Although I am still new to Orchid, I am still wondering why more people
(with the possible exception of Brian Adams) don’t share their work
on-line. I see a huge value to the tips-on-line idea, and I look forward
to getting this daily. However, I really thought that people
would be showing there work to each other. I don’t just mean Web site
addresses, I mean work in progress and visual ideas. People could say
,“here is a piece that I am working on and I would like some advice”, or
“here is how I solved this problem”. Here is a list of possibilities why
people aren’t putting their work out there.
They don’t know how to do it technically and/or don’t have the
means to create digital images
They don’t want other people to see their work, either because
they might judge it harshly or that they might copy it.
They don’t want to use images because they only want to get the
jeweler tips and don’t see the orchid forum as something for actual work
-especially work in progress.
I would interested in anyone’s thoughts on this subject.
A few weeks ago, I read something that was posted asking if Polaroid
photos could be published successfully. I have two pieces that you can
see at http://www.usglobal.net/polorid that were photographed with a Polaroid
camera and then scanned. You will see that these are not professional
quality, beautiful images, but they do convey, I think, the design of the
pieces. I added some sketches to help. This is probably not the best way
to do it, but if it is all that you have, then it’s fine. By the way, I
saw a scanner at CompUSA for around $200.00 that would work just fine for
images that you intend to publish this way.
I for one would like to see images used along with the written words. I
understand things better when I can see what people are talking about.
Doug - I, for one, would love to see people’s work on line and show mine.
My answer to the question is #1 - just don’t know how or have the
equipment to do this. At this time, I can’t get the equipment, either.
However, I suspect that many people might fearing copying of their
designs. I have really enjoyed the web pages that I have looked at,
especially Brian Adam, Michael Matthews, and Bryna, whose last name I
cannot remember.
Doug: it might be a case of “net-burnout.” I was the first jewelry artist
on the internet, and after almost four years of being there, I dread
updating the website and actually right now I have quite a few “new”
pieces I just haven’t gotten around to putting up on the site. Its
massively time consuming and sometimes boring to photograph the pieces, do
the scans, rewrite the website etc.etc. I suspect maybe we don’t see alot
of submissions to the Orchid Gallery because its real WORK to photograph
something and then scan it. I do have a few pieces in the Orchid gallery
and I used to be active in soliciting people to enter pieces for showing,
including doing free scans for people who don’t know how or don’t have the
equipment. I’m still willing to scan for anyone who needs it and can’t
find a way. Let me know. As for people copying other’s work, well I doubt
seriously anyone worth a damn would do such a thing. Creatively, I agree
with Picasso who said “steal from everyone but yourself.” What that means
to me though is being sparked by other’s work, not making exact
duplicates. This is why I buy every jewelry book I can get my hands on,
mostly used books from the secondhand bookstore. Enough rambling…Dave
Hello Doug:
I think it would be great if we could send GIF or JPG images in our
emails to orchid. I think I remember reading that that was against the
rules. It would really slow things down with all those extra Kilobytes.
You can submit works to the Orchid Gallery
If you would like to bookmark a listing of most of the web sites of
people on this list go to.
If you or anyone reading this would like to have your site on this page
please send it to me off-list with a line describing the site.
I know your frustration almost 2 years ago I decided that I wanted our
shop to go on the internet, so we hired a designer and made a fancy
web-site, well build a field and they do not come and the maintanance
charges were killing us, We wanted something simple that we could just do
it ourselves and be in control.
If you need a little help the way we did, find someone who is a
computer person, maybe a teacher in a high shool or college or friend of a
friend and explain what you are looking, they usually charge 1/2 of what a
computer consultant would charge.
After much frustration I move to the MALL where we are now! Their
software is designed so you just type in the info and upload a picture,
not real hard, and you are allowed 200 pictures and you can delete a
picture and replace it or mark the item sold at any time, No commission,
No maintanance Charges, just a flat rate of $300.00 a year! After that you
have to do some advertising yourself also! You will not make a living off
it, that for sure!
I hope this helped! If you need any further info right off line and I
will help! Beware though there are a lot of sites and Malls that are
charges more fees that you could imagine and you have to depend on them to
do your pics! Sincerely chris http://www.tace.com/glitters
Although I am still new to Orchid, I am still wondering why more people
(with the possible exception of Brian Adams) don’t share their work
on-line.
That’s me, folks! <bows - FX: big grin>
A few weeks ago, I read something that was posted asking if Polaroid
photos could be published successfully. I have two pieces that you can
see at http://www.usglobal.net/polorid that were photographed with a
Polaroid
That’s a typo, folks. He means this:
http://www.usglobal.net/poloroid
camera and then scanned. You will see that these are not professional
quality, beautiful images, but they do convey, I think, the design of
the pieces. I added some sketches to help.
Necklass.jpg looks great, Doug. The sketch above it (top of the page) show
how a design can improve with the making. While I kinfof like the
sketches, obviously you have been able to see something more there, and
that all came out in the piece, which has many extra bits, like (duh, of
course) 3D, but also some protected area.
I was actually about to rush into saying I couldn’t see what the lower
drawing of all the crosses meant, then realised the bottom image
(Cross.jpg) was the sketch made up. A simpler work. I am less intrigued by
this - but then it’s not necessarily attemping to intrigue as much as the
other piece above. Nice. Blurry, so I can’t see what the top bit it - an
attachment? - OH! I see! … the nail. I got it now! I like that. Though
I probably wouldn’t wear this on sundays
I for one would like to see images used along with the written words.
I understand things better when I can see what people are talking about.
I agree, Doug. Let’s have more of this show’n’Tell.
Brian
B r i a n � A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r � @Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
Where there are a disproportionate number of Mills & Boon writers
I, for one, would love to see people’s work on line and show
mine. I have really enjoyed the web pages that I have looked at,
especially Brian Adam, Michael Matthews, and Bryna
Hi,
I also have enjoyed greatly the featured work of the above artists
Michael knows I am in awe of his work… which brings me to my point…
Michael and I met here and have communicated off and on through ICQ , I
have also met and exchanged pictures with many other Orchid artists. It
has been a fabulous learning experience, and who could ask for a better
group of people to talk to and exchange ideas? I think it is perhaps the
technological barrier that keeps most from sending images… and a
smattering of who the people behind the text names are… I know that when
I talk real time on icq that people are Extremely responsive and love to
see my work (vice versa) and offer critiques…beit sketches to finished
pieces and this comes from talking or knowing others better. I’m not
plugging ICQ but it really is handy to talk to other folks anywhere in the
world. Oh, a resource to consider… I am a high school teacher and
schools usually have access to new technology…now you may not be a
teacher or particularly want to associate with one…but as an art teacher
, I have hosted many a one day demonstrator who leaves with the awe and
admiration of the children and a good rapport with the art teacher who
would probably let one borrow a digital or help in the digitizing of a
portfolio. In fact, I know that I would, and I can imagine the surge of
enthusiasm around the world in teachers getting practitioners to
demonstrate our wonderful specialty in exchange for 15 minutes with the
school camera. Get in touch with them, folks 'Twould be good for both
parties (and I can’t wait to see all the images of your work Yours,
Terry Swift, Corydon , Midwest U.S. (where someone swapped the humidity
for outright swamp air!!! )
Brian -
Sorry for misspelling your name, but it went along with my misspelling of
Polaroid - Oh well, do you ever look at something after you’ve sent it
off, only to find 5 or 6 typo’s? It can be humbling.
Thanks for the compliment on the first necklace. Since I am an architect,
first, I do tend to think in geometric terms. The second necklace is
conceptually two crosses exactly the same, with the top one skewed, or
twisted, with respect to the lower one and then “trimmed” to the profile
of the lower cross. If you extend out the lines with a pencil you will see
what I mean. It does look something like an abstract crucifix, and that is
only a bail at the top of the piece. The lower cross is glass beaded and
the upper piece is lapped and polished. The Polaroid (check out the
correct spelling) doesn’t do the piece justice in terms of the beauty of
the gold, etc. Mostly, I was just trying to show that Polaroid images can
be used to convey ideas and thoughts, and I thought that was somewhat
missing from the forum- the artistic part. I think, as I have said before,
that people appreciate your art and enjoy looking at it. It is easier to
write about technical stuff, for sure, and you can always write about
artistic ideas, but to use the Internet to show ideas is such a great
thing. Like I said before, you don’t have to create a Web site to do that.
I will try to write more later on my ideas that simplify the process. I
would like to think that I can take a photo and have it on line in less
than 10 minutes without rushing. More people are getting digital cameras
and/or scanners and that makes creating the digital images easier. I think
a lot of photo labs will also give you a disk with scanned images back
with your prints these days.
By the way, what does the word “kinfof” mean in your note - is it good or
bad?
Dave,
I tried an experiment today to see exactly how long it would take to
upload a picture on to the Internet from inspiration to final product. I
walked outside with my digital camera in hand and took a photo of our
office and studio. Then I sat down at my computer and uploaded the image.
Total time was about 8 or 9 minutes - maybe a little less. So, it’s really
not labor intensive at all. I used Microsoft FrontPage to do all the work,
and if you are interested, I will provide a step by step checklist on how
to do this.
It seems to me that people really would like to see the work of other
artists on the forum. As someone else pointed out, we can’t Email the jpeg
files, and who would want to when we have the Internet at our disposal.
Imagine, I can take a picture and 10 minutes later people all over the
world can view it just by typing in a few letters on their computers.
Amazing.
Doug the picture was wonderful!!! Please give as much detail as you can.
I for one am very interested and I know others must be as well. Thank you
for your time and effort and your generousity in sharing it.
I agree with a comment someone wrote a while back that this form is like a
university course and the teachers are all of you out there that share and
share and share. AND OF COURSE, Dr. Aspler and his staff who put is the
time and effort to make this all possible.
Dolores --New Jersey
Hi all! I am in the process of playing with my scanner to get some decent
pics of my work in anticipation of getting a web site up this summer. I’m
getting better with direct scanning images of my pieces, but would
appreciate some advise about site development. I’ve just found Microsoft
Image Composer and thought I’d try it instead of Photo Deluxe to edit the
images. There are also several web development packages available for
download on the net. Has anyone used any of these with scans of jewelry
or for site set up? I’d love to be able to purchase Photo Shop and Front
Page but lack funding so… any words of advise or suggestions would be
greatly appreciated. Encouragement in my struggle would also be
gratefully accepted. Thanks,
Nancy <@nbwidmer>
ICQ # 9472643
Bacliff, Texas Gulf Coast USA
Hi Nancy-
I don’t know what kind of scanner you have, but I have two disks. One is
Photoshop, and my scanner that it came with is a UMAX. You are welcome to
borrow them and load in your computer and see how it works. Call me @
713-974-3710 if you’re interested. Regards- Rick in Houston
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for being
with us in the Orchid forum!
I am writing this note to personally invite each one of you guys to
participate in the Orchid’s Web Jewelry Gallery:
http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
As you probably know, the Gallery features jewelry creations by
Orchid members, and serves as a visual front to the list, a
corner on the Internet where we can show each other with our
works.
Your participation is highly important to the success of the
Gallery!
Joining the Gallery is Free of charge! Scans of your work
should be send to @Service with a short description.
Dolores,
Thanks for the encouragement. I actually thought that I might be preaching
to the choir with my thoughts on how the forum could be a place for visual
ideas.
So far as methodology, I will document this further and put it on our Web
site by this weekend so that everyone will have access to the uploading
procedures. We usually use FrontPage (plus hand-written code) to create
our Web sites, so I use FrontPage to create stand-alone Web pages as well.
These pages are the essence of this idea. If you have a Web site and/or
Web hosting account this is available to you (if you don’t, you might want
to check out our business site as we would be happy to have you as a
customer). Most people don’t realize the power of a Web hosting account.
One of my favorite things is the ad hoc Web page. These are created on the
fly. They are meant to be temporary. They are only known about by the
people who have the specific address of the page. And, they can be loaded
with non promotional words, photos and graphics. We use these all the
time, and most people don’t even know about it. You can upload family
photos for relatives all over the world to see. Maybe it’s a picture of a
brand-new baby that everyone gets to see within a few minutes of being
born. Maybe it is your last ski trip, or just maybe it’s your last objet
d’art . Use your imagination.
The easiest way to create the images is with a digital camera. I use and
recommend the Kodak DC-210 with zoom lens and macro. Can you believe all
these new cameras are made of plastic? Of course if you don’t have a
digital camera- and my guess is that you will eventually- then you need to
scan your images. If you don’t have a scanner, send them to me and I will
scan them for you and Email you the .jpeg files.
I will write more later. For now, if anyone has any questions, just let me
know. If you are like me, once you try it, you will fall in love with the
idea.
Regards,
Doug Sperr
PS: If you want to see another good example go to sperr.com . If you like deep-sea fishing, this is a recent
company /client fishing trip that we took to Cabo San Lucus, Mexico. The
big green fish is a Dorado and the others are Tuna (I caught the littlest
one!). It’s not jewelry, but it’s a good example of a special-purpose,
stand-alone page.
or for site set up? I’d love to be able to purchase Photo Shop and Front
Page but lack funding so… any words of advise or suggestions would be
Thought I would mention that if you (or someone you know) is affiliated
with an educational institution, especially a college, you may be able to
acquire software at an educational discount - same product, but usually
much less expensive (this is in US - not sure about anywhere else).
College bookstores may sell to the public; some universities even have
distinct computer stores. Of course, an even better - but much more
difficult - option would be to get to know someone at Adobe. I bought
Photoshop and Illustrator this way and I paid almost nothing for them (but
he doesn’t work there anymore so there’s no point in asking).
~kara (in beautiful sunny (at last!) San Francisco)
