Sunday, May 04, 2008

Photographing Frenzy

A week after starting my new Etsy.com store, I'm still photographing all the merchandise I've stockpiled over the years. I have 40 new listings at the store with about 21 more queued up to add next week. Over the past 2 years I haven't focused on the selling aspect of making art, just the creative process. I'm frankly a little shocked by how much I've made. With Mother's Day around the corner, hopefully someone will browse the shop and feel their Mom can't live without a necklace or scarf.

I've transformed the living room into a temporary photo booth. The furniture in front of the picture window is shoved back and I hauled out some grids from my craft show booth structure for a three-sided booth. Add a bolt of black silk, another of white, and "voila!" Instant photo shoot. Depending on the item being shot, I flip the black fabric back to expose the white, or vice a versa. It's not perfect, but it's the only spot in the house that gets a decent amount of light. Seems to be working out OK.



Photo booth set up to shoot a scarflet


Since the exposures aren't ideal, I spend a bit of time with iphoto and Gimp manipulating the shots. I'm getting pretty good at it. Marble Man and I are competing for computer time now. Hey...this is FUN!

The 2nd day of my store being open, I got a love note from Etsy.com congratulating me on my sale. (What? I got a sale already?!? Let's go to Disney World!) Hugely excited, I contacted the buyer, thanked her and explained when I'd ship her purchase. Then she emailed me back to say she'd clicked on "BUY" by mistake; she thought the item was beautiful, but she didn't want it. Bummer, man! After that I decided I won't get that excited again. What a let-down. In the meantime, I click "refresh" and enjoy seeing the number of hits climbing upward. At least people are looking.

2 comments:

rochambeau said...

Dear Kate,
Thank you for your visit!
I bet it is SO COOL to see all the fruits of your labors all photographed and just enjoying the creative process of doing that. In a minute I'm going to visit your shop. I've heard with Etsy, if you will add one piece per day it is the best marketing strategy instead of putting everything up at once.
Have a great day!
xox
Constance

rochambeau said...

Your work looks great Kate. I like all of your work. So intricate and and gentle yet strong. Your dyed pieces look great too. You are very talented with textiles too. The aqua fringed necklace the last on your site and at the top of your blog is over the top beautiful!

xo
Constance