Photography- gateway to the online market.

Hi fellow craft and art lovers,

I thought I must share about my photography stunts that I did to get my pictures right. 

As we all know (and as I have come to know very well),  photography is THE one and only gateway for our online market. It is the first and most impression for online customers and helps boost sale.

I am not a very professional or good photographer myself, but being an artist, I do have a basic sense of how my photos should look like. 

Initially I had to trouble my husband a lot (who is a wonderful photographer), to take pictures of my products with my Canon 550D. I used to show him reference snaps from my google search of similar products (and a lot of pestering of course!!!). 

As I had a bunch of products in hand, my husband din't have much time and I had to put up my first stall immediately, I had to take pictures in a hurry, which I was not satisfied with. These were the first set of pictures I had posted on fb , but which have been removed now.They looked something like this...

In the back ground is a plain white handmade sheet.

But something was lacking.. I din't get the professional touch that I wanted..

So I further researched on my you tube videos and stumbled upon videos which confused me all the more and demanded quite a bit if costly purchases, which I wasn't ready for.

Climate is also a very important factor as early morning and evening natural light is best for photographers. I was deprived of this may a times due to constantly changing sunlight. I have experiences of many days where I had the best lighting but no time, enough time but left sitting idle with no proper lighting. This made me try various different light sources, but nothing gave me satisfying results.

The next set of pictures were slightly better off. They looked like this.. I managed to take these with natural light.

In the background, is a handmade jewellery display mannequin(for which I will be uploading a tutorial very soon!!!)

I recently decided to go full fledged on my online shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/SketchandString, for which I need more professional pictures and it isn't a feasible idea hiring a photographer. 

I stumbled upon the below link, which was from etsy and was pretty helpful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1dJVlRgBlM

I decided to give a plain white background for which I used my drawing sheets and voila!!!

My photoshop skills have helped me a lot to refine my pictures and get the perfect effect.

Now they definitely look really professional. Just the way that I want them to be. Promise to upload a step by step tutorial On how to get this picture perfect effect without much fuss!!

Below are pictures before and now

Before

Now

Hope you enjoyed this article.. Will get reconnected very soon.

..Exploring..

Don't forget to pop in to my other blog http://nailomaniac.blogspot.co.uk/ to explore the world of nails, manicure, nail art and more.

Flower vase glass painting..

Hello
This is my first ever online step by step tutorial. This is a commission piece for one of my dearest friends.
I am very excited about it.. So, with this same excitement lets get started... My plain glass vase has finally arrived...Time to open the package....

Materials needed-

• Glass vase- any shape or size you like. I have used a 8cm cube clear glass vase.
• Glass paints- Pebeo vitrail. I have used lemon yellow,violet, turquoise, green, orange, pink.
• Glass liner- I have used Marabu brand purple, gold.. works well..
• Clean spirit- to clean brushes
• and of course brushes to apply colours

Method-

Step 1- Draw the outline of desired  design. I have made a free hand design with sunflower as my main subject, amidst wavy lines. Draw on all four sides. Leave it to dry for an hour.

Step 2- Fill in the colours keeping in mind colour contrast. For example,if you paint the flower yellow, dot the petals with red/orange/any dark colour. Fill in each wavy portion with different colours, making sure adjacent colours are different in each wave.

Dot the waves as well... Outline the flower with golden liner above the purple liner already done. This makes the flower stand out form the rest of the design.

Similarly finish all the 4 sides.. 

2 sides done... I left it to dry overnight after completing 2 adjacent sides, as it was inconvenient to do other two without these completely drying...  

Completed other two sides the next day...Voila!!!

I have made all my flowers with different colors and given them golden outline.

This beauty is off to my friend's place...

Hope you enjoyed the project. More to come!!

...Exploring....

Don't forget to pop in to my other blog http://nailomaniac.blogspot.co.uk/ to explore the world of nails, manicure, nail art and more.

Where am I? What am I doing now? What next?

These questions have always haunted me as an artist..Sometimes I come up with answers, but sometimes I am totally blank. I see this article as an opportunity to assess myself which would help me move forward in a positive way.. Making it as short as possible....

I see my whole life majorly influenced by people around me. 'Pure, untouched, myself ' moments  have been very miniscule wherein, I have explored myself and been able to 'become God like' and make creations satisfying my soul... The journey until now was exciting, confusing, happy, sad, lot of expectations (expectations fulfilled, expectations shattered), meaningful, meaningless, some better off unaware of the meaning, ecstatic, cheated, oblivious, consciously, unconsciously...But everything contributed to my experiences in life..

I need to rewind a bit backwards, from where my Mother has been/is being a great great source of support. From allowing me to pursue what I want, gracefully accepting my foolishness, insanity many a times, channelising me and my energies the right way, she has endured me a lot, help me choose my path and make me what I am today.

The day I started me and my sister started the first craft class, during my 10th grade holidays (oh my gosh!! 10 years back!!), is still vivid.Transportation was arranged everyday so that we did not feel the scorching sun, was a luxury. I went on to learn thread work, glass painting, chola wood work, hand embroidery, a bit of stitching (which I didn't succeed), fabric painting, drawing/painting, pot painting, aluminium foil work. I adore and my respects to my teacher, who introduced me to the world of Arts and Crafts. Another important person in my life...

Pursuing my graduation as a Textile Designer, enhanced my experience of art, but I had much work to do to stand out of the crowd. I had the pleasure of putting up art shows, meeting wonderful/artful people, see outstanding works of art, rummage through exotic art books, learn designs, play with tie and dye, batik, create wonderful textile prints, illustrate and sketch like a lunatic. Maturing form an amateur to a pro!!

The next year after graduation, I found myself as an Art and Craft teacher, always surrounded by kids. I had the pleasure of handling almost the whole school and guiding them towards the annual Art and Craft Exhibition- 'CRAFTOONS'. A wonderful journey by itself. I had the pleasure of learning and teaching loads of creative stuffs, indulging students and co-teachers in the most cherishing crafting experiences ever. Every event in the school was a grand fete. I got teach drawing/painting, 3D mural, flower making, name plate mural, recycled jute/ sand vase, book markers, glass painting, bead vase, saw dust painting, sand painting, crochet, ice cream stick flower vase and much much more... I had found the best way to express my gratitude and respect to my craft teacher by inviting her as the judge for our show!! It was a moment of pride for her..

I have always been driven by the idea of my own boutique someday, which made me step into many boutiques and work for them with hand embroidery, fabric painting and designing. I had also started my own venture of jewellery making and embellishment works for friends and family, which actually din't take off well.

Marriage has not deterred my passion for Arts and Crafts as my husband is the next most important super man supporting me. I have always see my mother in him. The same kind of encouragement, same infinite love... Although moving thousands of miles away from home, bothers at the bottom of my heart, the rest of it is filled with appreciation and happiness for what I am doing today. Initially confused on an unknown land, I had no idea what I was upto.. Later on, I was pulled into one of the most versatile and thousand possibility medium of Polymer clay.. I started gaining knowledge about the medium for about 2 years and stated practically exploring it earlier this year giving birth to 'Sketch and String', www.facebook.com/SketchandString

In the meantime, I was also giving a try with my designing and making my designs sellable at http://www.spoonflower.com/designs
Sketch and string gave me new platform to display my lovely hand made jewellery, gave me new ideas, in fact, made me a stronger person, with new experiences..My passion for nail art, has now made me successfully complete my Masters Diploma in Nail Technician, which I find another doorway to express and explore art...

But something still pulls me back which I have to overcome. I find myself 'Jack of all trades but , Master of none'. Confusion has been a constant companion, which has made me learn many skills at random but failed to specialise.
Dreaming about my boutique everyday....

...Exploring....

...My heart filled thanks to my spiritual Master who sparked within me many ecstatic, scintillating, powerful, blissful moments in my life..

Don't forget to pop in to my other blog http://nailomaniac.blogspot.co.uk/ to explore the world of nails, manicure, nail art and more.

Birth of my blog

Hi,
My blog is finally born and I see before me a huge possibility to pour out myself, my talent, my journey in achieving what I am now and still further...
I would be more than happy to share my works, my interests, the whole process and would love to hear your comments and suggestions alike..

Brimming with appreciation for myself...

Don't forget to pop in to my other blog http://nailomaniac.blogspot.co.uk/ to explore the world of nails, manicure, nail art and more.