Just the Right Amount of Sunshine

So it's three weeks later and I've just GOT to get some thoughts down about my new jewelry venture before I forget them!  It's been a really exciting time, building my techniques, testing out my marketing strategies and presenting my wares for the world to see.  It's exhilarating and scary at the same time: will people like my items?  Better yet, will they BUY them?!  You put a lot of yourself on the line when you open a shop with your own designs as the centerpiece.  But then I made my first sale and it affirmed that I just might be on the right track.  Interestingly enough, my best day so far had nothing to do with making the jewelry.  It was taking the photos that really made my heart sing.

I had been taking photos of my pieces in the spare bedroom - aka: the Sheep Room, so named because the them is  . . . you guessed it . . . SHEEP!  The room is on the small side and a bit dark, so the photo shoot wasn't producing the cool artsy results I was hoping for.  I bought some clamp on lights with silver 8" reflectors and clamped them on the backs of two dining chairs, hoping to improve the lighting situation.  No go.  They were ok, but the lights produced shadows that really detracted from the pieces and I knew it wasn't "there" yet.  

So my former student, friend and general life-saver, Cait, came over to help me.  Have I forgotten to mention that Cait is a photojournalism major at Mizzou???  While she worked with the makeshift lighting in the Sheep Room, I started taking photos of what I had ready to list on Etsy at the dining room table. It was sunny and the sky was a brilliant blue. The sunlight through the front windows was painting everything it touched with the pallet that only happens on a Perfect Spring Day when the daffodils, lilacs, helleborus, tulips and hyacinths are in full bloom.  And in that perfect window of light, I saw my creations through Mother Nature's eyes.  And they were breathtaking.   


And I knew.   
I knew that my stuff was good. 
I knew that people would like my stuff. 
I knew that people would buy my stuff, if only they had a chance to see it.  


Sometimes, all it takes is just the right amount of sunshine.