Photo Backgrounds - Black vs. White

I'm always looking for ways to improve the quality of my photographs and recently purchased some acrylic stands as backgrounds, one in black and the other in white.  I really like the white background as the colors really pop and works beautifully in our lightbox so there are no shadows.

The black stand, however, is a whole different situation.  I have to adjust the compensation settings on my camera which is not a problem, however I found the black is like a magnet for any lint or dust and shows the slightest fingerprint or smudge.

The other problem I am having with the black background is the reflection.  While a subtle or soft reflection can be quite nice, this is anything else but.  You can see in the photograph the inside "ceiling" of the lightbox.  I will have to figure out how to work around this problem.  Any suggestions?????

Silk Scarf Jewelry

I've been working on a new batch of scarf jewelry designs.  These ones are more suitable to hanging on a lighter organza or silk scarf.  I am really happy with these ones and the jewel tone colors go beautifully with the silk scarves that my friend Rosemarie dyes by hand.

I wish we lived closer to our niece as she makes such a gorgeous model for our jewelry.  It is always so much nicer to see a piece worn on an actual live person instead of a mannequin.

Leopard Print Beads Made to Order

I always like to see what people create with the beads we make and sell.  We sometimes get requests for our beads in a different color or size which we don't mind doing.  One request we received was to make our  leopard print tube beads in a shorter length.  I was curious to see the design they were going to create with these beads and was so pleasantly surprised when she sent us some photos of the finished earrings.

The tiger's eye beads go so nicely with the leopard print tubes in these awesome hoop style earrings!  Jackie creates beautiful jewelry pieces and you can find more of her creations in her Etsy Shop.

Fun Times

We are taking some time off away from the studio and headed south to Spokane Washington to pick up some badly needed supplies and spend time with family.  I had to bring some of our new scarf jewelry for our niece to try out and model for us.

My niece and I are off to spend the day shopping and treat ourselves to a pedicure.  Couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday!

Tip for Organizing Your Mica Powder Samples

I love working with various textures and then tinting them with mica powders.  The results are these deep rich jewel tone colors that shimmer with a pearlescent or metallic effect.

A few of the stores that sell our buttons, beads and shawl pins, like to place special orders for their customers in customized colors.  To make it easier for matching up with their yarn or fabric, we made these color samples for them.  These are so handy that we made a set for ourselves and is a quick and easy method for figuring out what color we want to use or match up with various beads and findings in creating our jewelry.

The * (see below) means I have Swarovski crystals to match.

More Clay and Goodies

Our clay supply has been dwindling and I was holding off ordering more until the weather has cooled somewhat.  Even though the evenings have been cooler the days can still get fairly warm and I didn't want our clay to partially cure while in transit.

I am a happy camper now that the our many blocks of clay have arrived along with a few goodies like the new seamless cutters in the teardrop shape, gilder's paste and one of Helen Breil's new texture sheets.

I wanted to try out the new texture sheet and happened to have some Honey Gold and French Roast clay on my table so made a few new buttons using a mokume gane technique.

Pantone 2012 Color Honey Gold and Hooked on Polyvore

The last Pantone fall 2012 fashion clay color recipe I have to share with you is Honey Gold.  This rich golden yellow is a slightly muted version of a previous Pantone color called Golden Glow which I have used as my base color.

Honey Gold

4 parts Golden Glow (see recipe # 6-6) *

1 part Ecru Mix (see recipe # 2-8) *

* These base mix recipes are found in my Clay Color System tutorial.

I don't have any clay pieces to show you yet as I have been busy working on filling bead and button orders.  I do have this collage I created on Polyvore some time ago, however, combining the Honey Gold with French Roast. I came across various Polyvore collages on Pinterest so decided to check it out for myself the other day and once I started playing around I was hooked!  It was rather fun and but also addicting and reminded me of my early years playing with paper dolls.  It is a fun way to combine various colors and textures.  You will find more collages and Pantone color inspirations on my Pinterest board.

And here is a summary of all the clay recipes for the

Pantone Fall 2012 Fashion colors:

Click on the color names below

to go to the posts with those recipes:

Tangerine Tango

Bright Chartreuse  &  Olympian Blue

Pink Flambe  &  Ultramarine Green

French Roast  &  Rose Smoke

Rhapsody  &  Titanium

Honey Gold

(see above in this post)