Finally got pictures!

Earlier this week I finally got my new light tent and stuff for my photography. Yay!

Of course it took some time before I was able to get it set up and actually in use. :D

Today was the day for pictures. I'd been saying it for a while that I would get pictures tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (like Macbeth, no?)

But I did it this morning. First thing! I hadn't even let the bird up yet when I set up the light tent and got everything set up. I did finally let him up afterward, but not before.

With all the ambient lights turned off and the blinds turned backwards to block out the light, I got set up. I turned on the side lights and opened up one of the backgrounds.

WOAH! The backgrounds (at least the white one) are flocked! This is fantastic! A velvet like background actually makes for better pictures because it doesn't reflect light back at the camera. It's why a lot of film makers who need a perfectly deep background to hide people in dress their people in black velvet or velveteen and stick them in front of black velvet curtains. It's expensive as all get out, but the people vanish.

So I am thrilled to say the least. :) I take a couple of test shots to check light levels and make the necessary adjustments to light placements and camera settings. I do want to check to see how to set the self timer to just be ON for taking jewelry pictures. Apparently it can't be, it has to be set for each picture. LAME!

Man, oh man... my colors are so much better in this than in my last light tent! Having 2 lights definitely helps. My displays are much better in the bigger tent, they don't run into the roof the light tent and I don't have to focus as tightly to keep cardboard out of the shot now. YAY!

The little display table is wonderful. It gives a lovely amount of reflection for smaller objects like my stitch markers, but doesn't call as much attention to itself as using fabric or something did.

I still need to work on a stand for when I use a book in my pictures, but that will be something I work on later.

Oh the other really nice thing about this new light tent? One of the sides is completely removable. It's either the front or the top. It has a slit in it, so if you want it to be the top, you can still shoot through it, but no extra light will get through. This will be fantastic for a lot of smaller jewelry or things that I want a top down shot on. :)

So remember the stitch marker bracelet conundrum I was having? Well, I made the bracelet, as I mentioned, and lots of stitch markers, so here's an example:

It wasn't my fault! I blame the cat!

I had so many plans to get so many things done last week and this past weekend.

I have items to photograph and things to get listed, and more things to make... it goes on and on.

However, I got the flu last week. It was so bad that my hands shook from Friday until Tuesday, and there was no way I could even hold my pliers, let alone actually get anything made properly.

Heck, Saturday, I huddled on the couch under blankets and tried to just knit. And I couldn't even do that because my joints hurt too badly from the stupid illness.

Sunday I did better and I was able to knit a few rows at a time. So I did that while watching the first half of Season 1 of True Blood. Cute series, it makes me giggle (and cough). But it also reminds me that I can't read those books for too long because after a bit, I don't care for the Sookie character. She gets annoying after a while.

Same thing for the series, she still gets annoying, but I can turn it off at the end of an episode and pick it up again later.

There aren't too many series that I can watch one episode after the other for long periods of time. 3 exceptions come to mind... Buck Rogers (the one with Gil Gerard), Farscape, and Red Dwarf. Those are the only ones I can think of where I can watch season after season without needing a break.

However, I am finally getting rid of the flu grungies. By later this week, I should be able to work on jewelry and even spin some more soon!

And, I feel very excited. I bought a new light tent for photographing my items. My current one works, but since it is made from a box with tissue paper, it's sometimes hard to manage. The tissue tears with a wrong look sometimes. And the box is ugly and sometimes I just can't hide the cardboard.

The new light tent is being shipped tomorrow (hopefully), and is a pop-up style like the pop up hampers and storage cubes you can find all over now. It comes with 4 different backdrops, and a little professional display table, 2 lights and a camera tripod. And the tent comes with it's own little carry case so I won't have to be trying to have a 12x12x12 box sitting on things! yay!

I don't need the camera tripod, I have 4 of my own. :D But the better quality nylon of the tent will better diffuse the lights, and the lights that are coming with it will be better than the single desk lamp I have currently.

AND I bought a flash diffuser for my hotshoe flash (that's the kind of flash that is attached to the top of the camera, not a built in flash.) So if I need a touch more light for something, I can use the flash without getting the harsh glare from it.

So yeah, I am TOTALLY excited. I will have more stuff done hopefully this weekend and I should have my new light tent either this weekend or next week, and then I will have to remind myself constantly that I am not allowed to set the box one on fire. :)

Early Sunday, I beat the sun

It's just after 7am on Sunday morning. I'm up before the sun. Nothing quite like hearing an unfamiliar voice in your bedroom to wake you up faster than believed possible. I am definitely turning off the alarm on my phone.

Ah well. Today is supposed to be a cool but lovely day. That will be nice. I like lovely days. Fall is such a great time of year!

Yesterday was a day of making jewelry items. I spent many hours working on jewelry for a custom order from Etsy. Now I just need to spend several hour taking photos of all the pieces. Possibly Tuesday or Wednesday for that.

Today I have to trim my fingernails.

I finished the scarf that I was making for the soon to be 7 year old. I was going to put a crocheted picot edge along the edge, but now I am not so sure. I need to try it again when I have the eyelash yarn facing the correct way. But it looks fine without the edging. I will get pictures of that soon too. I need to be camera happy for an evening. :)

Time to go feed the cats!

weekend weekend!

Finally friday! And I am just about to tidy up and head home!

But I have to make an unexpected stop at the craft store again. I am working on a scarf to be given to Talia the six year old for christmas. The pattern calls for a 36 inch circular needle. I started with a 32, and bought a 40 inch.

IT DOESN'T ALL FIT!!! So I have to go and get a 47 inch circular which really annoys me.

Tomorrow I am at the zoo, and Sunday I get to sleep in!

I will probably work on jewelry on Sunday as well. Sorry, not much of an update today. :)

An update with pictures!

So I promised pictures soon. And I still haven't gotten pictures of my stitch markers taken. I was going to, and then my camera battery died. And instead of getting one of the other cameras, I just tossed in the towel for that evening.

But I have a quick, seat of the pants picture of a pendant that was special ordered a little while ago.

See? Here is it:

I was trying to recreate Obsidian Heart, but the wire, my fingers, and my subconscious apparently didn't want to cooperate. So it because Obsidian Spirals.

But it's beautiful and I love it.

In yarny crafts, I was making a scarf for someone, but didn't know who. It has been mostly claimed by the 6, soon to be 7, year old, Talia. The probelm I ran into? I got about 18 inches into the scarf and hated it. Absolutely hated it. Hated the pattern, hated the yarn in the pattern, hated it all. So I ripped it all out. Then I started a second variation. Hated that too. Ripped it out, tried a third variation. Still with the hate. (I'm just a hater, apparently.) So I went looking for a different pattern. Found one for fishnet lace. I like it better. But I am thinking that a 6, nearly 7 year old isn't the best choice for a fishnet lace scarf.

So I am going to rip the whole thing out (AGAIN) and start over (AGAIN!). However, I think this time I want to do something that will be textured, but not lacy. And I am thinking that a ruffled scarf might be a better option. So I am going to go looking for scarf patterns, and it might end up crocheted instead of knit.

I am almost 30 inches done with the hipscarf for my friend MissD. I am getting so close, I want to hurry hurry, and that would be terrible. When I hurry, that's when I make mistakes. I hurried with the scarf and dropped a stitch and had to tear out 2 inches just to get back to a place I could pick up the stitches. I hurried with the hipscarf before and had to tear out 12 inches. Not gonna do that again.

This weekend I am working at the zoo on Saturday instead of Sunday, so Sunday will be spent doing laundry and jewelry and maybe a movie. :)

yeah, I know... a month

If it's any real consolation to the 1 or 2 people who read this, I haven't gotten much new done and uploaded...

I spent a lot of time over the last month doing house keeping, and working at the new job. I am trying really hard to get my house tidied and put away. It's very slow going.

I decided to try making stitch markers for knitting, and so I have a large number of those made up. I will get some more going, as I have visions of getting them made and put onto a bracelet so that it falls under "jewelry" as well as "useful to knitters".

I had had plans to settle at the craft table this past Saturday and work on jewelry, however I spent all weekend very dizzy and ill feeling, so no jewelry, not much of anything.

Let's see, I have also had the experience of having my sliding glass door break, the landscapers broke it by accident. They also fixed it, but it was terribly upsetting. And it made me realize (well, that and the holiday), that I detest being a contractor. At least with the contract I have, I do. This contract says that I get no paid time off and no paid holidays. I have pretty much useless insurance, and no transportation benefits (like subsidized bus passes).

So yeah, that has not made me happy. However, the contract is up in January (they think it's February, but 6 months is January) and I can be looking for another job with the benefits I want and need. And this will be a good learning experience in the meantime.

I will have pictures of things in a few days after I get more done and can photograph all of them together. For now, it is time to get ready to go to work!

I have some new things!

I went to a Renaissance Faire over the last 2 weekends. Had lots of fun, chatted with lots of people. I bought a new belt (Yay!!)...

And I found a lovely vendor lady who had several different gemstones that I wanted, but I was mostly good...

I bought 5 bags of "Mermaid's Tears". Blue/green beach glass that was tumbled, but not polished.

If I want to polish them, I have the stuff to do so. :) But I have some great ideas for wire wrapping them.

However, I won't have a chance to do any wrapping until thursday. Monday is wrestling, Tuesday is dance, Wednesday I have someone coming to pick up a monitor, and I'll probably go to her house after that to watch a movie. So Thursday, thursday, thursday, thursday.

Then I shall select a movie from my Netflix queue (one of the instant play ones), and watch that while I get wiring.

But for now, I need to go to bed. I was at the zoo all day and between last weekend at the Ren Faire, and the zoo... and THIS weekend at the Ren Faire and the zoo.... I am seriously sunburned and I seriously hurt. So I am off to sleepy land...

But I will post pictures as I get things going!