Getting Cosy with a Crocodile Stitch

One of my winter projects that is coming along is my new lap blanket.  It still has a little while until it's going to keep my feet warm though.

I'm still a bit of a beginner crocheter, so luckily, once you've got the hang of it, this one is really easy, though please don't ask to look at the edges of the blanket - they are super wonky!  I hate changing colours in crochet so just used a yarn that changed colour through the ball.

As it's a double thickness, I find this blanket uses up a lot of wool, but at the same time it has such a lovely weight and warmth to it.

The youtube tutorial I used to learn is here.

Do you have any seasonal crafty projects going on?

Me, the Page 84 Girl - the blog post also known as Tips for Taking Photos for Online Sales

It's quite strange opening the Sunday paper and finding yourself gracing one of its pages, but  that's just what happened yesterday.

Now you'd think I would have tidied up more on the day the photographer came into my studio...

The article was about a talk I give from time to time about taking photos for online sales for BrisStyle's "I heart Craft sessions".  I used to be a professional photographer, back in the darkroom days, but there are many simple set ups and basic tips that can really make a big difference and let your images make a huge impact.

Think about when you go shopping in a bricks and mortar store.  You often pick up a piece that you're interested in, you can feel its weight and texture, instantly know its size, can see it from all different angles... online shoppers still want that experience and your photographs can help give it to them.  Years ago when I began selling online I remember hearing the advice "Photograph as if there is no written description (and write as if there is no photograph)".  High quality photographs also give your store a professional edge and help with online marketing through Etsy treasuries, blogs and sites like Pinterest.

These simple things can really improve your imagery;

Write with Light

The word "photography" comes from a couple of Ancient Greek words that mean "to write" and "light".  With this in mind it's easy to understand why the light on your subject should be your first concern.

• Where possible, use soft, natural light.  Don't use the flash on top of your camera (unless you know what you're doing with it) or go into direct sunlight in the middle of the day, this will create harsh shadows and be unflattering.

Retro Black Cat Hairclips

• In Queensland we're lucky enough to get lots of lovely light all year round.  I photograph next to a large window and use a white piece of cardboard to reflect light back into the other side.

• If you need to photograph inside with lights, you can make yourself a simple light tent.

• If your light source isn't very bright, use a tripod to steady your camera and avoid blurry photos.

Learn About Aperture

The camera's aperture controls how much light enters your lens at one time and as a result, affects how much of your subject will be in focus at the same time (this is called the "depth of field").  The easiest way to remember which way to go is that the smaller the number (f stop), the smaller the amount of your photograph will be in focus.  A small area in focus can really help to separate your item from the background, but a large area can help if your active toddler is modelling your carefully made children's clothes.

There are some great pictorial examples online to help you understand the aperture's affect; here, here, here and here are some places to start.

If not feeling comfortable with going on a full manual setting on your camera, most digital cameras have an "Aperture Priority" setting that will allow you to control your aperture and then will adjust your shutter speed to ensure that you have correct exposure.

Choosing Your Camera

The great thing about today's technology is that you can get amazing digital cameras for quite reasonable prices.  When choosing your camera, pick one that you're going to feel comfortable using.  There's no use buying an expensive DSLR if it's going to sit on the shelf because you don't know what to do with it.  If you make small items like jewellery put your main investment into a good macro lens, even some small point-and-shoot cameras have great macro lenses.  If you ask at any decent camera store, they should be able to point you in the right direction.  Etsy have written some good advice when it comes to choosing a camera.

Composition

• It's usually best not to place your item smack, bang in the centre of your photo, but rather off-centre them a bit with the Rule of Thirds in mind.  It makes for a much more interesting photo.

• If your subject is directional, have it moving into the frame and not out.

Chevron Necklace by Modrn

• Think about different angles that you can photograph from to make the photo more interesting.  When photographing children's items for example, it's great to get down low to give a feel of how they'd see it.

Vintage Mattel Blocks by Flume Street

Model it for me Baby!

Photographing your gorgeous creation on a model can not only really help a buyer understand it's size, but also allows you to create a feel for your brand.

Gold Zing Headband by JanineBasil

Backgrounds, Props and Staging

Your backgrounds and props is another chance to tell a story about what you make and to communicate your brand.

• Keep your background simple.  Don't let it distract from what you're actually trying to sell.

• In most cases, try to avoid horizon lines.  

• A little bit of subtle texture can go a long way, but you don't want it to be a "muddy" looking one or one that creates too many shadows (your eyes will be drawn to those shadows instead).

• Make sure that any props you use add to the story of your piece.

Cosy vintage Caravan and Combi Convo by Sconnie and Jam

• A hand or a mannequin can be a simple prop.

• Props can help to communicate how your creation can be used as well as give an indication of size.

Red hair sweet face zipper pouch by sweetdolls

• If you have nice packaging, it's good to include that in one of your photos as well.

Teapot Brooch

Editing Your Images

I recommend to always edit your photos before you upload them to an online store or site.

The most important things to do are; 

• Crop and resize (but when resizing, keep a copy of the original larger file first!  You never know when your favourite magazine is going to call and ask to feature your creation).

• Check your exposure and contrast.  You want your whites white, your blacks black and a nice range in between.

• Correct any colour casts.   The cause of these includes indoor lighting (fluorescent lights have a green tinge, incandescent bulbs an orange colour etc).

There are other many different photo editing programs out there.  

• I'm a Photoshop girl personally, but I use it a lot to get the value out of the program.  Photoshop now have a free, simplified online service or if you're thinking of buying any of their software, you can download a trial version of the software for a month.  

• I think PicMonkey is a great site (and the "Weight loss" tool is lots of fun!)

• This post has a good list of other options, both downloadable and online.

A Few More Things to Think About...

• Be consistent with your images - remember they are all communicating your brand.

• Think about how a store thumbnail is going to look once the photo has been cropped to the site's format.  Etsy now allows you to adjust this when listing an item.

• Use all the images that the site allows (Etsy allows five).  A teaser image (often a close up) can work well as the first image and you can show your product from different angles as well as illustrating your packaging.

• Look at sites such as Etsy, Flickr and Pinterest for inspiration (but inspiration only).  Look at what images you like and think about why they work.

• Save yourself some time by photographing in batches.  This will also help with the consistency of your images.

• And lastly, do what your time and lifestyle allows.  I don't practice all that I preach due to the time constraints that a busy wholesale business plus a very active three year old put on me.  Even if you put a few of these tips in place, you should be well on your way.

Do you have any tips you'd like to share, or ones that you've found particularly useful?  Or feel free to pop some links to your online images in the comments, I'd love to hear from you.

How to Make Japanese "Kanzashi" Style Flower Brooches

I fell in love with these gorgeous little fabric flowers, "Tsumami Kanzashi", when I was living in Japan.  Traditionally, they are delicate little pieces made from a fine silk crepe and formed together to create the amazing Geisha hairpieces.  Not being an elegant geisha myself, I've made these brooches bigger and bolder and with antique kimono silks as a nod to their heritage.

They are quite simple to make and after you've done a few you could find yourself quite addicted...

What you'll need;

• A small piece of fabric, about 5 x 25cm is a good place to start.  It's good to use a fabric with a bit of substance to it, but not too thick.  I used interfaced kimono silks but a starched cotton also works really well.
• Hand sewing needle, thread, scissors.
• Five pegs (just from the washing line)
• Bead and bead caps (optional)
• Small piece of felt
• Craft glue
• Brooch back

Got your bits and bobs?  Let's get started shall we?

1.  Take the piece of fabric and cut it so that you have five squares the same size.  About 5cm is a good place to start.  Your final flower will be about the same size as one of those squares.

2.  Take one of your squares and fold it in half to create a triangle with the right side facing out.  Give the fold a bit of a finger press.  Fold that in half again, so that the triangle is half the size.  At one corner, the fabric will have two loose points.

3.  Take one of these points and fold it backwards so that you keep the raw edges together.

4.  Take the other loose corner and fold it back on the other side so that it looks like the picture below.  You've folded your first petal.  Put a peg on it to hold it in place.

5.  Repeat this until you have five petals.

6.  At the corner where you have the three points meet, very carefully trim a couple of millimetres.  This is going to be the centre of your flower and the trimming helps them sit a little neater.

7.  Take one petal and stay stitch in close to the corner.  A little thread sitting on the raw edge will also help keep everything together. 

8.  Making sure that it is facing the same way up, thread the next petal onto the cotton and stay stitch the second petal.  You won't be stitching the petals together just yet, but it's a bit like stringing beads onto a line.

9.  Continue until you have all five petals on the thread.  Line them up.

10.  From the line, take the outside edges of the first and last petal and hold them together.  Flip the flower over so that your raw edges are facing upwards.  This is where you want all your stitches to go.

11.  Stay stitch the two together very close to their corners.

12.  Then again about 2/3 of the way up.  You could do neat little stitches all of the way, but as this will be covered by felt later, I don't bother.

13. Then, with your first and last petals joined, grab the next two folds - what will be outer folds of the first and second.  Scroll down to a couple of photos down and you should get what I mean.

14.  Stay stitch in the centre again, and then 2/3 of the way up.  Don't worry that the stitching may be a little messy at this stage, it will be covered up later.

15.  Continue until all five petals are joined.  In the photo below you can get an idea of what the stitching will look like.

16.  This is my favourite bit... flip the flower over.  At this stage the petals will all be a bit pointy.  Take a finger or thumb and push the petal into a rounded shape.  It will take a little fiddling and squishing until the fabric wants to sit the way you want it to.  I go around the flower a few times pushing and squishing.

17.  You should now have a lovely little Japanese plum flower.

18.  Bead the centre of the flower how you wish.  I like to put a bead cap or two in and then a bead that will highlight one of the colours in the flower.

19.  Flip the beaded flower over and put some craft glue on the raw edges.  Adhere it to some felt.  Once the glue has dried, stitch the edge of the flower onto the felt to reinforce it.  Trim the felt.

20.  Finally, sew a brooch back on and it's ready to wear with pride.

Before you know it you'll be looking around at little bits of fabric you have around the place and your garden will begin to grow.

Pin It

Tiny Envelope Tutorial

I just love the cute, tiny envelopes you can buy in Japan, but am starting to get rather low on my stash.  So I was very pleased when I stumbled upon this easy tutorial to make some on pinterest.

You can find the full tutorial here on Poppytalk, which is also the source of the image.

Pinning on the Go

On Saturday, while teaching a workshop at Piece Together, one of my lovely participants was wearing a pincushion ring she had made.  It was not only really cute, but a great idea for when  crafting on the go.  I can imagine wearing one while hand stitching on long drives or at markets.

Then this morning, I stumbled upon this ring pincushion tutorial on Pinterest.  What a great use for those cute little scraps you can't bear to throw away.

Hmmm... but then, I found some adorable ones on Etsy that someone could buy for me.... hint hint for Christmas....

A really cute red barn and and an owl.... 

And this sweet little house...

Hmmm... barns and houses... can you tell that I've had our hopes to buy a little home in the country next year on my mind...?

All photos from their respective sources.

Pugly Pixel

I discovered the Pugly Pixel blog a while back and have had it on my list to revisit and download these great pieces of tape strip clip art.  In a moment of procrastination today (I should be working on accounts), I dropped by her blog and found so much more!

How amazing are these award ribbons!  And even better, she has a tutorial on how to make them yourself AND the vintage deco tapes as a free download as well!  Apologies for shouting at you there, I just really do think they are fabulous!

And if that's not enough for you... then check out these photo overlays, ready to insert your own image into...

It looks like I may have a new blog crush...

Scrumptious Fabric Flower Tutorial

These fabric flowers by Ravenhill are so sweet!

A Flower Button Tutorial, originally uploaded by Ravenhill Designs.

And not only that, she shows you how to make them in this tutorial! Can you believe this is her first tutorial? The instructions and photos are so clear, you'd think she was a pro!

Hmmm... I'm already imagining a string of these in kimono fabrics....

How To Make Japanese Paper Dolls

Last Sunday, I had a ball teaching the Brisbane Brown Owls group how to make "Ningyogami" - Japanese paper dolls. I think everyone was surpised at how easy they were to do.

What you need
* “Kimono” paper (I prefer Japanese Yuzen or chiyogami) about 5.5 x 12.5 cm
* “Obi” and “collar” paper about 1.5 cm wide, the length doesn’t matter too much. You can use different papers for the obi and collar.
* “Obi-jime” paper (again, I prefer Yuzen or chiyogami), narrower than the “Obi” paper. You can use a few different ones to layer if you like.
* “Hair” and “Fringe” paper – I use Japanese crepe, but a standard crepe paper will do.
* White card for head and body. The head circle is about 2cm in diameter, the body about 3mm wide, length isn’t too important.
* Double-sided tape (you can use glue, but I find tape is less messy).
* Sticky tape
* Scissors

1. Cut a small length of the collar paper and fold it in half to create a narrower strip. Fold this around the “body” to create a collar (actually the collar of the under kimono). Make sure that (as you’re looking down on it) the left goes under the right. This is the way a kimono is worn by all except for the deceased. Run a strip down the length so that it hangs over the edge, you will use this soon.

2. With the wrong side up, fold about 1cm of one end (if the pattern on the paper has a top and bottom, do this at the top).

3. Flip the paper over and fold about 0.5cm back over. This forms the collar of the kimono.

4. Tape the body and under-kimono collar into the middle so that just a touch of the under-kimono peeks over the top.

5. Fold the left side of the kimono over the under-kimono collar. Only press the top of this fold, not the whole length.

6. Fold the rest of the side over to create a straight edge down the kimono.

7. There may be a corner of the collar that goes further than the rest of the edge. Trim this so that it is all straight.

8. Fold the other side over. To get the angles matching at the top, I find it easier to crease from the bottom up. Crease the straight line up to the point of the slight corner on the other side and then fold in the top to match. This side doesn’t fully cover the other side. There should be a few millimeters of the first side showing. Trim anything that hangs over the side.

9. Put the piece of “obi paper” around the kimono so that it sits just below the collar and covering the angled folds in the kimono (where the angle of the collar change to the straight edge of the kimono). Tape this at the back. The long hair will cover the tape later.

10. Put a decorative piece of “obijime” over the obi. You can do a few of layers of this if you like.

11. Place a bit of the crepe paper on the head to make a fringe. It should sit about half-way down. Make sure that the grain of the crepe is running down, like hair would do. Flip the “head” over and trim off the excess. The trimming doesn’t need to be too perfect, this will get covered by the rest of the hair in the next few steps.

12. Tape the head onto the body leaving a bit of “neck” showing. I use double-sided tape, as this gets stuck to the rest of the hair in a moment.

13. Tape the back of the head onto the hair piece so that there is some space at the top.

14. Fold the hair to that it angles up to the middle (or a little past, you don’t want your doll to end up with a bald spot). I like to do a few folds to give the hair more volume.

15. Do the same on the other side and hold the top of the head.

16. Twist the top of the hair and then fold it behind the head. If using the doll to go on a card or bookmark, it is fine to just tape the twist in place on the back.

She’s finished!

Watch out, making these can get addictive.