New Tentacle Chokers

I'm slowly working on the new tentacle line of jewelry. Working out how I want them to look. Instead of a long necklace I decided to do chokers out of some stretch velvet ribbon I had and have been looking for something to use it with. They are a single tentacle made to look like it's writhing around the ribbon.



Next up is more chokers and bracelets (after getting some feedback I'm changing those to a closed cuff), along with earrings which I hope to have designed by the beginning of next week.

Tricky Photo

So sometimes I get an idea that comes with an unexpected problem. I had one of those this week with a new sculpted tin that I made and needed to photograph. I decided to make a deep sea themed mini-tin (covered an altoid smalls tin) with bioluminescent squid and jellyfish. That part was easy, I have some glow in the dark polymer clay that I mixed with translucent clay and a little bit of blue. I also layered some pure glow int eh dark clay under the transluscent mix so it would glow even more intensely. It all worked beautifully and I absolutely love hoe the tin turned out.

This is where the problem then turned up. How do I photograph something that glows in the dark? I first took the regular lighting photos then turned off the lights and started experimenting with different exposure times after making sure the clay was glowing as strongly as possible. I was able to pick up the glow okay but with the glowing pieces floating in blackness it didn't quite look right. I needed just a little bit of light to make the whole tin visible but being a long exposure (5 seconds) it had to be a really small amount of light or the image was going to be lighted too much.

My eventual solution was a small LED headlamp that I have placed on the far edge of my desk pointing at a 90 degree angle from the light tent. This tiny amount of light was just enough to make the edges of the tin and blue backdrop visible.

New Year, New Ideas

I like to start each year by reconsidering my approach to what I make. Last year it was that I was unhappy with how my steampunk jewelry was turning out so I sought out a few clear coat for them. Switching from Diamond Glaze to Ice Resin meant I had to increase my prices but the vastly better results was worth it.

This year I hope to expand my jewelry lines to new types of jewelry. In my established cephalopod lines I want to revisit making earrings and hair sticks, along with making more pins and cufflinks. I have the new tentacle line with is currently just two (sold) bracelets. I want to make more bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces in this line. My Cthulhu line is doing well and I'm considering expanding it with more press-molded Lovecraft inspired work but if I do it won't be until at least summer, I want to focus on the new cephalopod and tentacle stuff first.

I'm considering but haven't made up my mind yet about discontinuing my trilobite and horseshoe crab necklaces. I really like making them but they haven't sold well. I'm not planning to remove them from the shop but probably just stop making new ones to replace those that have sold. If anyone has any suggestions about these lines or thinks I should keep making them please let me know, I'd appreciate the input.

As for my non-jewelry work. I have plans for new perma-pets, tins, and sculptures in the next few months.