Presenting my finished Beads

The topic on Flaming Hot today is how do you present your finished beads. My beads are kind of like debutantes and need to be presented in the most gentile manner - just kidding! I actually sell my beads on eBay, off of my website as Catalogue, on Etsy (mostly as jewelry), and at a few major bead shows a year - there are a few local shows and trunk shows as well.

The beads for eBay are specifically made for eBay. I do better with focals then sets - I can't seem to sit at the torch long enough to make enough beads for even 1 measley set! You see I also work full time at a very time consuming, energy draining, stressful job. My need to be creative every day is expressed in my glasswork. So I make my eBay beads, clean them them with a dremel, stare at them on my table a while. Pull some out for Etsy because they would look better as jewelry. My newest design is a marbelized kind of bead that I'm naming after National Parks. I had full intention of selling them on eBay in sets - 1 large focal and some small lentil companion beads. That didn't happen because the companion beads came out so nice that they called to be made into earrings. Anyway then I set up my photo booth on my dining room table - I have a Table Top set up that I love, love, love. I mostly use the surface of a plexiglass square although sometimes I'll put down a sheet of white paper. I usually shoot straight down at the picture but lately I've been experimenting with shooting at a angle. I use earthquake clay (I live in So Cal that's why I have earthquake clay) to hold the beads in place. I have a Nikon camera that I can turn the lens to the bead and still look at the digital image. Works well that way! I think my pictures come out pretty nice. Then we are off to the Mac for a little photo retouching. I like to put different views of my image together into 1 layout so I only have to deal with the 1 photo upload when I go on to eBay.

For Etsy it's individual square pictures. My goal is to have pictures that well represent the piece as best as possible. Artsy doesn't work if that is not what you are getting. Or in some cases I've seen some very artsy nice photos that are then just plopped on the page one after another and they look terrible. The layout is important as well. I work in the graphic arts industry so I realize some of the dos and don'ts of layouts. The point of the layout is to show off the bead not the layout. Sometimes I think my pictures are good but my layout doesn't sell the product well enough because I keep it too plain.

Now for shows it's a whole different ball game. My beads are mostly shown individually and I have a tiered stand that I set up, cover it in white and then put small brass bead stands on it that show off my beads. These are wire wrapped stands that people often want to buy. That way the bead is facing the customer and sometimes draws them to my display. I also like to have varying heights for interest. I do sell some small beads which I put on mandrels in a tray by color - that seems to work best. Of course nothing stays the same and it is always changing! Don't have a picture but I promise to take one at my next show and I'll post it here!