How to enhance your Etsy pictures in a photo edition program easily

This simple photo tutorial will help you to enhance your Etsy photos easily using software as Photoshop or Gimp, or this excellent photo editor online called http://pixlr.com.

Hover over the step by step to get the instructions: Please note that any program that allows you to correct brightness and contrast should work for this tutorial.



Image taken from InkaFinland etsy store

Step1: Try to find in the software of your preference something called Brightness and contrast. There you will be able to increase the brightness and the contrast of your product.
Remember always to keep a balance between how bright and vibrant your product should look. The idea is to increase the light without washing the colors of the photo.

Step 2: Increase the brightness of the product without exaggerating, if you have an image that looks too bright the buyer will feel that perhaps the image was edited too much and will doubt about the quality of the product. Always keep in mind that the product should look natural

Step 3 and 4: Now that your image brightness and contrast is corrected it will look something like this. You can always go back and increase the contrast if you feel that the colors are not strong enough. It is always a matter of personal touch and exploration about what suits the best for your products.

If the software or online photo editor of your preference has the option to crop the image, you can choose to crop it a little. In that way all the space around the image will decrease and the buyer will see the image with more detail.

Final Result

Featured Etsy Shop Raumalainen

Featured Etsy shop this week is Raumalainen: Gift items made with hand painted fabrics, appliqué and embroidery, hand printed cards and much more. Please have a look! RAUMALAINEN Hello, my name is Liubov Leray. I live in Rauma/Finland since April this year. After we’ve felt ourselves a bit settled here by the end of spring, I’ve started a blog and then launched a shop on Etsy at the mid-sommer. I named them both Raumalainen, because that is how I refer to the principal source of what inspires me – it’s all about my surroundings at the moment – my family, the house I live in, the nature around me, people I meet and what I think and how I feel about being here – it’s all here, it’s all in Rauma, inspired, designed and hand made in Rauma, it’s all raumalainen now. I have several creative paths that I’m exploring now : textile accessories, hand printed stationery, stuffed toys (knitted teddy bears), drawings (mixed technique and ink), art for children. I share peeks of what I’m doing on my blog. Textile accessories and hand prints are now listed on Etsy.  I love quick projects that can be finished within a couple of days/couple of evenings and usually start working immediately after I’ve sketched the basic idea of the composition. Ideas come from my flower drawings, printing experiments, walks with my family, where I collect or sketch anything that catches my eye – leaves, seashells, feathers, bark pieces, everything that I incorporate later in my designs, whether for fabric pieces, of for cards, or just as colour study for later. The most important foundation of any project is a satisfying composition and how the colours and textures relate to each other – sometimes I like it tempered, sometimes with more contrast, it may be about warm colours, or may not, maybe neutral, greyish or bold and vivid. It’s all about the feeling of the moment. That’s why I try to work quick and finish in a little while – otherwise the feeling gets lost and it’s not that authentic any more. Once the idea is put on paper and I have found the basic value relations, I play around with different materials as long as I’m satisfied with the match, then sew all together and it’s done!  I have a three year-old daughter and she gives me lots of inspiration. Firstly because we do a lot together – painting, drawing, texting, making collages. Talking to her and answering her questions, making little ‘zines makes me see things from another perspective. Many of my current (yet-not-for-sale) projects, like colouring sheets with short stories, are inspired from these moments.  I find inspiration nearly everywhere - flea markets, yard sales, travelling, fabric stores, museums of applied arts, museums of fine arts, fine art galeries, art fairs, handicraft shops, my garden, nature in general, art books, children books, secondhand bookstores, fashion, fashion photo, cards, everyday objects. I believe that everything and anything is meaningful, and opens an opportunity to learn, to acquire knowledge and wisdom, both successes and failures. Our move to countryside (first France, then Finland) was for me the best to get the inspiration reconnected with practice. Being in a big city was like constantly having too much creative input and losing myself in endless possibilites. Countryside has cleared my mind and got my hands doing stuff. I’ve started my Etsy-shop in July, and now I’d like to focus a bit more on promoting my work beyond Etsy and participate in handicraft fairs, going meeting people and showing my works. At the moment, it’s nice having a market place online to be able to refer to it, when talking to other people. But I would be happy to show my designs more in real and find contacts to shops so that people can get better in touch with what I do. It’s difficult to choose a favourite item, because I simply love all of them. Each piece is something special for me, it reflects lots of inspiration, hard but joyful design work and lots of pleasure seeing it taking shape and becoming a visible, usable and independent object.   I’m not planning anything in particular. I follow the feeling of the moment, and go with the creative flow of thoughts, dreams. I may suddenly be inspired and start a whole new project within one single day. If I’m pleased with the result I’ll share it, even if it feels a bit outsider to what I usually do – I feel myself like I’m still searching what my creative path can be. My point is to be true about what I’m doing and what I put out there, I’m not following any prescriptions besides of what I feel I need to make here and now – to create pieces that represent what is important for me in this or that moment of my life and what I’d like to create and share – in one form or another. So right now I just follow my inspirations and try to work as much as I can, coming up with new ideas, sewing, drawing, painting, photo shooting, blogging about it. www.raumalainen.blogspot.com

A timeless ring: Etsy finds featuring Pasi Torkkeli

Diamond eternity ring with engraving

by Passi Torkkeli 

This Diamond ring is one of my all-time favorite pieces I have designed. When it made it to the Etsy Finds email on August 14th my shop visits increased substantially. I got many views and inquiries about this ring as well as others designs.

This lucky ring is made from 18k White Gold and it has a total of 0,84ct of F-Vs Diamonds surrounding the ring. Special details such as the engraving and the square azures add a little more beauty and elegance to my creation.

This ring is a classic eternity ring, which means that the diamonds go around it.  Eternity rings are considered a symbol of eternal Love, and they are really popular for weddings and as elegant and great anniversary gifts. 

I wanted to add to this classic ring something unique and delicate, and that is why I started doing the engravings on to the side of the ring.

I have originally designed this ring many years ago, but it is a timeless piece, that many brides-to-be have chosen as their engagement ring or their wedding ring. I think that one of the main reasons of this piece success is the engraving on the side of the ring, because it gives a unique signature that makes it very personal and different. I can promise that this eternity ring is even more gorgeous when you see it in person. For my rings. I always choose exceptional quality diamonds that match each other perfectly.   I honestly think that you can see the quality of this ring with your own eyes, and the fact that this ring is completely handmade, really gives it a great, flawless and unique appearance that you can’t find anywhere else.
________________________
About the author: 
Pasi Torkkeli is a fine jeweler from Finland with more than 10 years of experience. He loves doing engagement rings, wedding bands and other design jewelries. From his shop you can find a quality selection of diamond jewelries, like earrings, brooches and rings. He also like to use different gemstones and materials, such as titanium, palladium, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, platinum and sterling silver.

His store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TorkkeliJewellery?ref=pr_shop_more

Etsy featured shop: Vietto

Via  http://www.etsy.com/teams/8738/finland-handcrafters-team/discuss/10868405/page/1/?post_id=140219655 

Story by Vietto

Published on Sept 05, 2012 in Shop

Photo by Jaana Björklund

My name is Minna Kaartinen. I run Vietto, my eco fashion label, in the capital of Finland, Helsinki. My aim is to create innovative, artistic, timeless and fresh fashion out of ecological materials.

I started my own eco fashion label to satisfy my need to create something new. I’ve been making things with my hands basically all my life: I started making clothing for myself at very young age, and I was very into arts and crafts as a teenager. Fashion has always been an essential part of me, but so has an awareness of the state of our environment. It was more than natural to choose ecological materials as a starting point for my creative work.

I pretty much do everything by myself, from sketching and pattern making, to sewing, knitting or whatever technique I’ve chosen to use. My concepts are material-based, but I’ve been very keen to keep the design the most significant part of my creations. I kind of like that the range of material I’m able to use is restricted – I think it really wakes up my creativity. I have to invent something new to make another exciting piece of clothing out of black jersey knit.

As a designer, I don’t want to create new collections every six months; I don’t find that really sustainable. My work is more like a continuous process. I keep working on my designs and develop them from one season to the next.

My garments are made in very small series or are completely one of a kind, since I use upcycled and leftover fabrics. There are some characteristic features in my work, like convertibility. I really love to make garments that can be worn in many different ways. I also like to add artistic touches to my designs, like hand-painted details. It truly makes the pieces unique.

I find strange combinations very intriguing. For example, I love to combine very traditional crafting techniques with modern pieces of clothing. While I’m excited about unconventional forms, I always keep my design usable.

One of my favorite designs is the chunky fringe scarf. I had bought few skeins of leftover cotton tricot yarn. The yarn is very popular material for rag rugs here in Finland, but I was thinking of creating something wearable, maybe some kind of huge cardigan or poncho. I started knitting the yarn with my over-sized knitting needles and accidentally created huge triangle scarf with long ties. I just added the fringes. I’ve been wearing my fringe scarf for many years now. Only during the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights will you find it on the coat rack.

The fashion business is highly competitive. It can be quite difficult for a small operator like me to find a place in a market dominated by huge industrial corporations making cheap products. However, I believe that idea of sustainable consumerism creates a great opportunity for me to survive in this tough business. People’s consciousness of their choices is rising, and I offer them a greener alternative.

I had been selling my clothing in a few little shops here in Finland before I found Etsy. It was magical moment when I realized that I’d be able to show my design to a much larger audience without investing a terrible lot of money. That is truly a great thing for a designer from a small country like Finland.

All photographs by Jaana Björklund.

Featuring Etsy shop ByVellamo

This weeks shop feature is ByVellamo. She makes sterling silver jewelry earrings, pendants, necklaces, jewelry sets, handmade exclusively with Swarovski crystals, gemstones, Venetian Murano glass, delicate porcelain and Swarovski crystal pearls: earrings, pendants, necklace and bracelets all handmade in Finland. Take a look at her gorgeus jewelry and read more about her work.

ByVellamo

I am living in Helsinki and Tallinn and I am an entrepreneur. Originally I am from Romania and I moved to Finland in 2007. My main occupation is commercial photography, which I have been doing since 2005, but in 2011 I have opened a jewelry web shop, called byVellamo. I am spending a lot of time in Estonia now, because my boyfriend has a job here, in Tallinn. 

My jewelry is handmade by me, with natural gemstones, Swarovski crystals, original Venetian Murano glass and lovely miniature porcelain. As a small child, I had a few tea sets made of miniature porcelain (I suspect they were quite valuable, since my parents had an antiques shop at the time, but I never thought of that while playing with them). I loved them so much and recently I came across a few tea sets and I decided to include them in my jewelry designs.

I opened my web shop in 2011 and I made my first earrings and pendants with sterling silver wire and small Swarovski crystals. I have slowly evolved to the designs you see in my shop now. I love romantic, shabby chic, pastel colors, as well as sparkly elements for evening and formal wear.

My favorite items are hard to pick, but I think they might be the earrings and necklace with miniature Venetian masks and a pendant I sold to someone in New Zealand, called Fire and Ice. It was a large round turquoise stone with fire opal Swarovski crystals.

Next I am working on a larger order, namely 11 bracelets and earrings, for a young American woman who is planning to give them as gifts for her bridesmaids to wear at her wedding. It is the largest order I have had so far and I am slightly nervous about having everything ready in time. I am still waiting for some components to arrive, the post service seems quite slow, so I have not made many of them so far. But at the same time, I am excited and I can't wait to have everything here so I can get to work.

Recently I have had a setback, because of a supplier on Etsy, who was selling sterling silver necklaces, stamped 925 and everything, but they proved to be only silver plated. I had purchased quite a few of them and some were already sold to clients. So I had to take all my products using those necklaces offline and contact my clients and refund them for the fake necklaces. It was quite annoying, because I want clients to keep coming back for more jewelry. All I can say is, be careful what you buy and where you buy from!

I sell some of my art photo prints in this shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/behindmyblueeyes

and some supplies for jewelry makers here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/byvellamosupplies

You can also find me on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/byvellamo?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/sandrarugina?ref=hl

blogspot:

http://byvellamo.blogspot.com/

http://the-i-inside.blogspot.com/

Etsy shop features DesignDomi

Etsy shop features DesignDomi this week.  She says her jewelry is : Made with passion of beauty, handmade personal jewelry with that little twist you desire!  Take a moment to read what she wants to tell us about her work!

DESIGN DOMI

All around me gives me inspiration to create something with my hands. I’m now “a hint” over 30’s and full of ideas to make, living in Helsinki. In few weeks I’m going back to work in HR, after one year working in another position. This means that I’m what you can call “self learnt” handcrafter in part time. I have master degree in politics and bachelor in finance, speaking fluently also in Polish, because my mother is from there. I have always lived in Finland, but visited Poland almost every year and getting all inspirations from all of my trips. 

For years I made my own jewelry and few years ago some of my friends ask me do make for them too. And that how this small business started. I’ve been on silversmithing courses and try to work with silver more, some says that my “look” is too glam for our Finnish taste, but I don’t care, that’s why I use in my unique pieces goldfilled/vermeil materials and precious gemstones. 

I opened my Etsy store about one year ago and wish to open local webstore too, because I heard that many of Finns are afraid to order from Etsy! Specially older people think that all items are from China, even we made those by ourselves and we are sending them from Finland or another of our countries. I’ve been in Etsy for years with another name and when looking order history, I just try to smile how many different things I’ve ordered during those years. When looking favourite list, it’s thousands of items.. I try to support other Etsy’ans as much as I can, also our local handcrafters. 

I photograph also myself all my pieces and getting inspirations specially with macro pictures. I love flowers, scenes and nature. When you asked from where I get my inspiration, I must tell that from everywhere. There are many ways to find it, f.ex. walking with dogs in the late fall morning when grass little bit frozen or by watching movie about Finnish sauna or by looking in to some inspiring photo. 

I have many favourite items depending from my mood, but maybe that one “over anothers” is a salmon colored coral set in vermeil and goldfilled metals. I wore those almost every day during last summer, until my mother saw them on me and wanted to herself. They are so fresh with little bit glam and have pretty color. You can wear them with every outfit, day or night. I made them actually in winter time just to have something nice and lovely for our honeymoon in March. With tanned skin they look amazing ;) 

I have many pieces at home, that are not listed in to Etsy. Many of them are sold immediately by my friends and their friends, so I don’t get opportunity to list them. Now I’m back from holiday and full of new ideas, trying to make new fall line. I have few things made already, wire wrapped techniques in bracelets, earrings and necklaces. Trying to combine old and new together, gold with silver etc. trying to broke those lines, if you know what I mean. I will show some new things in my blog as soon as possible. 

Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/DesignDomi 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DesignDomi 

Blog Design Domi: designdomi.blogspot.com 

Finnish language lifestyleblog By Domi: bydomi.blogspot.com