Photographing floppy pieces

I just finished a necklace made with a lot of linked knots, and I
couldn’t find a good way to mount it to photograph it. I was too
impatient to wait until a model showed up, so I found another
solution.

I grabbed a piece of black velvet cloth and mounted it on an
embroidery hoop. Any sort of frame will do, as long as it holds the
cloth fairly taut and lets you stitch through it. Using a needle and
some black thread, I sewed the largest row of knots to the cloth, in
a somewhat regular circle, and tied it off securely. When I turned
the frame upside down, the necklace hung away from it and showed its
shape really well. I hung it from the ceiling and placed a camera
below it, with some lights, and photographed it that way, then when
I had the file on the computer I just turned it upside down. Now it
looks as though the necklace is standing up, defying gravity, and
you can see the whole shape.

Putting it on a beautiful model would be okay, and I’ll certainly do
so the next time I get a chance, but I was really pleased with the
results of this work-around.

If you’re interested, take a look at it here:

I think the method would be useful for some other pieces, too, any
wide necklace, floppy bracelet, etc, that won’t stand up on its own
– any time you’ve wished you could reverse gravity to make a
photographic setup come out right, this is the way to do it.

Loren

Loren, what a great, creative way to photograph that. Fabulous piece!
AND, I thoroughly enjoyed your website.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

Loren - This is just incredible! -An amazing piece.! Very clever
solution to your photography dilemma, too.

(I took your workshop last year in Pasadena. Also recommended !)

margery

http://www.golden-knots.com/180knotsnecklace.html 

Who’s a clever jeweler, then! This method has real possibilities even
for my beaded work. Thanks for sharing.

Tas
http://www.earthlywealth.com

. . .Using a needle and  some black thread, I sewed the largest
row of knots to the cloth, in a somewhat regular circle, and tied
it off securely.  When I turned the frame upside down, the necklace
hung away from it and showed its shape really well. 

Good job, Loren!

Being familiar with your more rigid knots and single rows of linked
knots I wasn’t sure what you might have made that you would describe
as “floppy”.

When I saw the image, my third thought was that it looked like a CAD
image. :slight_smile:

My first and second thoughts: “wow, what a neat mail-collar he’s
made” and “that technique really turned out well!”

Pam Chott
www.songofthephoenix.com