Thursday, June 10, 2010

Blunders of the Photographic Variety

Everyone says you need great photos in order to sell anything online. I have, however, seen my share of horrific photos in shops that seem to have sales out the wahoo. It is because of this observation that I have not yet made a light box for my photos yet. However, after today, I'm beginning to think maybe I should invest in the fabric and staples it would require...

We keep our apartment at roughly 70-72 degrees F. This is nice and comfy all year so we don't change it much. However, when you take a camera that has been in the 70-72 degree F temperatures outside into 95 degree F temperature, you get a moody camera. My lens fogged up and I got this atrocious image of some gorgeous malachite. Don't worry, fog makes everything look ugly.

Now, a while back I said I would post pictures of what viking knit looks like before you see the finished product in my shop. I'm warning you, it could have used a fogged lens to make it look a little better. Here is a picture of the same viking knit used on the malachite piece above, before it was drawn down into that lusciously flexible and dense chain.

This is only about 2 inches of the chain. Please excuse the lighting as I was sitting on my front porch holding it up. Appealing, eh? When weaving viking knit chain the resulting tube (pictured) is very stiff. You can't really move it much without digging the wire into your hand. I weave mine around a clickable Sharpie marker so it's easily removed and put back on. In order to make this ugly mess into something pretty and wearable, I must first finish the weave and pull it through a draw plate. I don't have pictures of me pulling it down yet, so maybe next time.

Several hours and some elbow grease later, you get this next picture.

The finished chain is approximately 11.25 inches long, including the beads on the end. So, it's not long enough for a necklace. This means I still have not made a solid viking knit necklace yet. I will. Don't worry. This 11.25 inch section took approximately 35 feet of wire. A full necklace piece will probably take about 70-80 feet of wire. But I digress.


The finished necklace will have three strands of malachite, onyx, and sterling silver beads to finish the length and make the necklace more substantial. One strand makes it look very plain and small, and I wanted this to have some weight to it and really make the malachite shine.

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