Wednesday, August 8, 2012

DEAR CRAFTERS OF ZURICH...

Yesterday something very great for my Blog history-like happened: I had suddenly an enormous (for my point of view, OK, not literally indeed!) amount of visitors! I was telling to my self what is wrong with me, that something weird may have happened if some people were watching suddenly my own page... But after checking my super stats tools on the Blog, I found it out!! :D

Thanks to an idea that was pressing in my mind for a long long while, I realized that the only thing to do when you have a pressing need to do something is...TO DO IT!

And than, here I was, writing to a fancy well-acquainted Zurich's website RON ORP about my idea that pushes to became reality:
It's been already one year and half that I live in Zurich and I had an idea buzzing in my mind while I was sewing, crafting, drawing, collecting stuff, taking pictures, speaking with creative people, trying to sell in a local flea market and reading about that in books blogs and magazines: I want to improve my crafting skills, develop what is maybe better for me and maybe sell my stuff...one day. 
And from that came the idea of the Blog, whom some people manage so well to keep it up that I'm still little embarrassed with doing that on my own, feeling that most of the time NOBODY is reading... :))

But what is especially frustrating is that I don't know anybody here around with the same urgency as me, and what I was really missing it was some people and space. Space to make, space on my job time schedule, space to talk and space to express my self about that. Space to commit with some other crafters!

And after the proposal, some very nice and passionate emails arrived to my mailbox and made me smile, smile and smile. And it is to all of you, CRAFTERS OF ZURICH, that I write to, now!

Dear Antje, Adelina, Veronika, Lourdes and Rahel,

Our project is very simple:

@Let's find a place! Nobody of us want to invest a lot of money, so I made a small research and saw that small crafting-places are not so cheap in our Region (look on homegate.ch to get an idea).
I know also that to bring all the material in one spot is always a bit annoying, especially when some of us make easily some sewing or create objects at home, gathering inspiring materials that surround our home.  I have different solutions to that problem:

1) One of us that has a place to offer. A small room, even without furniture, even a garage, where everybody can have access maybe once or twice per week. A place where everybody put helpful furniture, material and so on, to make this environment more friendly.

2) One of us knows a place to rent. There are plenty of places, offices in Zurich that we can actually rent. But we can also ask to a school or an association, if they help us with our project and ask if they give us a room.

3) Let's meet every time in one of our house. In this case, we cannot bring a lot of stuff, but maybe we focus on talking about the new ideas or focusing in an easy project that we have already started and doesn't need a lot of material to bring with.
We can make a meeting one every two weeks for example - at the beginning it sounds not to stressful and it can give us the time to know better each other.

4) Or we just meet in a bar. I know a place very cool that is nearby the HB. It's called EL LOKAL and we could meet for a drink and speak about our projects. After we can also keep in contact with a common email and I can update our meeting or our "crafting creations" through my Blog, for example. ;)

Anyway what is more important is that we have the same idea and the same fresh and creative spirit.
And that we are here in the same Region. 

LET'S MEET!!!


10 HELPFULL TIPS TO TAKING GREAT PHOTOS

Lately I read an interesting and very inspiring crafter's book which is about how to take great pictures of your own creations! Watching the Blogsphere for a while with its incredible fine and clear pictures makes you understand how much is important to develop great pictures, not just for selling but even for creating a very interesting and inspiring images for others' contemplation.

I found "the Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos" in Amazon, after reading very positive reviews... And I can confirm them! Even if you are not a great photographer, but you want to use at best your camera, here you can get super tips! Inside there are a lot of nice photos, and even nice ideas for making new crafting stuff....

Let's sum up the 10 MOST HELPFULL TIPS
suggested by expert crafters which learned how to take really great photos:

1)  Prefer natural, soft lighting and try to take the photos in indirect sunlight whenever possible.

2) A clear background is essential, even if you have to move around some furniture.

3) Natural-looking photographs are always better than excessively vivid colors or overly contrasting tones.
 
4) Use props and furniture to show how a product could be used, and also give the viewer a sense of what style and aesthetic your products are associated with.

5) Shoot with the focal point on the area of the piece that you want to highlight.

6) Make sure that the background is not too busy and that the focal point of your photograph is the product and not a prop.

7) Styling is important but keep it simple. If you have a good product and a good light, you can take a beautiful photograph.

8) Consistency is very important if you have an online shop.

9) Save you digital photos to an external hard disk!

10) And don't forget: Editing! Even the slightest tweak can brighten or sharpen an image.

And if you want to know more about it, go to know Heidi Adnum who lives in the snappy Australian town of Newcastle - We were there last year and even though it was raining, we did an interesting tour and saw nice handmade shops and special live music places.

@@@Have fun with the camera!!
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