Warm, happy, relaxed, and larger-than-life holiday wishes to you!

 - Jean

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I just received this note from my friend Liz Mrofka, saying that she thought of me when she came across it. I laughed, full well knowing I would be the first person kicked of a reality tv show like this...while I do make a mean painted rock (yes, I found this yesterday in my junk!), I don't think my April Lamb skills would be that competitive.

Painted rock, c. 1970

Anyway, I figured there might be a few of you out there that would be interested or know people who are interested, so here's the info:

Casting Crafters and Artsts for National TV Series

Media Outlet: Major Cable Network

Deadline: 7:00 PM PST - 13 January

Query:
Now Seeking America's Most Talented Crafters!!!

Are you ready to show America your unique, creative skills?
Do your friends refer to you as the "MacGyver" of arts & crafts?
Can you create, design, build and implement visually stunning
and out-of-the-box creations on the fly?

A MAJOR CABLE NETWORK & the Executive Producers of "CUPCAKE
WARS" and "HALLOWEEN WARS" are seeking Arts & Crafts Designers
for a new competition show.
Each episode will feature Arts & Crafts competitors who battle
against each other for a $10,000 prize and an opportunity to
publicly showcase their craft masterpiece!

Casting Males & Females, (18 and over) with fun and upbeat
personalities that can think on their feet!!!

If this is you, we want to hear from you ASAP!

Email craftcasting@gmail.com the following information:

-Send us your full name & contact numbers
-Tell us what city you live in
-Tell us in a short paragraph about you and your specialty
-Pictures of you and samples of your work

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Holly commented on 17-Dec-2011 10:27 PM

Hi Jean! I am soooo thrilled to see all the great kits you have for sale. I don't know what design to choose first. Thank you for sharing your talent : )

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When I was a little girl, my neighbor and I used to play craft shop. We even had a name for it, "April Lamb" and a fancy graphic we would draw on her miniature flip-around chalk board. We'd paint rocks with magic mushrooms on them (it was the early 1970s, after all), make pottery out of mud from the woods behind our houses, fill bottle caps with magazine photos and white glue, and make pasta art.

Little did I know that all these years later I'd be opening up my own shop, this time on the internet...something my neighbor and I could only dream about then. And after a few years of planning and scheming and shuffling and preparing, I'm finally doing just that.

This shop is filled with kits for sale. I've decided to sell ALL of my kits, including several that have been super popular as classes: Lilium, Sakura, and Star of India.

Lilium

I also dug into the recesses of my stash and found lots of finished work to share. These are pieces that have been published in magazines and books, but also pieces that I made for myself, just to wear.

Grandma Betsy Necklace

There are lots of other surprises, too. Surprising to me, even! Like a fancy "club", where I'll be including freebies and other tidbits. Be sure to sign up! And eventually I'll have materials and tools for sale, too, so check back often to see.

 In the meantime, I'm going to raise my glass to Chuck Keibler, the mastermind behind my site. Thank you, Chuck, for helping make this happen!

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Patricia Williams commented on 15-Dec-2011 01:04 PM

Jean, Congrats on the store opening, its fabulous. Secondly, I love the photos from Italy. I am seeing things already seen (either through someone else's eyes or in books, etc)through your very creative viewpoint and I love it. Can't wait to see more of
them. Have a wonderful, happy and healthy Holiday Season.

Roxanna Herrick commented on 15-Dec-2011 07:37 AM

So beautiful, Jean! Love it.

Gail Devoid commented on 15-Dec-2011 05:51 AM

Good luck with the site!

Sharon commented on 14-Dec-2011 11:10 PM

Congratulations Jean! Woo Hoo and good for you! Love your new shop and club!! I joined (guess that makes me a groupie) and I will be back often to check on you! Hugs! Sharon

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I've been doing a lot of product photography this week in anticipation of my new online store, so I set up a makeshift photo booth on the kitchen table.

I've done these before, but this one seems to be the most effective one I've used. First, I assembled the PVC skeleton of the booth I use at retail shows for displaying my kits, and draped it in a fitted queen size sheet.

Then I placed large-size drawing paper along the bottom, sides, and top to use as reflectors. Next, I placed true-light spotlights in my clip-on task lights and attached them to the PVC.

 I found that since this set-up has a top, it was much easier to deal with lighting and reflections. Without a top, the whole room seems to suck the life out of photos.

I found it much easier to shoot all the shiny and reflective things that we jewelry-makers struggle with so much. With this solution, there's no chance of  seeing ceiling lights in the reflection of a crystal. I even got an almost clean shot of one of Mark's mirrors--one of the hardest things to shoot. (Note the ittyest bit of knuckle on the left side of the mirror...dang!) But at least there's no camera reflection or ceiling in there.

Another tip: I found that with this much reflective light, you really don't need to push up your exposure as much as you might normally, so I'd suggest playing with the camera settings a bit and downloading a few shots before you do all your shooting.

Any suggestions? Happy to take any and all as I continue on my quest.

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Something to add to your stash of ideas:

While I was away, this nice cuff from Fire Mountain Gems came. 

It's a cleanly-plated gold bracelet with a cup in which you can epoxy a 30x22 mm Swarovski fancy stone. They run around $13. Looks like they've got cuffs that take emerald-cut, chessboard, rectangle, and triangle fancy stones, too.

I have so many of these fancy stones, that I'm always looking for a new way to use them! It would look nice to wear if you just added a crystal, but I can also see doing a nice wireworked embellishment or using FireLine and using the bars as a base for a little brick-stitching. Hmmm...

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