Last time I talked about lighting. This time I want to share my thoughts about settings and background. In an effort to dress up their photos, sellers will place items on busy backgrounds like patterned paper, or surround the item with foliage or flowers. This rarely works well because in order to draw someone in to your shot and coerce them to click through, your product needs to be the most important thing in the picture. I heard someone say that your item needs to be the star. With small items like jewelry, that is especially true.

There should be no doubt in the shopper’s mind what you are selling. That doesn’t even mean that the entire piece needs to be inside the boundaries of the photo – sometimes it’s better if you leave a bit to the imagination. What is means is that there should be nothing else in that photograph that distracts your buyer from the item you are trying to sell. Nothing.

Simple is better. It’s good sometimes if your background has some texture, but not too much texture. Color, but not too much color.  Definitely not too much of both.  I use tumbled marble tiles for a lot of my photos. They have a lot of texture but very little color, so it works.

If you are showing your item on a human model, the rules are a bit different. If the model is attractive, this can work in your favor for getting clicks and it doesn’t matter quite as much if your item is competing with the model for attention. Get them to click and then you can show them more details about the piece you’re selling.

Renaissance Pattern Wedding Set

It helps to run to something that comforts – but so many things offer a cold comfort that betrays me later. Only by running to something larger than myself can I be truly comforted. I find that larger thing when I run to the creative. Sitting at my table and making things connects me to my maker and I can find peace.

I’m still feeling introspective, but it is tempered with perspective.

Fall seven times, stand up eight

It’s in the thirties here in West Central Florida. Interesting weather! I have a lot of jewelry making to do today because I’m finishing up my Valentine’s Day rush orders. I also have a lot of housework and kid stuff to catch up on. I think I’ll write a blog post. Do you blame me? Who would want to go out into the garage/workshop in this kind of weather? I’m going to wait until it’s at least 45 degrees.

I still owe you part two of my photography tips blog post, but in the meantime, advertising is on my mind. I’ve tried a lot of different things in the 19 months since I starting marketing jewelry on Etsy. Experience has shown me that there are three big things you can do to get your shop in front of shoppers.

1. Editorial coverage (get people to write about you and link to you from their websites).
2. Google shopping results (get your content syndicated in what used to be called Google Base).
3. Renew, list new items and relist sold items on Etsy.

This trinity of tactics is what works for me. Of course, for these things to work, you’ve got to have a marketable product (unique, attractive, and in demand), and FANTASTIC photos. There’s no point in being seen if what they’re seeing doesn’t draw them in. And your tags, item titles, and descriptions have to be accurate and crafted in such a way as to make them relevant in search results.

Notice that I didn’t include traditional advertising in this list. Not that advertising never works – it’s more that finding the magic sweet spot of the right place, the right placement, the right time, and the right place takes a lot of time, tweaking, and money – or sometimes you might just get lucky. The best ad placement I ever had was an unexpected spot on the front page of Brownstoner that I got for free as a result of helping out eSellerAds with some testing they were doing. And even that ad didn’t bring me more than one verifiable sale – but it was great exposure during the time it was running. It brought me a lot of high quality traffic. The only problem is that once the ad is gone, the traffic is gone.

That’s why it is important to get websites to write about you and link to your site. That kind of advertising is worth a lot more than paid advertising, because not only is the owner of the website vouching for your product, the content and the link to your shop stays on the Internet indefinitely, so your presence expands as time goes on. Plus, search engines will rank your shop higher in search results the more other sites link to you and vouch for your product. Your shop becomes more credible, and then every time someone searches for the type of thing you have in your shop, you are more likely to come up in their search results.

And what about renewing on Etsy? Well, you pay $.20 to list a product in your shop. That twenty cents gets you the privilege of having your item listed in your shop for four months. But when you renew your product before the expiration date and pay another twenty cents, it also does something else very special: it bumps your listing up to the top of the search results when sorted either by recency or relevancy. And in that way, it is a very effective way of promoting your shop. Etsy has done a great job of getting people there – and once they’re there, you want to be able to draw them to your shop, because not only are people browsing, they’re shopping. You want to get your piece of the money they’re going to spend. So when they decide to search for that particular item they have in mind, or drill down to the category, you want your items to come up first (and then those fantastic photos will cause them to click – IF your photos are indeed fantastic).

A few months ago, I stopped all my paid advertising (with one important exception), and transferred that budget into renewing. I have seen my sales increase to a consistent daily amount since I did. That is truly advertising that works.

I stopped almost all my paid advertising, but still participate in “gallerias” on popular style blogs. These are seasonal listings in which blog owners charge a small amount for you to be placed in a juried collection of items that are hallmarks of the season. Usually these placements include editorial content and links – the kind of vouching for that makes advertising truly worth it because, remember, those links (from popular, highly ranked blogs and websites) stay around indefinitely.

So there you have it – some ideas and opinions from a highly opinionated Etsy seller on what has worked for me. Now I’m off to do some much-need laundry.

silver braveheart ring for men $130

View Larger Map

The above is a map of the swamp area where we searched for Elby.

So, where was I? Oh yes.. it was getting dark and Darin was headed back to the wilderness park with Ian and Mackenzie in tow, and a small stack of “lost dog” flyers in hand.  The trip was mostly silent, peppered from time to time with the usual questions from Ian about whatever happened to pop into his head. Darin’s knee was still throbbing and driving didn’t make it any better. When they arrived at the park, he delegated the job of posting flyers to Ian and Mackenzie. They put them up at the entrance on the north and south side of the road and inside the gate on the bulletin board, then drove to the little neighborhood and put up a couple there.

Not wanting to give up yet, Darin decided to swing back by the park one more time just to see if maybe Elby had appeared by some stroke of magic or fate. The park ranger was closing up for the night, and much to the dismay of the kids and Darin, had taken down the flyers. The kids were furious, wondering how or why the ranger would be so cruel. Darin shrugged and explained that it was government property, and they probably didn’t want that kind of stuff littering the area. Standard operating procedure – nothing personal.

The sun set behind the cypress trees and the gates to the park were locked, and once again, the van was pointed in the direction of home, missing one very dear occupant. All the way back, God’s ears and the ranger’s must have been burning as complaint after vocal complaint was lodged and duly noted, and the gloom settled in. Elby was either dead or alone, out there in the cold, dark swamp.

The prospect of a hot bath still didn’t sound all that appealing to Darin even though he was exhausted and in pain. It was going to be a long night at the Gasperson house – and then tomorrow there would be the matter of an empty dog crate and abandoned favorite blanket to deal with. When he pulled up in the driveway, he was deep in thought about the dreary prospects ahead of him, and the surprise stab of grief he felt at the loss of what had to be the most troublesome dog he’d ever owned. It must have been a curious sight then, to see me come running out the door, jumping and flailing my arms in a most improprietous way for a dignified middle-aged woman.

It must have been, judging by the way they were looking at me. Even as I opened the car door and started explaining myself, it took a few moments for my words to penetrate their dark mood. “What took you so long to get back?!…You left your phone here, I couldn’t call you…. the ranger called…. they have Elby…. he’s alive!! He’s ok!” The bewilderment on their faces was a picture I’ll always remember.

“But… the ranger took the flyers down….” And it dawned on them the real reason why. I brought Darin the phone so he wouldn’t have to hurt his knee jumping down from the van, and he called Ranger Jerry. Another ranger found Elby earlier in the day and thought maybe he was one of the hunting dogs from a hog hunt that happened that morning. She took Elby to Jerry’s house at the neighboring Flat Woods park, and when she went to close down the parks that evening, saw the flyers, recognized the dog in the picture,  and called me. I’m sure she must have seen the van with Darin and the kids (probably glaring at her), just before she dialed my number.

So there was yet another trip out to the wilderness park, and like the first trip early in the morning, it was a happy one, full of anticipation and hope. The ranger’s wife brought Elby out on a leash, and when he saw Darin he just about pulled the woman off her feet in his effort to get to his “dad”.

That night, we treated Elby like royalty. He was bathed in our brand new shower (the one that none of us has even used yet), lavished with affection, doted on, and allowed to lay (on his blanket) on the new living room carpet. He must have been thinking that he’d died and gone to doggy heaven (after a particularly rough afternoon in swamp purgatory). He behaved perfectly the whole evening, and slept soundly in his crate with no whining or trying to dig out.

The next day, Elby was back to his normal aggravating self. I think I even threatened once or twice to take him back out to the river swamp. He just laughed at me. We’ll see who has the last laugh.

Darin grabbed his coffee and they hopped in the van to leave, the three of them (Elby, our 2 year old boxer mix, loves going to the river and so we take him pretty much every time we go.) I didn’t expect them back soon; I knew that with dad leading the charge, the expedition may go far and wide. Much farther and wider than it would with me as the leader. So I thought nothing of it when noontime came and went with no sign of them. I was supposed to be out in my workshop making jewelry, but I was instead “doing things” on the computer, looking with intent at the pile of laundry, and generally procrastinating. I was just getting ready to make my way out there, when I heard Darin walking down the hall. “Well hello there!” I greeted him with a smile – but looking at the expression on his face, immediately I knew something was wrong.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” he said. The first thing I thought of was Ian – something horrible had happened to him – but before I could verbalize that thought I saw my son as he walked up behind his father. “It’s Elby, he didn’t come back with us.” They had seen deer, lots of them, and Elby had taken off into the swamp after them. The first time he came back, but the second time, he just disappeared.

Darin and Ian had spent the next few hours sloshing through the cypress swamps calling for Elby, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He was wearing a waterproof training collar, but there was no response. It was as if he had vanished. Darin had hurt his knee and both he and Ian were muddy and tired, but they were going back out again to look for Elby some more.

After a minute of processing all this, I grabbed my socks and shoes and headed out the door with them. The wilderness park is acres and acres of heavily wooded swamp that normally this time of year would be dry and easier to traverse; but with all the rain we’ve had the river is swollen and ven the driest part of the surrounding area is saturated and uncertain. Ian and I were to take the main path after I dropped Darin off at the firebreak about 1/4 of a mile across the park. He was going to trek through the thickest part of the wilds and swamp to see if he could find Elby. We thought the worst – Elby is such a people dog and not really independent at all. He’d never want to be separated from his family.  He must have been injured, or simply lost his way and been unable to hear Darin and Ian calling him – now where was he though?

The main path proved fruitless – Ian and I could only go so far before the swamp waters were too deep to cross. We cut over in a loop and made our own trail from dry patch to dry patch, sometimes connecting them with short hops through the water, calling out all along the way, “Elby come!” I knew that if he could have heard us he would have obeyed. We were losing what little hope we had started with.

Our improvised trail finally took us back to the entrance of the park. Before long, Darin emerged from his journey, limping and downcast. We had tried and failed. But at least we had tried. Not wanting to finally leave and close the door on possibilities, we drove through the nearest neighborhood in hopes that he had been drawn to humanity and we’d see him romping with some children in a stranger’s backyard, or chasing an unfortunate cat down the middle of the road. Finally we made our way home to break the news to the younger ones: no Elby.

It’s not that I missed the dog all that much. All the trouble he had been. If you knew Elby, you’d understand. But to be the bearer of heartbreak to my children – to see my “strong and silent” youngest boy break down sobbing – well, that was just a bit too much for me to take. I think Elby’s disappearance and our ensuing emotional reaction to it caught us all a little by surprise. Darin’s knee was throbbing and he could hardly walk, so I drew a hot bath for him to soak in. But he couldn’t relax – not five minutes went by and he was out of the bath, asking me to make some “lost dog” flyers. He had no peace. He felt as though he was letting Elby down. And he was going back. “Kenzie will want to go with you,” I said. I printed out the flyers, and once again, Darin, Ian, and now Kenzie, headed out for the eleven mile trip. It was close to dark now.

Elby at one year

It’s getting late, and I’m running out of energy to finish this story. So rather than hasten to the end, I’m going to continue tomorrow.

Note: My jewelry business was launched with hardly any cash outlay, so another benefit to my favorite method of getting the product shoot is that it is very inexpensive.

Natural Light

The most important element to taking a great jewelry photo is lighting. I am a proponent of natural light, the kind that comes from the sky. For one thing, it’s free. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on bulbs, light stands, light boxes (even homemade ones take cash), diffusers, or any other kind of equipment. All you need is the outdoors, or my favorite, the ubiquitous window sill. No exposure to the elements required!

When I first began taking photos of my jewelry, I did what most people do. I placed the jewelry in an attractive setting like an embroidered tablecloth or a beautifully printed piece of paper, turned the lights on, zoomed in, and clicked. Unfortunately, this method produced washed out photos with a lot of glare.

Washed out, with glare

It didn’t take me too long to figure out that this style of photography wasn’t going to cut it. As beautiful as my renaissance crown might have been, looking at this picture you’d really have to use your imagination to realize it. Not only is it washed out with a harsh glare – it’s out of focus and the background is way too “busy.” (More on that in another post.)

Next, I moved on to outdoor photography. This worked OK for some things, but I was having the hardest time getting a good shot of say, shiny silver items. This was because I was setting my item in direct sunlight – not a good plan for bringing out the texture and details of your piece. The key to good lighting is to have some light and some shadows – but neither of these should be harsh or hard. Harsh light washes out or causes glare, and hard shadows obscure parts of your photo or cause a distracting extra shape in your composition. The solution to this is to use bright, but diffused light.

Bright light from the sun is perfect, but it needs to be diffused. This is what makes a cloudy day ideal for taking photos of your jewelry in natural light. The harsh glare of direct sun gets eliminated, and so does the hard shadow. Everything is softer and more subtle, which focuses the attention on your jewelry instead of other distracting elements. So when there’s a cloudy day in the forecast (for some people this is every day!), take advantage of it to get some great shots.

What if you need to take picture and it’s a sunny day? There are many ways to use the bright light of the sun while avoiding the harshness of its rays. One way is to take pictures in the shade. Make sure your shade is consistent and not dappled like the effect you get under a tree. Dappled light will just make your photo dappled. Find some good shade and then experiment with pictures. Sometimes bringing the item right to the edge of the shade will provide a good balance of light and shadow, while shooting your piece in shade that is too deep can result in a flat, dull picture.

Another sunny day solution is to use the window sills in your home. If you’re lucky, you have sills on more than one side of your home, which allows you to use different ones depending on the light levels and the time of day. Window sill photography is my favorite method for getting the lighting just right. For example, I have a sill in my bedroom that is perfect for getting dramatic shots when the sun is just coming up.

Dramatic morning light

The picture above was taken with no flash, just the diffused, interesting light from the early morning sun.

Other sills in my home give me good results in the afternoon and evening. If you have a large window that allows a lot of light in, you can even move your shots further away from the window and experiment with light balance that way. Whatever you do, don’t use your flash! Find out how to turn it off and then keep it off. If your photo comes out too dark, you just need to move closer to your natural source of light.

Next, I’ll share some of my tips for getting a good background.

The picture below is my marriage ring. It used to be my wedding ring. It was your average domed band made of gold – I think we got our rings at JC Penney or Sears. We were definitely looking for budget friendly stuff. Nothing original about that.

But of course many years later, I have learned how to do stuff to metal and make jewelry out of it. And one day, I took my wedding ring and made it into my marriage ring. I put it on the steel mandrel and hammered it all over, creating facets and tool marks on it. Instead of a plain jane standard issue wedding ring, I now had a one of a kind marriage ring. It represents to me all the things we have weathered together in our 17 years of marriage. Each blow of the hammer makes the ring more beautiful, just like our marriage. Every difficulty we have faced has made our relationship what it is today – a beautiful work of art.

No blogging yesterday.

And I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but I experience this phenomena in other areas of my life too. (Exercising comes to mind.)  The important takes a back seat to the urgent all too often. I have a mental list of important things and I give mental lip service to the fact that these things need attention. Here’s my current list:

• My husband
• My kids at home
• My health (physical and mental)
• My true identity (being who I am)
• My adult kids
• My extended family
• My circle of friends

The reason I am committing to blogging every day is because I believe that writing is a true expression of myself. When I don’t do it, I am denying who I am, and I often stop writing when I am trying to hide something (usually subconsciously) because I know that when I write on a regular basis it is an open window to my heart. Can’t hide in front of an open window. There’s no glare to blind the observer, and the wind comes in to carry the perfume of my attitude out into the open.

That’s really important to me. So today I did it (almost) first. And as the days go by, I’ll work on keep this important thing as one of the first things I do each day. I’m looking forward to the insights.

I think that’s why I make jewelry. It’s my writing, coming out sideways.

I’ve been writing since I could hold a crayon. It’s just what I do. Over the last five years of my life I have been writing less and less. Between mid life crises and dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of adult children leaving the nest, coupled with some serious dysfunction issues from my childhood, I’ve been stuffing the writing.

You see, writing opens a channel from the depths of my heart and puts the contents therein on display to myself and to the world (should I choose to share my words that way). And sometimes, it’s just too hard to look and see what’s in there. There’s something in there that even to this day I am afraid to identify and face. And I know that the more I write, the closer I get to staring that thing down, whatever it is, face to face.

A couple of years ago, in the zenith of my despair, I put away a few things that were just too painful to carry. One of those things was writing. For all the joy and insight it brought to me and I daresay to at least one other person, the corresponding threat of pain was too risky. I didn’t realize at the time that was why I couldn’t do it anymore. But it is very clear to me now.

The jewelry making is the writing, coming out sideways. Hammering and burning and bending the metal is a non-verbal channel to my heart, which makes it easier for me to deal with then the words. The little pieces of body adornment that result are really little pieces of my heart.

One of the ways I can recognize that the jewelry-making is a direct line to my heart, is that I always end up with irrational fear surrounding the things that open up my heart. I start practicing avoidance – I find a dozen other things I need to do first, before I go out to the workshop and start creating.

And I have found a billion things to do now, before sitting down to write the things that are in my heart. Ironically, though, the very reason I find myself writing on this clear cold morning is because I am avoiding my other heart activity – making the jewelry. Funny. But hey, whatever works.

And now, because I have a commitment to the people who have chosen to put their trust in me and express their appreciation of my craft, I’m heading out to the workshop to do something I love very much.

truth

Kelly

Posted November 23, 2009 at 1:23 am | Permalink

I am a social worker and work with children and families who have had their child removed for one reason or another. I see a lot of pain and sadness throughout the day, and while it can be really hard, the joy of seeing family succeed is so amazing. I would choose the bracelet and get “Hope Never Dies” inscribed. All these families need is hope that life can be better for them.

And the winner of the ring, whom I chose myself, is Laura.

Laura

Posted November 24, 2009 at 4:31 am | Permalink

I would love to win the ring. If I were to win I would like MOON inscribed on it as my niece always tells me she loves me to the moon and now being on the other side of the world from her, it would make me feel slightly closer to her.

Congratulations to both of you! Kelly and Laura, please get in touch with me at tinahdee <at> gmail.com to let me know your address, and in Laura’s case, your ring size.