Feature Friday - Welcome MollysMuses!

Please give a warm welcome to Molly from MollysMuses


Where can we find you?

Little Cowgirl with Pistol color print in the mountains

My website is www.followmymuse.com
My facebook fan page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Molly-OBryon-Welpott-Photography/69616312990
My Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/MollysMuses

1) Please tell us about yourself, your shop and what brought you to the Etsy community. And walk us through a typical day from your daily life.

I am in the mountains of Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh and State College (Penn State University)

I have been a photographer for 15 years, with a wedding business, portrait business and commercial. Slowly I have come to the realization I am most happy creating art pieces that I want to create. I have focused on group and independent shows. When I moved to rural PA, from Daytona Beach, Florida 15 years ago I lost the community feeling of artists talking with each other and I am so thankful I found Etsy because I love that aspect of it as much as the opportunity to sell my work.

I am also a licensed bail bond agent that works from home, so a typical day without a bail client... I am up with my children, send them to school and I always check out what’s happening online. Then I like to look through images I am working on and edit pictures. If it’s nice outside I like to go and create more pictures. I am off and online all day and I love attending virtual labs since building an online business is newer to me.

If I have a bail client, well let's just say the day can hit the fan, depending on which courthouse, jail and family I have to meet with. I say it can hit the fan because I can't go a day without my photography so I make all of it happen :)

Classic Car Vintage Pink Cadillac fine art

3) Name your top 3:

Books… My favorite books are The Red Tent, The Help, The Kitchen God's Wife

Music… I am huge into Pandora with stations like Johnny Cash, Jane's Addiction and No Doubt but my favorite band right this minute is Thousand Foot Krutch

TV… My husband and I are currently re-watching EVERY Xfile season:)

Web sites… Website favorites for me are FACEBOOK (I admit it) Geocaching.com (it's my families hobby) and Pandora because I work along side of it all day

But if you ask me about blogs....

I like http://theartistshouse.blogspot.com
http://mermaidscloset.blogspot.com/ and of course the labrats!

4.) What are your top 3 shops on Etsy?

It is very hard to narrow my favorite shops to 3. BUT I am obsessed with http://www.etsy.com/shop/tascha I have a print in my kitchen :)

5.) What projects are you currently working on?

My current project is working on featuring a different each week on my blog for a handmade countdown to Christmas. When I started a bucket list last year I decided I wanted to buy a year of handmade gifts so this is one way I am sharing that with others.

I am an area coordinator and photographer for www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org something that I feel blessed to volunteer for and it is an on going passion.

6.) Where do you hope your shop will be in a year?

In a year I hope I have tweaked my shop to have a consistent sales and have a 2 new lines of work, one based on the fruit of the spirit and the other surrounding a carousel horse I found in the trash... we will see;)

Beautiful Large SpiderWeb in Nature 8x10 print color photography

7.) What suggestions/tips would you offer to someone new to Etsy?

My favorite tip for Etsy is buy something. Until I made some actual purchases and received them and saw the packaging, the quality and uniqueness it was really hard to feel like I was a part of the community :)

And by the way - for the month of October, Molly is donating 10% of sales from all of her images with PINK to the DuBois Regional Medical Center, Hahne Cancer Center for the MONTH OF OCTOBER for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Ask-A-Rat

Photography is tricky enough on its own. To make it even tougher on us, there is the color red. With the holidays, you can't avoid it and so, while I am no photography expert, here's what I have to offer. It's AuntKarensCreations this week that asks,

  How on earth do you take a good picture 

of a red Christmas stocking?

First thing about photographing any color or product is getting a proper set up. Natural light is a necessity and (typically) easy to come by. I take photos next to a south-facing window. If you're in the northern hemisphere this is the direction from which you'll get the most light. You'll also get consistent light from the north with less worry about harsh shadows, but work with what you've got. Avoid direct sunlight as it creates harsh shadows and can alter the color of your items in photos. On a sunny day, this may mean setting up in the corner of the room while on a cloudy day you can be right in front of the window.

My set up is very simple. I have a large piece of white foamcore board on the floor and one standing vertically oppostite the window to reflect some light back on the product. In the afternoon the sun starts to intrude upon my workspace, as you can see, and so I typically try to take photos in the morning. For someone taking photos of small items you can do this on a smaller scale. This works well for me as I have a range of product sizes.

Now you take your wonderful photos and load them on the computer for some basic editing, which I feel all images should go through no matter how good they are on their own. I use picnik and there are a few things I do to every photo. First, I up the exposure and contrast. Next, I do a little color correcting. The easiest way to do this for me is to use the neutral picker feature and select my white (or gray) background. One thing neutral backgrounds can do is pick up the color of the product. For this photo using the neutral picker took the red hint out of the white background.

For editing a red product photo, I found that adjusting the saturation is helpful as well. In my experience, red tends to photograph brighter than it may be. By lowering the saturation you're able to get the cardinal or maroon that your item might actually be. These two simple color correcting tools can lead a good photo to a great photo.

 

Mosaic Monday: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Hard to believe it, but Christmas is a mere 3.5 days away! That means the big guy in red and white is prepping for leaving the great white north and leaving gifts for all the good kids. Will you get what is on your wishlist this year?

1) Santa by seventytwostitches
2) Candy Canes Print by PamLefcourt
3) Pink Plaid Bobby Pins by NightLady
4) Headphones Tote by itsastitch
5) Vegan Altered Vintage Gloves by aprilevening
6) Variety Gift Ornaments by strawberryona
7) Burgundy Czech Glass Flowers from thegoodyshop
8) Romantic Red Silk Pillow by WhiteThistleBridal

To further encourage spending the holidays with your family/friends/people you care about, the team blog/twitter/flickr will be closed from 12/24-12/28. Hope everyone enjoys the holidays! 

Feature Friday - somavenus

Today's great Friday Feature shop is somavenus!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself, your shop, and what brought you to the Etsy community.

I'm a rad dorky eccentric introverted crafty crazy cat lady (you can read more in my Etsy profile!) My shop is filled with things I've put so much love into. I usually make my sketchbooks outside overlooking the pacific ocean, or deep in the woods closer to home. Love and magic from the pacific northwest is sewn into each book. My jewelry is made from my original artwork, and I have some limited edition zines and clocks and other neat things. :)

I joined the Etsy community when it first started up back in 2005! I didn't really take listing seriously until a few years ago, and wish I was this active back from the very beginning!

2. Besides creating beautiful things for your shop, what do you spend your days doing?

I work a 9-5'er that I'm hoping I'll soon be able to trade in for full time artist! When I'm not there or working on Etsy, I'm probably on the road headed to the ocean or the woods. I love cloud watching, photo adventures, listening to birds, and being alone in nature. It's where I get my best ideas and recharge and get inspired.

3. What sources do you draw your inspiration from and what is your creative process(es)?

Inspiration for me comes from everything I encounter. It comes from the clouds and blue sky, the rain, the wind. the birds. the ocean. the trees. things left behind. things forgotten. junk stores. sitting in traffic.

my creative process is simple. i just go. i don't really think or plan it out. just an roll with it. make it work!

4. What market (group of people) do you see your items being for?

I am still trying to find my market. I've been surprised to hear where my sketchbooks have gone. One BINGO sketchbook was used as a wedding guest book! They seem to appeal to all ages in person - but I see my work appealing most to the 20-30 something crowd. zinesters. artists. craftsters. rad people!

5. Name your top three:

- Books

Introvert Power
King Cat
Invincible Summer

- Music (song or artist)

the microphones
cat power
the books

- Movies or Television Shows

office space
how to draw a bunny
high art

- Websites

etsy!
sendsomething.net
somavenus.com

6. What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see added?

I'm excited about the new rearrange your shop feature! I would LOVE to see a batch edit listing tool - especially an easy way to change the price of multiple items at once (similar to the batch shipping tool).

7. How do you market your work? What has or hasn't worked for you in the past?

I market through facebook/twitter/myspace - the usuals. I don't know if I get much traffic from it. What works the best for me is trying to renew at least a few times a day. What hasn't worked for me (yet) is doing shows! I've done a few now (small free art walk in town) and I'm soooo painfully shy sometimes - it was really difficult to open up and talk to anyone looking at my work. I was lucky to have a friend do the talking for me (how embarrassing!) - but it WAS a lot of fun to see how well people responded to my work. I feel like I'm so much cooler on the internet ;)

8. What do you like most about the Virtual Labs?

the friendly helpful supportive community!

9. What topics or events would you like to see added to the Virtual Lab offerings?

more quit your day job labs - labs on promoting and being seen!

Mosaic Monday: Meandering in the Meadow

Another week begins! I do love fall, but I thought I'd change up what I've been seeing and create a collage inspired by a bustling, lively meadow. Enjoy!

1). Free Spirit Feather Necklace by DreamsAndOutfits
2). Deer and Fawn Cinch Sack by rctees
3). Just Ducky by yarnabees
4). Elegant Lotus Small Purse by elizabethnormand
5). Pink and Yellow Poppy Print by PamLefcourt
6). Goldstone and Tiger's Eye Cluster Earrings by ladnamedfelix
7). 1960s Rabbit Figurine from VintageRoom
8). Cocoa Brown NeckScape Scarf/Necklace by BabyEtte