A Floral Interlude ~ Floriade, Otherwise Known as Tulipalooza

Before we begin our journey through Floriade – otherwise known as ‘Tulipalooza’ – are you sitting comfortably? Do you have a warm/cold beverage of choice?

Have I distracted you long enough to let alllll the pretty photos load? Probably not, but let’s press on.

This weekend just gone I was lucky enough to have my now-annual Dream Date with my bestie Manda. We’ve been friends since 1994, but have lived in different cities for most of this time, which means we only occasionally see each other in person. This year we decided to institute the yearly Dream Date – a couple of days of girl-time doing lady-things once a year – so we don’t go too long without seeing each other.

Most of our Dream Date took place in Sydney (watch this space for a post on that, including the insane amount of gorgeous vintage I bought in Newtown… cough, cough), but Manda lives in Canberra, so I flew in there so we could road-trip it up to Sydney in her tiny tiny smart car.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the spectacular spring festival of flowers known as Floriade is on at the moment in Canberra. Floriade is something I’ve always wanted to see, but totally didn’t think about this time round, as we were planning to spend all our time in Sydney. Thankfully, Amanda told me it was on, so I had the absolute joy of seeing THE most tulips I have EVER seen in my life.

Tulips are my absolute favourite flowers (my bridal bouquet was a simple bunch of cream tulips, and, really, being half-Dutch it’s not like I have a choice in this, it’s obviously a genetic thing) so I was blown away by all the colours and styles of flower at Floriade.

This was Amanda’s view of me for most of the afternoon, I think…

I took squillions of pictures, and had an awful time trying to decide which ones to show you… so here are, well, most of them.

Also – please enjoy the comic relief at the end of the post. Includes free duckface.

 P.S. Manda writes THE most hilarious sewing blog you’ll ever read. Truly. Go check it out.

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8 comments   Art, My life, Photography, Travel

New Photos of an Old Classic ~ The Nested Hoops Necklace

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt after 4 years running my business, it’s that there is ALWAYS room for improvement.

It might be great-big-massive overhaul type improvement, like when you implement a new bookkeeping system, or create a brand-new website.

But, I think little, teeny-tiny steps are important too – as long as they don’t bog you down and prevent you from making real progress!

I think these new photos I’ve just taken of my classic Nested Necklace are a great example. I’ve been selling this necklace since at least 2009, and it’s consistently been one of my most popular necklace designs.

I love this design, and I can never see myself retiring it.

However, when I made one earlier in the week, I was reminded – yet again – that I wasn’t 100% happy with the photos of it I had in my store.

Add to that the fact that with my new buffing machine, I can polish the pendant on this necklace up to a high shine like never before, and I quickly whipped out my camera to take some shots of it.

Just for comparison, here is the main photo that has been in my shop for years now, followed by some more of the new photos…

I think there are a few things that make these new photos THAT much better than the old.

1. I’ve used my Digital SLR on the macro setting rather than my old point-and-click – you can see that in the depth of focus and the clarity of the shot

2. The lighting is better, as is the background. I took these photos on a windowsill in clear natural indirect light – my favourite spot for jewellery photos. And that grey background that features heavily in my photos? A piece of scrapbook paper. That is my secret weapon for backgrounds – the sheets are nice and big, and you can get so many different colours and textures.

3. The angles are better – I’ve got a better range of angles and also better arrangement of the piece this time around that show it off and bring up the shine and contrast.

Obviously, my making skill has improved, too, and that shows. As much as I love the high shine, I’ve still left a little rustic touch by not cleaning up the solder overmuch. I like the little bit of texture that gives the piece.

I’m super-pleased with these new shots, and have updated my major shops with the new photos already. It’s amazing how a new set of photos can breathe life into an old design!

By chipping away at these tiny little tasks every day, I’m improving my business – little by little.

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4 comments   Crafty Biz, epheriell, Photography

Beautiful B&W Portraits by Dean Bradshaw

I saw these portaits on Behance this morning and fell in love! These are part of a series of portraits taken for the the style/art/music blog Witness This.

Taken by Dean Bradshaw, I think these photos do such an amazing job of conveying the person being captured. We see so many plastic images of people these days that it’s refreshing – and almost confronting – to see such beautiful, real images.

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P.S. The winners of April’s sponsor giveaways are Erica, Josanne, and Catie – congrats! I’ll be emailing you shortly :)

Want more Epheriell-y goodness? Subscribe to Epheriell Designs! Also, you can follow me on  Twitter!



3 comments   Photography

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