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Carson Stately is a formally trained jewelry designer, currently living in the metro Detroit area. He spent two years as an apprentice for award winning designer Michael S. Wigler. This new earring collection, Dimensionality, represents his debut.. (Read more…)
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This week we are in the Kansas City metro area via type to get to know Darling, and self-taught jewelry designer, Deanna Burasco a little bit better. Deanna’s designs have been accessorizing a few smashing musicians of late, and she is prepping for the West Eighteenth Fashion Show coming up in June. That is one show we always wish we could get to, fashion in the streets makes us giddy! Read on and get to know what life is like for her as an independent designer.
Deanna in her Upcycled Washer Pendant
Darlings: How did you get into jewelry design, and when did you start your own line?
Deanna: I often wonder myself how I got into jewelry design. I have a background in graphic design and have always migrated toward the creative, but I never pictured myself as a jewelry designer. About six years ago I wandered into a bead shop and discovered Swarovski crystals. I think that was the beginning of my interest in jewelry design. After experimenting with different materials and techniques, I discovered resin and spent quite a bit of time learning how to work with it. I have been selling various pieces since 2007, and introduced my first official line in the spring of 2010.
Darlings: We love your resin pieces, can you describe your process a bit for us?
Deanna: Once I settle on an idea for a piece, I create a prototype out of clay. When I have it finished the way I want it to look, I create a mold from it out of silicone. I then cast the final piece using jewelry grade resin. After the casting cures, I carve out final details, sand the piece where needed, and often add accents of Swarovski crystals. I finish each piece completely by hand in my home studio.
Darlings: Who or what inspires you and your work?
Deanna: I find inspiration everywhere! I have always had an active imagination and am always envisioning new designs and pieces in my head.
Darlings: If your studio walls could talk, what would they say?
Deanna: Honestly? They would probably tell me I could get so much more done if I were more organized!
Darlings: Who is your customer? How do you market yourself?
Deanna: I consider my customer to be someone who wants a unique piece of jewelry that has character, is a conversation piece, and can’t be found just anywhere.
Having no real background in business or marketing; marketing myself has been a constant learning experience. The jewelry market is so saturated, it can be difficult to be seen. I have learned that spending money to advertise does not necessarily lead to better exposure. Currently I rely a lot on social media and word of mouth, as well as local networking to build awareness of my brand.
Upcycled Hardware Sculpture Ring
Darlings: What does your average day entail, and what is your favorite part?
Deanna: My average day entails getting my kindergartner to school by 8am, then going full speed to get as much done as I can before 11am when I pick her up. I usually spend this time checking emails, updating my website if necessary, and running last minute errands for materials I need. In the afternoon my daughter and I often walk to our local park, which is my favorite part of the day. I love seeing nature through her eyes, and during our walks I find a lot of inspiration as well.
Darlings: You are one of 18 designers for the upcoming West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show, congratulations! What is the prep like for the show?
Deanna: This is my first time being involved with the West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show, and thus far it has been an amazing experience! I am collaborating with the design team of Dominique Karwoski and Steven Chau, who are creating stunning pieces that will utilize LED lighting. Meshing the lighting technology with some of the resin pieces has been a bit of a challenge, but I am really excited at how things are coming together!
Darlings: To this point what is the most important lesson you have learned that helps you maintain your business and collection?
Deanna: The most important lesson I have learned is that success does not usually happen overnight. It takes a long time to really build a brand that people will remember and come back to time and time again. It is really important to enjoy the process and be patient!
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Darlings: Does your community feel like a supportive locale for emerging designers?
Deanna: Kansas City really is a very supportive community for emerging designers. I have met some amazing people that I have been able to collaborate with and learn from, and there are numerous local venues for emerging designers to showcase their products.
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Early January I took an afternoon, armed with a friend, and strolled the Museum of Arts and Design for a bit of inspiration. Both of us jewelry designers at heart (though maybe on a small hiatus…) we literally gawked at the collection of jewelry hiding away in drawers under the display cases of the Latin American jewelry exhibit. Here are a few snapshots from our few hours wandering MAD, and a few more in the Darling Flickr…but really, if you can, take an afternoon and go see for yourself! Coming to MAD Fall 2011: Making it Real, American Studio Craft Movement.
Every darling needs a Missoni covered pot…
Browse the MAD jewelry collection
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Darlings: What one word describes you most?
Connie: Instinctual
Another day, another darling inspiring us. Connie Pfeiffer creates nature-inspired jewels that she sells here at Smashing Darling. She is a metalsmith, sculptor, installation artist, as well as an instructor at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT. Her work is featured for the next month and a half at the Silvermine Arts Guild in New Canaan, CT in a New Member’s Exhibition kicking off this Sunday, details below darlings…you just might see us there!
State of the Union, 2007, Copper mesh, paper, acrylic, steel wire
1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
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Connie Pfeiffer, a sculptor and installation artist, loves to work with metal, especially copper. Her background includes receiving her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where her focus was almost entirely on metal working. These days she teaches the metalsmithing program at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT, and uses metal as a starting point in her work, while experimenting with new or recycled materials.
Darlings: How did you get into jewelry design?
Connie: From a young age I always enjoyed “making” things, especially with wire. While working towards my undergrad degree in fine art, I took a metalsmithing class and began making jewelry. I was drawn to the tangible aspect of metalworking and intrigued by its malleability. I still am to this day.
Darlings: When did you start your own line of jewelry?
Connie: I developed a cohesive body of work earning my MFA about 15 years ago. During this time, I really had a chance to discover my own sense of style and personal way of working with the material. The pieces were very sculptural and organic, not everyday wear for most. I’ve since streamlined my collection for wearability, though the movement, texture and organic quality remain intact.
Darlings: Can you describe your technique a bit for us?
Connie: My methods are very direct, with materials methodically manipulated. I really like to hammer and spend a lot of time applying texture and mark making on metal. The process is integral to the work and the repetition becomes almost meditative.
Darlings: Who or what inspires you and your work?
Connie: I’m inspired by the natural world and our relationship to it. My work considers the primal qualities of life and experiences that reveal our “human-ness.”
Darlings: What fashion trends, if any, are influencing your jewelry?
Connie: I’m not typically influenced by current fashion trends, unless subconsciously of course, but I pay attention to line, shape, color, texture- in everything.
Darlings: Who is your customer? How do you market yourself?
Connie: My customer could be anyone…….young or old, male or female, anyone who appreciates a non-traditional though graceful piece of jewelry. Believe it or not, my most successful marketing tool is word of mouth.
Darlings: What does your average day entail?
Connie: Average day? Hmmm…..average month would be more telling. I’m really all over the place on any given day. My schedule is dictated by deadlines- who needs what, and when? Though I’m always working with metal, jewelry making is only one part of how I spend my time. I make sculpture and installation art, teach metalsmithing at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT, maintain a busy exhibition schedule, a studio space, curate shows, a co- founder of City Gallery, a cooperative gallery in New Haven, CT, and home-school two children.
Darlings: What is the hardest part about being in business for yourself?
Connie: The hardest part of being in business for myself is balancing all aspects of work and family obligations. Constantly changing gears and keeping priorities in order can be a challenge. Some decisions made are based solely on who is screaming the loudest. (literally!)
Darlings: What is the one item in your wardrobe you can’t live without?
Connie: A good fitting pair of jeans! Or two or three – to dress up or dress down.
Darlings: What one word describes you most?
Connie: Instinctual
Life is lived, and work created, instinctually, and usually after experience and intellect have been exhausted and set aside.
Darlings: Do you have any events you are getting ready for in the near future?
Connie: An upcoming sculpture exhibition of my new work is opening in April, 2009 at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery, UCONN Avery Point campus in Groton, CT.
Darlings: If there was one designer on Smashing Darling that you could ask a question to who would it be? What would you ask them?
Connie: I think Trish of MerGirl is a fabulous designer and more importantly an incredible woman. I don’t necessarily have a question, but love and appreciate what she (and others) are doing for all of us through smashing darling.
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One very dedicated jewelry designer whose photos we’ve critiqued in the past is Broken Teepee Designs. Based on the feedback from our last critique, Broken Teepee has made lots of strides in her photography, and the look of her boutique has changed tremendously. She’s now using shots with pure white backgrounds, has included several alternate views for most products, and has included a few model shots as well … all definite steps in the right direction, and we applaud her for her efforts!
We’ve been in contact with this designer along the way (we always welcome contact!) so we are very familiar with her struggles to improve her photography, and fell pretty sure that many other designers out there share the same challenges. To this end (and with the kind permission of the designer herself), we’re sharing Broken Teepee’s evolution on the blog in hopes that her learning process will help other designers too.
To begin with, Broken Teepee Designs has made a couple of statements in our communication with her that we feel are particularly common. She writes:
“I fear my talents lie in making the jewelry, not photographing it.” She also writes about her camera itself (a very nice digital SLR) “I have tried to figure out how the thing works but I just can’t wrap my brain around it.”
We mention these two things first because sometimes the best answer truly is to let someone else handle the photographs … not so much due to lack of ability on a designer’s part but simply for the reason, as this designer states, that a fashion designer’s talents naturally lie elsewhere. Creating good photographs takes a lot of time and energy, and is so crucial to selling online. If you feel your photos just aren’t clicking (or that trying to get them to click is taking too much of your valuable time) it’s definitely time to consider outsourcing.
But our Broken Teepee designer is clearly an intrepid soul, not ready to give up yet so we’ve take a close look at her efforts and have a few suggestions that we hope will be helpful. We really think that her photos are so close to being great … a little work in the details and they’ll be there! At her invitation, we’ve produced a few shots of our own to illustrate our suggestions.
(Disclaimer: we’re not professional photographers either, and these images are not intended to be construed as better in any way than what the designer has produced herself … they’re just our attempt to illustrate one way that we might handle photographing a certain product. Our equipment is nothing special … a digital SLR, all natural light, and Photoshop to manipulate the image as needed. These were done outside at our home, yesterday afternoon.)
1. Background shots
On the shots that use a backdrop of some sort, we would recommend something that adds a bit of texture or movement to the shot. A plain, ho-hum piece of fabric rarely does anything to enhance the product … try to find something things that relate to the materials themselves and add a bit of drama or appropriate color to the shot. In this instance, we thought a piece of weathered wood with its wavy grain might be a good complement to this piece, the “Sticks and Stones” bracelet.
Sticks and Stones, $99.50 (our wood grain background shot)
2. Pure white shots
We’ve noticed that a fair number of Broken Teepee’s pure white background shots have very harsh, hard-edged shadows. When you’re looking at a piece that you’ve set up to photograph and see those harsh shadows (very common when shooting in open sunlight), the best thing to do is either diffuse the light falling on the product or move the shot to a different location with softer light. Here are a couple of links with instructions to create an easy, inexpensive diffuser frame:
http://www.shortcourses.com/tabletop/lighting2-10.html
http://photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/008Q2g
Another thing we’ve noticed on a number of the white-background shots are some jagged edges on the shadows that look like the background may have been selected and removed in Photoshop to get that pure-white effect (an example would be the Holly Blue briolettes.) Photoshop can be a GREAT tool for touching up backgrounds (as well as tweaking colors, cropping, and about a million other things) but it’s never a good thing when something looks visibly “Photoshopped.” So if you’re using the select tool in Photoshop to remove background areas, make sure to feather the selection to get a nice, soft edge. Or if you’re using the eraser tool to manually remove areas of the background, be sure to use a soft-edge brush.
Our white background shot below was shot outside in soft sunlight, undiffused, on a plain white sheet of paper. In harsher sunlight, a diffuser frame would almost certainly be necessary.
Sticks and Stones, $99.50 (our white background shot)
3. Close-ups
Another suggestion we would have for this designer is to get in CLOSE on at least one alternate view or a product. This is a great way to show the minute details of texture and colors that can be hard to discern on wider shots. Don’t be afraid to use shallow depth of field to isolate details that you want to draw attention to as well, like details of clasps, etc.
Our Sticks and Stones Close up
4. Model shots
What can we say, we’d still like to see more model shots. Using a model is a great way to show how a design will look on, and also a terrific way to show scale an proportion. Choose your model carefully … you’ll want to use someone who is every bit as attractive as the piece itself and looks GREAT wearing it. For tighter shots like the example we’ve included below of the bracelet all you need is someone with great skin, and some fun clothes that compliment (and never distract or overpower) the product being photographed.
Our Sticks and Stones Model shot
Wow … this has turned into a very wordy post indeed. But there’s no way around it … we appreciate the effort that Broken Teepee has put into giving her boutique a better look, and we wanted to give as much useful feedback as possible. Keep up the good work, and we hope that we’ve planted some seeds of ideas. Congratulations on all you’ve done, and we can’t wait to see what you do next!
Anyone else struggling with the photographic aspect of selling online? Let us hear about it – we’ll try our best to help. Email julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com.
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by admin on May 19, 2008
Third time’s a charm, they say, and we’re absolutely charmed by this designer’s luscious jewelry. We’d like to begin this critique with some correspondence we received from her. Natha writes:
When people see my jewelry in person and see the quality and craftsmanship, I make many sales quickly, but my web sales are really slow … I would like some ideas on what to do to make it easier for and encourage customers to purchase from me. My photography is professional but does it show the jewelry in it’s best light?
We think her comments are right on target and reflect what a lot of designers new to electronic media and internet marketing have experienced. Getting people to buy something when they can’t hold it in their hands and see it on takes a lot of work, and good photography, we feel, is absolutely key. That’s what these critiques (and the photo tips in earlier blog postings) are all about!
To kick things off, Luscious Metals is to be commended for a high degree of consistency in the boutique images, and the choice to go with clean, clutter-free backgrounds can be a very pure and professional look that brings out the best in metallic objects. The descriptions are clear and well-written, too. This boutique is off to a very good beginning, and the designer has clearly put a lot of effort into producing good photos, many with a good mix of alternate views and strong model shots.
That said, here are a couple ideas for how they could kick the imagery up a notch:
1. White it out – Our first recommendation (which is true for everyone) is if you’re going to use the high-key look, make sure the background is pure white. A number of the images in this boutique are more towards the gray, and unfortunately these end up looking a tad muddy. To make those sparkly metals pop, it’s gotta be pure white. The good news is that this is a very simple adjustment to make in Photoshop (and if you’re using a professional photographer, he/she could definitely take care of this for you easily.)
2. Dimensionality – One of the most important considerations when shooting against white (especially with small items such as jewelry) is to be sure to keep things from looking too flat. In this case, many of the items in this boutique look as if they have been shot from directly straight-on (or overhead) angle, with the product resting directly on the backdrop. While this is great for showing detail, often this approach can lack a little bit of dimension and “dramatic” feel. What we would recommend first is to mix it up a bit … try different angles, and experiment with focus and depth of field to isolate detail. Another approach that may be worth trying would be to move the jewelry out a bit from the backdrop and make the lighting a bit more angular, using directional lighting to cast a soft shadow and add a little depth (while still keeping that high-key look that you’ve established.)
3. Get a little closer – Come on, don’t be shy. Seriously, though, we feel that the images in this boutique could benefit from a little bit less white in places, and a tighter focus on the product. Get that lens in as close as possible, and crop excess background out as necessary … don’t forget that the focus is the product and too much empty space can cause your product to get a bit lost.
We hope that these ideas might start some wheels turning (not to mention sales!) and we again thank Natha Perkins for allowing us to take a close look at her boutique. As always, our comments are meant with the greatest respect and we appreciate the work that you ALL put into making your boutique the best it can be! Anybody out there have more to add? What do you think about this boutique? We know you have something to say … let us know what you think by either commenting below or emailing directly at julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com. We are also running out of volunteer’s for the critique. Anyone interested in being next?
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