Motivation Monday - Colors

Things that inspire me, color combinations I love, the music that rocks my studio and 

anything else that makes me want to jump up and make a bead!

I seem to have been inspired simply by color lately.  It happens occasionally, a whole day where only 2 or 4 colors come out of the kiln.  This week I had a coral day, and a blue and green day.  It's a good exercise to just see how many ways you can use a few colors.  Today I really think I want to focus on pink and black. I found this pic on pinterest and while I don't think I have a pink that vibrant, I'm still inspired by the photo.

Really, if any glass company produced this color I would buy a hundred pounds of it! In the mean time, I'll work with what I have (and see what I can come make with layering).

On the other hand, I purchased a photo from Natural Illumination the other day that I find really inspirational, so maybe I'll go with that; the ocean always, always inspires me and the quote is awesome!! (p.s. great customer service and stunning photo!)

and the music for the week is Styx

Friends of mine are opening for them at a local show, so of course I had to get tickets!  Congratulations to Lynus and Lucy!

Thanks for checking in ~ and stay motivated!

Featured Friday - Natural Illumination

Cool Handmade Stuff From Artists I Admire

Today's Featured Friday is Natural Illumination

My customer turned friend opened an Etsy shop yesterday!  She takes beautiful, tranquil photographs and incorporates inspirational quotes.   And she's super sweet!  :)

This one is my favorite!

Or maybe this one?!

It's so hard to choose!  But I've already placed a custom order ~ Yep, she will customize any photo to fit your favorite size, color tone, quote,and  picture combination. How cool is that!

What are you waiting for?  Go check out her shop!

Thanks for taking a peek ~ and check back next Friday for more fun, handmade finds!

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

I recently posted a question in the Etsy forums asking whether a single or a bulk picture should be used first in a listing for one bead with more available.  The majority of the responses critiqued my photographs and as this is the first time I've ever received constructive criticism on my shop,  I really appreciated it!  

So this week I've been working on retaking the pictures for all 152 of my Etsy listings.  At 4-6 pictures per item that's over 750 pictures!  Considering that I haven't found a reliable light source that's anywhere as good as natural light for showing the true colors on beads, this is going to take a long time. I have about a 1 hour window of time when the sun is up but not blocked by the fence or the trees in my yard at this time of year so I just have to hope that happens to be the hour there isn't any cloud cover! Anyway, here is a comparison

New picture

Old Picture

There is a HUGE difference!  I didn't realize how bad my pics were before and I'm extremely grateful to the people who took the time to critique me.

As to the original question: I decided I had to do what felt right to me, which is to use the single bead as the first picture.  It's not as dramatic, but I also don't feel like I'm being deceptive.  In the end, being able to sleep at night is more important to me than the number of sales.