Saturday, May 25, 2013

My website

And it's done!! I finally got the website up and running. SpiralFireStudios.com, you have to make sure it's studios, plural otherwise you will find the page of another artist.

 I've actually been working on my site for awhile but trying to get good photographs of my jewelry and the descriptions written was overwhelming me. Thankfully my amazing friends have stepped in and help me with photography and writing tips. I find I can get myself almost paralyzed by the need for things to be perfect and so I stall out unable to move forward. As part of the new improved me I am not doing that I am leaping in with both feet and letting things fly!!

I love being part of a creative community. Most artist I find are very giving and willing to help with suggestions and tips to help you improve what your working on.

Overall I think it is looking pretty good and I will keep adding more stuff and tweaking it as time goes by. I have been very blessed with love and support from my friends. They have been sharing my website on their Facebook pages which has gotten me a lot more exposure. So far it's been very positive.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Beckie

SpiralFireStudios.com
Facebook.com/SpiralFireStudio
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Spiralfire?ref=si_shop


Thursday, May 16, 2013

The world around me.

Do you ever look at the world around you or are you so used to the scenery that it all just disappears into the background of your life? I was thinking a lot about that this morning as I was walking around the Gallery.
In case you didn't know besides creating and designing jewelry and accessories I also work at The Backdooor Gallery. A wonderful Art Gallery in Fredericksburg, Va.

In the mornings I love to walk the Gallery for exercise, as I was walking this morning I noticed something on a painting. The trees in this painting were made of words, strips of paper cut from a book. Now this may not seem like a huge thing to notice, but I have walked by this painting everyday, numerous time, for over a month. You think I might have noticed a detail like that.

It really go me to thinking about how many details in this life do I miss. It is so easy to get wrapped up in my  problems, pleasures, wishes, chores, desires that I stop looking at the things around me. Maybe it's because we don't often just stop. This morning I stopped to fill a bucket with water and as  I stood there I noticed a newly hatched praying mantis, thin as a needle and only 1/2 and inch long. It was so tiny I would have missed it if I done my usual running around trying to multi task.

So I am going to make a point to occasionally stop, and look, and notice some of the little things that make up this life. I need to take time to be in the moment instead of rushing to the next. While I have always believed age is a number my number keeps getting higher. I need to start now because one day I will be out of minutes...and then it's onto the next adventure!!


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Photographing Jewelry

Ya know,  I love to take photographs, give me a flower or garden and I can produce a fairly good photograph but jewelry, it's a disaster!! What is it about jewelry that is so difficult?

I know that lighting is so important when trying to capture jewelry, you want the jewelry to sparkle but you don't want a glare. You want it to come to life but not have a reflection of the window or of the photographer in it.  I have tried a variety of lighting, backgrounds, laying the jewelry down, draping it sexily across some silky fabric or strung around someones neck but in the end, despite enormous effort and a sore back from moving my table in and out and all about I have never been able to find that sweet spot. I always end up with an image that seems a little flat.

Yet, I keep trying, quietly hoping the great jewelry photographing fairy will smile on me and help me produce a beautiful image but so far she seems to be shunning me. Despite the challenges it is a learning process and maybe one day the stars will align and I will produce the beautiful image I am after.

Or maybe I will just hire someone!!



Saturday, May 11, 2013

Well Hello

Hello and welcome to my little blog about Spiral Fire.

Spiral Fire Studios is me, or I Beckie Willows am Spiral Fire Studios, somedays it s hard to be sure. I am the owner, artist and energy behind Spiral Fire Studios. My passion for melting glass allows me to create unique, wearable works of art. Creating feeds my soul, it's rare a day goes by when I am not making something, somedays it's art, somedays it's craft and somedays it's just an adventure in cooking. No matter I must create to survive.

Spiral Fire is the the name I created for my glass jewelry business. I love working on a torch or in a kiln, using heat and flame to melt and form glass into objects of beauty. I started using gemstones and other glass beads to make jewelry but from my first second on a torch I was hooked and my creative life took flight in a whole new directions.

In these pages I will introduce you to me, my creative life, my adventures and misadventures creating new works and share tip,s tricks and anything else that pops to mind.