Tip #2 Photographing Dichroic Glass Jewelry

The business of making and selling dichroic glass jewelry has many steps. None more important than photographing the jewelry so it sells fast and for a good price. Many times the difference between making a sale and not making a sale is the quality of the photo. I wanted to share some of my experiences with you, what works, what doesn't.

I have tried everything I can think of to improve my pictures. I have taken thousands of pictures over the years. I have spent hundreds of dollars on photo domes, photo cubes, cloud domes etc, and I wasn't happy with any of the pictures. After talking to a family friend, during Thanksgiving dinner, he gave me the best picture taking advice I have ever received. I started doing this 2 years ago and it has never failed...You can reach in the couch cushions or under your car seat to come up with the $2.99 it will cost you to purchase this top notch photo apparatus. Don't laugh. Are you ready? I purchased a gallon of milk, ate a few bowls of cereal and followed these five easy steps:

1.) Soak the labels off your empty milk gallon.

2.) Cut the milk gallon in half all the way around.

3.) Place your jewelry piece on your desired background.

4.) Place the milk carton over the jewelry piece and your background, place the lens of your digital camera in the top of the milk carton and click away.

5.) Take your photos outside. The best time of day is 2-5p.m. when it is slightly overcast or even a little shady. Direct sunlight is not good, it will only over-expose your photos.

If you look at our pictures in the store, they are clear and sharp with no glare spots. These have all been taken with the handy milk carton. http://www.artfire.com/users/AAE-artglass

So if you have a taste for Lucky Charms and need an apparatus to take great pictures, head out to your local grocer and pick up a gallon of milk. You won't be sorry :)

The following items have been released or will be released this Saturday. Please follow our blog to take advantage of 20% off your water slide decal orders from Saturday 8/2 through Monday 8/4. http://www.artfire.com/users/GlassDecals_FusingSupplies Purchase your decals, enter "blog 20" in the note to seller section and we will send you a revised paypal invoice.

1-Red and 22 kt. gold lily decal.
2-Red rose decal
3-Large and small 22 kt. gold butterfly mini sheet.
4-Large and small yellow single rose decals.
5-Round and square wine bottle stopper blanks.
6-Various sized wholesale cords and jewelry necklaces.

New Water Slide Decal Designs: Saturday

We will be releasing 2 new, water slide decals this Saturday at 12pm. http://www.artfire.com/users/GlassDecals_FusingSupplies These designs are brand new and limited in number.

We appreciate everyone who takes the time to bookmark our blog and follow. We have received some great notes from you this week, thank you. In appreciation we are offering 20% off decal orders from Saturday 8/2 through Monday 8/4. Just let us know that you follow the blog when you order (must sign up as a follower).

Along with the new designs, we will also be releasing square top bottle stopper blanks for below wholesale price. We created these square blanks and they can only be found in our store. We will have some round as well.

Tomorrow we will be posting our 2nd tip which will touch on photographing your pieces to sell. The goal is to take pictures that pop off the screen at the buyers. Hopefully we can offer some useful information. Here is a link to my store if you want to take a look at some pictures. I am still experimenting, but have found this to be one of the more "fun" parts of the process. http://www.artfire.com/users/AAE-artglass

Again, thank you everyone for following and I will be back tomorrow with tip #2.

AAE

Thank you and stay tuned

First off, we would like to thank everyone who purchased our decals and jewelry this weekend. We received some new inventory of items that sold out and have updated our store. http://www.artfire.com/users/GlassDecals_FusingSupplies

We can't wait to see the pieces you make. In fact, we are going to feature artists on this blog. So if you make a piece of jewelry using our water slide decals, send us a picture and a little blurb about your business, we will write a blog specific to you, with a picture of your jewelry and we will link your store as well. Free advertising anyone? All decals have been shipped.

If you are not a jewelry maker, but enjoy wearing dichroic glass jewelry, visit our store with made pieces. We will be adding new pieces daily. http://www.artfire.com/users/AAE-artglass

For you decal lovers, we will release a featured custom decal every Saturday. Be sure to check back often.

Have a great week.

AAE

Mighty tree of life and original tree of life are ready to order and pre-order

As promised, both tree of life decals are available for purchase at. http://www.artfire.com/users/GlassDecals_FusingSupplies

The Mighty tree of life is in stock and ready to ship, while the original tree of life will be ready to ship August 8th. We wanted to give our blog followers first chance to purchase both decals before anyone else, hence the pre-order on the original tree of life. Again, please email us to let us know that you are a blog follower to receive your 10% discount.

The original tree of life decal is on the top left. On the top right is a picture of a pendant I made with the new Mighty tree of life.

If you have any questions let us know. We expect these decals to be sold this weekend, so please act quickly.

Thank you for your loyalty.

AAE

Mighty Tree of Life decal will be available tomorrow at 12pm CST

Good evening bloggers. The time is here. The new custom MIGHTY TREE OF LIFE is here. Almost. At noon CST tomorrow, our decal will be released for purchase. Click this link to access the store http://www.artfire.com/users/GlassDecals_FusingSupplies I wanted to let our blog followers know first. Also, all current members, as of today, will receive 10% off their next purchase of jewelry and/or decals. After you pay for your item through paypal, please send us a note that you are a blog follower and we will refund your 10% at that time.

Here are some pictures of some dichroic glass pendants I made using this exact decal. I wanted to make a tree of life that looked very solid, like an oak tree. I am very happy with the turnout. The birds on the first one were from a different decal that I combined.

I hope your creative juices are flowing. You will be able to make beautiful jewelry with this custom image.

Stay tuned for Tip #2 on photographing you jewelry to sell.

Ciao

AAE

New decals and jewelry coming soon

Hello everyone!

First I would like to thank the following people for joining our blog and I am offering all current members as of 8:30am cst on July 24th 2009, a 10% discount on their next order of decals and/or jewelry. (Tina Rodriguez, Nancy Sparapani, Rwillisglassartist, Beth, Dawn, itsamistry, smutopiajewelry, alteredbeauty, markveit25). Please let us know when you order and we will deduct 10% from your order. Your participation is appreciated.

You can visit us at the following sites to purchase.
DECALS http://www.artfire.com/users/glassdecals_fusingsupplies
JEWELRY http://www.artfire.com/users/AAE-artglass

There is new jewelry available as of last night and we will be releasing a new tree of life custom designed decal in the next week. We currently have some inventory of decals in the shop, but look for that to be expanded in the near future.

We will be offering more sales like this to blog members/followers. If our products are something that you think you can give as a gift or keep for yourself, join this blog as a follower today to save money.

As always, contact us with any questions and we will be happy to chat with you.

Have a great day.

AAE

Combining decals Tip #1

This is the first, in a series of "tips" or "tricks of the trade."

I wanted to share a technique that I use when making dichroic glass jewelry with waterslide decals.

When I first started working with these decals I would center them on the glass and complete the piece. The decal looked great and I could change the color of the background. But after making hundreds of these it began to get repetitive. So I asked myself, "Self, how can we get creative with these pieces?"

I experimented with combining 2 decals on the same piece of glass. I remember it like it was yesterday. I put a tree of life decal on a pendant, I cut out some birds from another decal and put them above the tree of life. I used 2 decals for awhile and then I introduced a 3rd decal. Now whenever I look for inspiration, I lay out several different decals and put together a scene that I think people will like. Remember to be aware of your background colors when picking out your decals. Some decals may fit best with a blue or green background, or you can get really creative and make the background a sunset or sunrise .

This pendant was created with 3 decals. If placed correctly on the glass, you should not be able to tell it consists of 3 separate decals. It should just look like one complete image. It takes some practice to perfect this technique, but once you do, you will have a trick up your sleeve that other artists do not. It will separate your work from others.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me, info@aaeglass.com. I come from a family of teachers, so I love teaching

Tune in next time for tip #2, how to photograph your jewelry to sell.

I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor.

AAE

New fused glass waterslide decals

We have new fused glass waterslide decals coming out in the next couple of days.

I wanted to post it on the blog and give you first chance to order. Please contact me if you want me to hold either of these for you. There will also be some 3 and 4 colored decals available in the very near future.

These decals as well as our current stock is HERE

Stay tuned for more custom decals and sale opportunities.

Have a great day

Glass Fusing Decals are now Available for Purchase.

Fused glass waterslide decals are finally available!!!
Art glass fusible, decal images, created by A.A.E. Art Glass are in stock and ready to ship.

DECAL AND SUPPLY STORE

We have received several emails over the past years with inquiries about selling our original images to other glass artists. We have spent the last few months putting all of our decals together and we are finally ready to release them to the public.
These decals are great for your dichroic jewelry.

If you are viewing this blog and it has little to no activity, you are at the front of the line to purchase. We didn't want to release any decals until we were organized and able to handle the expected volume. So, we apologize to our artist friends who wanted these months ago. We wanted to make sure we were prepared to handle the expected volume and meet your expectations.

The decals will be sold in various sample packs ranging from 10 decals to 100 decals. As an added bonus to being in "the front of the line," we will also offer an option to purchase some of our most popular, original designs, such as the Tree of Life (The picture on top is the finished product. The picture on the bottom is the decal). This jewelry has a proven record of selling on the internet as well as in galleries and at art shows.

We will include a set of instructions on how to best fire these decals. Some are Hi fire and some are Low fire. If you prefer one over the other, just let us know.

Our goal is to help other artists access creative material. As artists, we are always looking for the "next big thing" or the "latest in technology." With these decals, your creative side will be put to the test. Your mind will be opened to a whole new experience.

We thank all of our loyal followers for their patience and we welcome our new artistic friends to the ride. If you have any questions at all, we are happy to answer them. If you want to see jewelry we have made with these exact decals, please visit our store A.A.E. Glass Art.

We wish everyone luck and good fortune.

A.A.E. Glass Art