This Lamp Rocks!

So, I have really bad eyes...

I have a really hard time working with seed beads (but I LOVE beadweaving!), and finding the holes in beads, and seeing the right spot to open jumprings (hello, chainmaille!).

And this despite wearing glasses AND an optivisor!

So imagine my delight at discovering this fabulous lamp!

It concentrates light on my work, but when you flip up the little cover, it magnifies the work 5 times! It is unbelievably fantastic!

It's made by Sona Electronics, and I worship this lamp! And this is an unpaid endorsement, by the way...



It doesn't put out enough light for my purposes - what it produces is directly concentrated on whatever is directly below the lamp - it doesn't radiate outward to light the rest of my work area, so I use it along with my Ott Light, but that is no biggie.




If you have trouble seeing your projects - whatever they are - I cannot say enough about this wonderful lamp!

The gooseneck is really flexible, and stays wherever you put it.

And the light emanating from the lamp isn't hot - so your hands and your work don't heat up.

And I'm so excited about a little "family reunion" I'm experiencing on Etsy! A group of delightful folks I met last year in the forums had disbanded in January, but now we have started our thread up again, and it is so much fun!

Hi you guys - you know who you are!

My (Reluctant) Bracelet Model

I'm a jewelry designer with 2 internet venues, so I have been learning that in addition to creating my pieces, I have to photograph them in ways that will showcase them for the viewing public.

I purchased jewelry manequins, and pretty little pillows, and have created other props from stuff lying around in curio cabinets here at the house.

But I balked at buying one of those fancy acrylic arms to pose my bracelets on, because:

1) they aren't life-size, so they make the bracelets look a little bigger than they truly are (just like my &%$@ ear model does for my earrings - they all look HUGE on that thing)

2) the photos just look kind of weird to me.

But when my Sandfibers bracelet arrived last week (thanks, CD!), Bailey was eagerly watching me open the box, just like every other package, as if THIS would be the one that contained dog biscuits. When he saw that, once again, there were no biscuits, he slumped onto the bed and started pouting. So, naturally, the next thing I did was lay the bracelet across his nose, and to my surprise he just lay there, so I grabbed the camera and took some photos.

And he wears it well, huh? The colors are perfect for him!

So let me see if I have this straight:
Hats?     No.
Bunny ears?     Absolutely not.
Jewelry?     Sure, Mom.

And no, I am not going to start shooting all my bracelets this way - I can just see the posts in the Etsy Forums now! Kinda like when Sally gets kissed by Snoopy in Peanuts: "Yuck! Dog germs! Dog germs!"