Photography

I invested in a light tent and lights, so I can either A) take better photos of my jewelry or B) enlist the help of my sister-in-law, an accomplished photographer, in taking better photos of my jewelry.

What a light tent does is help diffuse the light on an item, so that it's shining evenly instead of harshly on the item being photographed. This really helps the item look better and helps the colors appear more true in the photograph, both important factors when one is trying to present one's items for sale via an online photograph.

Some of the images on my site came out nice. Others need better lighting. Period. Well, now I'll be able to do that.

We had a productive day around here

Mark spent the day studying his rump off for his certification test. He was at it from before I got up, and he kept at it right through until dinnertime. He uses the dining room table, which makes me doubly glad that I cleared my crafting materials out of the dining room and into the studio. I, meanwhile, did a heavy-duty sorting of beads today, plus some serious jump ring construction. Oh, my hands. My fingers are going into rebellion now, lol. Naproxen, here I come.

Prepping for possible consignment sales

I have sorted all my existing jewelry, separating out the ones that either fit Valentine's Day or fit the Pantone Spring 2013 Color Wheel. To my pleasant surprise, the vast majority of what I've made already fits the Spring Color Wheel profile.

I guess the jewelry supply vendors are following the Color Wheel, too, and are selling supplies that they know will be popular in the upcoming months.

There are a couple of older pieces that I will re-do, however, now that my style has evolved somewhat. I can see a different way to highlight the attributes of the stones, and I think it would be even more favorable to make the pieces in the way I'm imagining them now.

When that's accomplished, I will head out to the Avenue, to the two places where I discussed selling items on consignment (or, if I can negotiate it, selling the pieces to them outright).

The Christmas Tree is down

Well, another year, another end to the Christmas season. We de-decorated the tree, and only discovered ONE stray ornament on the floor that the cats stole. Everything else was present and accounted for.

I spent the majority of the afternoon making earrings. The pulled hamstring was bothering me, so I thought that a treadmill session could wait one more day.

Now I've earned a visit to Facebook.

Captain and Mini -- Laughing My Head Off

I tempted fate when Captain and Mini, who've had little border wars sometimes, both walked within arm's length of me at the same time. I scooped them both up (well, I scooped tiny Mini up and I scooped up big Captain's front half, leaving his hindquarters sitting on the floor) and cuddled them both together and gave them both smooches at once.

Mini licked Captain. As soon as I put them both back on the floor, Captain ran a few steps away and vigorously groomed the spot on his flank where the dog had licked his fur. "EWWWW.... DOG COOTIES".

I got the Flat-Eared Glare from Captain when I burst out laughing.

One HUGE chore has been accomplished

It took me three days, but I did it. Every last pair of earrings and every single necklace is now attached to a jewelry display card and, in the case of the necklaces, inserted into a resealable clear bag. Next up: sorting what I have so that I can ID the items I have that match up with the Pantone Spring 2013 color wheel. This month, I intend to show my wares to two specific places, one of which already offered to take my spring things on consignment, and the other one who will decide whether to take my things on consignment or not. I also am in discussion with someone for a custom-made necklace for a birthday gift. Progress is good.

Mini and Stanley need an interpreter

Mini and Stanley like one another, but they don't understand one another. Mini doesn't speak Cat, and Stanley doesn't speak Dog. It's funny to watch them try to interact.

When Stanley wants to play with the dog, he will gently bop her nose. Mini wags her tiny tail at Stanley. He bops her head. Mini wags her tiny tail. Another bop. More wagging. Stanley is utterly perplexed by the concept of tails waving in the air in a friendly fashion. Cats who lash their tail from side to side are doing to as a warning, not as a greeting.

Stanley just can't seem to figure out how to get Mini to join in playing with him. When he bops Captain, Captain understand that it's time to play Chase My Brother or Wrestle My Brother. That's when we see two stripey critters careering about the house and up and down the stairs. Mini doesn't do chasing and wrestling. She does cuddling and licking. She appears to think that gentle bops on the head are some form of cat greeting, hence the wagging tail in response.

Crazy critters. :-)

Doctor's visit

I got my bloodwork results today. Some numbers improved slightly, the ones that were in the normal range last time are still in the normal range, and one number deteriorated. My BP was great but my weight shifted in the wrong direction.

So we're attacking the issue several ways. One, with the new year, comes a new dedication to counting calories and daily treadmill time. Two, I got one med tweaked in the hopes of getting my cholesterol the rest of the way back into line. It was soooo close to being in the normal range -- how aggravating that it didn't improve that last few points, grrrrrr. Oh, well. NOW it's gonna improve, 'cause I'm going to be eating better PLUS taking a stronger med. Goodbye, last few extra points of cholesterol. You're going away. and not a moment too soon.

Oh, and I got clearance to start donating blood to the Red Cross again, yay! :-) So today had some positives in it.

So freaking help me, every freaking number on that bloodwork is going to be in the right range by the time I'm done working on it. Funky numbers are no longer to be tolerated.

New ideas -- easier said than done

The jewelry-supply sites where I purchase my materials all send out newsletters. Today, I got a newsletter from one of them offering a class in making jewelry with steel wire. There is a HUGE gem show in Tucson every year, where there are also many classes related to gems and jewelry-making; that's where this class is being offered.

Well, I can't afford a trip to Tucson any time soon, but just learning that there is such a thing as steel wire to work with piqued my interest. That might be an interesting addition to what I make.

Ha. Good luck FINDING steel wire to buy. So far, that project has been a bit of a bust. Even the sites that list it in their catalog are flagging it as being out of stock. I'll have to keep looking. Maybe the holiday rush obliterated the stock of a lot of sites.