Simeon's progress

[Simeon]

So as of late I have really been trying to kick off an online presence. I haven't set up a page for pipes yet but will be working on it soon....hopefully.

Anyway just thought I would show some of my work here and hopefully get some feed back. I have an esty page and have been working on getting stuff on there lately. Let me know what you think.

This page offers both soft glass and lampworked glass:

http://www.etsy.com/people/LiTTleLiSK

[NorthWoods Glass]

Nice pendants bro! Your stuff looks nice and clean!

[hwcglass]

Nice to see your work.

Keep on going!!! Hope you do well on etsy,

[Simeon]

thanks for the feed back! I know etsy is pretty saturated but its with everything but it is something.

Anybody got any suggestions on where the new hot spot might be for selling art online?

[hwcglass]

loose the rocks . . . .

[Simeon]

really? how come hwcglass?

[2wheeler]

the rocks kinda throw off how sick your colors look... Your pendants are the shit, what kind of torch you using? I'm in the progress of getting a nice display case for my fiance's salon and spa... The goal is to have a wide selection of locally made stuff.. so far i got wine stoppers, pendants, and a few vases that a buddy made. Hit me up if you're ever in the 515 area.

[Simeon]

I'm rocking out on a Phantom, god how I love GTT. Believe it or not though I am wanting to up grade. My wife said the same thing about the rocks, damn it. It took an entire day to photograph all that shit, they will have to do for now. Just wanted to give the pictures a little more edge but sounds like I blurred the line, hahahahaha, I love learning. I am coming down to des moines next week some time, would love to meet up with you suzuki479, I dont know des moines very well but I'm sure we could work something out.

[frillcappa]

I agree on the rocks thing actually, They dull out your colors. But If i were you i would take those to Jewelry shops, and craft shows man, thats where your buyers are.

[CripSkillz]

ya they do look great,, but you kno if the rocks come with the pieces better leave em in the pic,, or get some greyish color rocks heehh

[Chris Vargas]

nice work bro... pendants look great. i didnt really mind the rocks too much, but i dont really know much at all

[Simeon]

Thank you for all the feedback! I was thinking maybe white rocks would look better, i just want to do something with to avoid a straight up white background, and black does not seem to do well either with the set up i have for taking photos. If we ever get some nice weather maybe i will try some outdoor shots or something.

[hwcglass]

Dude.

No rocks.

No sand. No rice. No beans or frumpled burlap. No pieces of barn board, no picture frame tops. No green grass or piece of coral. No dimes or rulers. No mirrors or flowers or other beads that aren't for sale but are just meant to keep the one that are for sale company in the photo. No 'action' shots with your bead by the lake or up on your roof. No bead in your palm or all puddled up in your thick thigh.

IMHO: you are presenting yourself as a bead maker.

The bead is what is important.

Loose everything in the photo except the bead.

Want to sell beads? Than make and list beads.

Just the bead.

Please. Please, please. Please.

I would go into how exactly how I got to be so opinionated and sure of my perspective but it's way too early for me. You are gonna have to either trust me on this one or take the long and less successful rout to the same conclusion.

Bead and bead only in the photo.

Pretty, pretty please.

[CripSkillz]

ya cuz beads are just not cool enuf to compete with anything else to look at,, any kind of background will over power a bead,,, forgot bout that... :)







dont kill me just playn

[hashmasta-kut]

Dude.

No rocks.

No sand. No rice. No beans or frumpled burlap. No pieces of barn board, no picture frame tops. No green grass or piece of coral. No dimes or rulers. No mirrors or flowers or other beads that aren't for sale but are just meant to keep the one that are for sale company in the photo. No 'action' shots with your bead by the lake or up on your roof. No bead in your palm or all puddled up in your thick thigh.

IMHO: you are presenting yourself as a bead maker.

The bead is what is important.

Loose everything in the photo except the bead.

Want to sell beads? Than make and list beads.

Just the bead.

Please. Please, please. Please.

I would go into how exactly how I got to be so opinionated and sure of my perspective but it's way too early for me. You are gonna have to either trust me on this one or take the long and less successful rout to the same conclusion.

Bead and bead only in the photo.

Pretty, pretty please.


you have the right to have a strong opinion, but to try so hard to force it on another is a little weird. however i fully agree with you, nothing is needed in the background, maybe a framing situation could be nice somehow, but if he likes rocks, just lighten up a bit on the anti anything background campaign a bit maybe :) its not going to affect you if he does this, its his business. just dont look if you dont like it.

[Mecha]

I have to agree with Harold here.

You have nice work, let it be the only focal point of your pictures. Also, your white balance settings are not matched with your light source. Everything has a kind of light peach tinge to it. I am not trying to be a dick here, just want to see you have a nicer representation of work that you obviously put a lot of time into.

[Simeon]

Dudes, I wouldnt have posted requesting feedback if I wasn't ready to hear what i was doing right, as well as what I am doing wrong, in fact I would rather the latter than the former, so I totally apreciate what you are saying. I would love to hear why your opinion is so strong hwcglass.

Personally, I am not savy about cameras, at all. I don't know how to adjust the white balance to lighting so any info on that would be dope!

Photographing is something I struggle with and am very frustrated with which is why I wanted to get some more experienced opnions/advice. Any and all help is truely appreciated.

Much love to all who have contributed.

[hashmasta-kut]

have you considered a black background too? i am not sure what others do but i kind of prefer a black background to white. maybe im crazy tho.

[hwcglass]

I would love to hear why your opinion is so strong hwcglass.

Word.

I started lampworking as a pipe maker (second week of January 1999) but, gun ho as I was, the whole pipe thing was not for me and I got out (August 2001).

So I'm a bead maker. Making beads is my gun ho now and has been here for a wile. So I'm coming at you as a full-on bead maker. There are some really passionate and knowledgeable pipe people here on this forum and they are all like "woot woot pipes". Me personally, I'm a "woot woot beads" kind of guy.

My opinions are strong because I'm a moderate to elevated person in the intensity department in all categories of life and when it comes to beads . . . dude, bout' it bout' it.

I'll spare you the details and hit you with the highlights: I'm not that smart and so I have made a lot of mistakes . . . including the one you are making now.

Loose the rocks and moss and glitter cloth and any other ideas you got ticking.

Keep this real. Keep it simple. Keep it about what you make. Keep it about learning to lampwork.

If you are what you eat as a healthy human, you are what you sell as a successful lampworker. You are what you sell. Embrace the pain. You are what you sell.

Sales methods are like drug addictions. Once you pick one . . . not so easy to take confidence in changing shit up. With internet sales, people who dial up on display consistently over time, people who develop product sales based on crazy marketing schemes or attention getting themes, all of them, ALL, they all wake up one day and are like "Goddamn, I make MF'in dioramas for a living."

Don't go there. Don't develop photographic display tactics. Don't start naming your work random and cute things. Don't use fancy listing tools to make your auctions beautiful and unique. Don't include photos of your dog or talk about cookies.

Why?

Because all that dangerous bullshit works, that's why!!!!

People love piles of rocks and rice and all sorts of crap; you will get customers who support your work because of how you display it. People love puppies; you will get a MF' to buy a bead cause you have a new dog. Or an old dog. Or a dead dog, it doesn't even matter. Toss some glitter on your dead dog and that will get you lots of buyers.

The goal is to make glass sales based on glass and to, as your reward, have faith in yourself based on real tangible skills. Respectable skills.

Make sales based on marketing and have . . . . good marketing skills. (Trump for president!)

And I can hear ya, "I wasn't thinking of it as marketing, just as a way of photographing it. It's not a business theme, it's just simply a way of holding and photographing a bead."

So I'll tell you again that you are what you eat. It's an addiction.

Don't let yourself make these kinds of sales.

And I can still here you thinking that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill and that you were just using the rocks to help with the photos.

Okay. I hear ya. How about this; the rocks look lame. They look bad. Really bad. Visually, unless you go into the diorama business, those rocks have no chance of making your work look better. Not to say that you couldn't figure that out, to the contrary, my fear is that you will figure it out and I'm asking you please for the love of all things sacred don't try and figure it out.

Just lampwork. Figure that out. Make that be what people see, make that be the food you eat. With the added bonus that not using rocks is less work and doesn't look like crap.


Personally, I am not savy about cameras, at all. I don't know how to adjust the white balance to lighting so any info on that would be dope!

Photographing is something I struggle with and am very frustrated with which is why I wanted to get some more experienced opnions/advice. Any and all help is truely appreciated.

I hear you.

The good news is that tens of thousands of people, this one included, share your pain. The good news is that there is a lot of information available. A lot of tips and hard won techniques that can be yours if . . . . you can use the search function.

Try also lampwork Etc. Lots and lots and painfully lots of information available.

The bad news is that, like everything else, photography for internet sales a skill that is particular to each person and to each person's objectives. You are gonna have to figure this whole photo thing out for yourself and the deal you end up liking and using won't be exactly that same as anyone else. No out of the box solution. Trial and error.

For example. You list your pendants on Etsy and, smartly, promote that listing here. Trial. In the photos you used rocks. Error.

Don't fret the whole photo thing, you aren't selling poster prints, just listing bead photos, and so, really, it's not too complex. You get a little help and you will be fine.



Much love to all who have contributed.

Right back it ya, hippie.

Making beads full time is not easy. Stay on top of your game.

I can, as I'm sure is easy to imagine at this point in this post, run my mouth like a pro. I always have something to say. Beads. Bead selling. The psychology of beads. All my favorite topic. Need anything, PM me if you would like.

[Simeon]

Man I love a good rant, at least when someone is knowledgable and passionate!

There is a lot to be said for singling out the bead in the photo and creating no competition for it, and I guess at the time my mind was more focused on making interesting or inviting thumbnails considering the amount of traffic on Etsy.
But you are right, its about the work and nothing else, I needed that reminder. It should be treated no differently than a sculpture; present the work and be confident in it to provide everything you wish to present, intrigue included.

One of the other things i suppose I am learning now is how to not count on Etsy traffic as my main market. It seemed to me the only way to compete for the most part and get views is to doctor diorama photos. Well played sir.

Now I am thinking I need to focus on the technicalities of taking photos, i.e. fixing my white balance so I can really get a clean, simple photos. Also part of why I was trying to "fix up" my pics a little. I downloaded the pdf for my camera and should be figuring out how to work it here pretty quick.

And yes, I am a hippie damn it! Thanks for being real man.

And I hear ya on the fact that making beads full time is not easy. I can't squeek out a living yet but I want it bad. I excel more at blown work, been making pipes as well to help supliment income, as well as farming and any odd jobs I can pick up, but I am a fully commited career artist, just not good at marketing yet, but Im trying. I'd rather fail trying than fail because I didn't.

[Mecha]

A really good place to learn about photography is youtube.

I recently decided I needed to get more serious with my pictures. I got a camera that gives you complete control over all settings, and realized I was in WAY over my head. After watching many tutorials on photography in general, and my camera specifically, my pictures are getting a lot better. I still am not completely satisfied, but I am moving in the right direction.

Also, over on LE there is a few pretty good threads about taking better pictures.

[Simeon]

I will definately check that out, thanks Mecha. I have also thought about upgrading, fundage issues. Have fun slaying dragons, I ride mine. :D

[Mecha]

You don't necessarily need an expensive camera to take good pictures. Especially if you plan on using them primarily for the internet.

[STROKER]

canon pro-1 used on ebay for under $150 regularly.

one of the best point and shoots ever made and the red stripe lens is as close to pro level as you can get.