patterns.  As I replied to Coop knit's tweet I never imagined how important colour would become this year. 

Some of the nice people who I knit with came up with the idea of "The year of colour".  Originally it was supposed to be just the craft of knitting but has now become multi crafts where each month a new handmade item will be created in that month's colour.

April's colour is yellow and some lovely yellow yarn has been purchased and cast on.  Wanting to be different I decided to make a sewn item or a piece of jewellery, then a light bulb came on in my head. I looked through my stash of yarn, beads & material and remembered the mass of yellow material I bought over ten years ago and just can't throw away.  This purse has a small amount of my yellow material to line it.

Saol Photography

I had already started piecing together some Amy Butler material squares that I had won on Ebay.

The idea was to frame the squares with yellow material and then cut another piece to then make a cushion.  Tonight I have managed to get the first half of the April yellow cushion put together.

I will blog once the cushion is finished and hopefully I will be able to share that talents of the people who spend their time with me. As I yawn and think about going to sleep I remember my sexy vesty tank top.  This was the first adult garment I ever finished knitting & it fits me.