Day 7 of my Solo Journey

Well, here it is, November 6, 2014. Time flies, right? 

Yesterday started as a great day but ended on a sad note. I was in washing dishes and heard a crunch. I went on the balcony to see what the noise was and a poor turtle was run over trying to cross the road to the ocean. So very sad! 

Other than that the day was pretty good. I have been getting a lot done with my work and research for websites that are in progress, although I would be making a bigger dent in this if the clients would cooperate and provide the needed information for me. Sometimes I feel like I am just spinning my wheels in sand and digging myself deeper (okay, so I feel this way most of the time). Here is whats been happening since my last post on Nov 1.

The beach definitely looked a little different on this morning. Brrrrr. Down to 46 on the 2nd of November.

 11/2/2014: So after getting up and bundling up, because in Florida 46 is down right freezing - off we went for our walk. We saw a red tailed hawk on our morning journey and when we returned the view had improved considerably over the beach.

But yet cleared up to a decent day, just brisk.

Red Tailed Hawk.

The rest of this day was more of the usual except I did have to run into town again.  I'll get the hang of this being away from things sooner or later. I still have a little time to go. The sunset was not much to write home about, probably because of the cold and wind and clouds. But there was some color and the moon was coming out. I wish this condo was two floors higher - those wires would not e in my picture.

On 11/3 we woke to another cold morning, probably even colder than yesterday. It is so nice and peaceful up here before all the traffic starts - which is 0-dark-thirty by the way (just kidding! I start to hear delivery trucks around six am.)

Hard to see but a vulture getting ready to land on the beach.

I was sitting and working and noticed vultures circling very close. I was a little worried for Sophie because she cannot here them, and she sleeps pretty soundly, but they appeared to be after something dead on the beach.

I went in to see my husband and doggies on 11/2 and picked up a table to make a desk out of. This is my setup right now. Best view I have ever had from a desk. And the sound of the ocean all day! Perfect work setting!

The day went by pretty fast with a couple breaks to walk Sophie who is up to a full circle now which is about .6 miles 2-3 times a day. I hope this does not mess up Marsha but the dog just loves to walk.

And the day ended beautifully.

11/4/2014: I keep wanting to get up before the sunrise to get some pictures but my body disagrees. But I am always ready for the sunsets. I am even trying to design some jewelry for a line that captures the colors found in some of these pictures. 

Had an appointment in town and picked up my weights. Yea! Now I can get back into my winter routines. 

Still a pretty sunset. Wish I had a better view ... but the one tree that is so tall give continuity to the pictures, don't-cha think?

11/5/2014: Appointment today at my store with an advertiser for digital media signage. I sure hope this works. I am running out of options. There are many changes that I want to do with my business, but the economy is still hurting and I live in a small seaside town. I need additional ways to bring in revenue so if the advertising works, maybe I will get a little more monthly traffic and be able to work on some other areas - like managed services, remote service, etc.

This is my store - and my car covered in advertising.

 I sit for hours each day, and although walking Sophie is helpful, and there are the exercise breaks, I still feel that there is something I could be doing while I sit here. So I purchased a 

11/5 Sunrise. I am making
it a little earlier. This is 7:05.

North American Healthcare Sitting Stepper by Jobar International on Amazon. It was very inexpensive (under 10 dollars) so I did not expect a lot but the reviews on it were okay for something so inexpensive. It is simple to use, and it does keep the legs moving. There are also these little bumps on it that massage the feet - nope - no shoes for me. Bare foot all the way unless I am outside - then sandals.

Sophie walked 1.8 miles today. You know what that means? I walked a minimum of `1.8 miles today. Missed the sunset because I was walking and did not bother taking the phone to take a picture. Sometimes it is just better to enjoy the ride.

I did download a couple apps on my IPad while I was watching the CMA's. I wanted some apps to help me stay focused on exercising my knee in a safe way - since swimming is definitely out of the question for a few months! 

The three apps that I chose are to the left. The Pain Therapy app was created by a Physical Therapist. I will be very careful with this one. I did two exercises from it under the knee section last night and am okay today - so we will see. The Pilates/Yoga I did the Beginner Yoga Level 1. It felt great to do, and although I am a bit sore this morning, no more than I expected. The third one I will be looking at later and let you know what I think. I did like that it shows you all the muscles worked using the different yoga poses.

Day 2 of my "Solo Journey"

November 1, 2014 ( 2 down and 41 to go)

Went to bed with a migraine last night. It seems to be pretty regular that I will have a migraine whenever the weather changes. Worth it though to not be so hot anymore.

Today started with another beautiful sunrise, although it was already there when I woke up at eight. Sophie did not mind. So after a few minutes on the balcony (while making my juice of life - coffee), we were off for our morning walk. We walked 2/3 of the street and she did great. She was even hungry when we got home (I was told she did not have much of an appetite when she is at a kennel so hopefully that problem will not rear its ugly head). Her human left her canned Mackerel. Dear lord does that stuff stink. I think me and Sophie will be having our meals on the balcony for a while - at least until the Mackerel is gone. Her on one end and me on the other.

I took the time last night and this morning to work on some general maintenance on Marsha (Sophie's human) computer. We work every week on the computer, IPad, and IPhone - but rarely is there time to do all the maintenance that is needed on a computer. Now it is running much better. First item on my list finished.

As I was working, Sophie started barking on the balcony. It is the first noise that she has made since I have been here. She is very quiet and also has recently lost her hearing. When ran into the house, spinning in circles. Then she started lapping the house and acting like a puppy. She is 13 years old and this is very uncharacteristic. She was still barking so I thought maybe she needed to go out again. Even outside she kept spinning in circles and barking so I took her back in - I thought she might pull loose from me. She just must have got a burst of energy from the additional walking. She appears to be fine.

Sunset over the river - it is really back there. I swear.

I was all ready to start my first course when I realized that my laptop cord was still at my store. So, back in my car I went. I love it up here, but the ride back and forth to my store would kill me if I had to do it each day. I know many people who drive 70 miles to Orlando to work, and my typical drive is 10 minutes and four miles. This is about 10 one way straight down the beach. I have not bothered timing it because I am trying not to dwell on it.

After I returned later in the day (bookkeeping finished at the store - yippee), the temperature was really dropping and the wind was very strong. We walked all the way to the river and back. It was definitely cold with the wind making it feel about twenty degrees less, but again, there was a pretty sunset.

Now I am kicking back to a couple movies, catching up on email, and getting all my ducks in a row so that tomorrow evening I can begin.

Tomorrow I will be going to my house and seeing my husband and doggies. I miss them all - gonna be a long six weeks to be away from them.

(Additional info: I tried a Newcastle Werewolf Blood Red Ale today. I really like this beer. It is very mild with a great flavor and no aftertaste.)

Protection Series - Design eight and nine

The next two sets in my Protection Series have been completed. I am really enjoying the finals now that I have figured out what I wanted to convey with my designs.

This is the Celebration of Life Set. I love the colors in this set. Unfortunately the faceted Amethyst beads look black in the photos. There are really a gorgeous deep grape purple and have such amazing color. I may have to try taking a photo on my light table. Maybe then there would be enough light.

Then there is the Tahitian Serenity Set. The colors in this just want to sweep me away and take me to a warm beach with turquoise waters.

My Jewelry Line for New York Institute of Art & Design

A little over a year ago, I signed up for Sheffield School of a Jewelry Design. I have learned quite a bit, and hunger to learn more, but before that happens I just need to get through the final. This posting will be about my adventure in the class - which is now called the New York Institute of Art & Design.

Our final consists of making our own jewelry line that has a cohesive element that makes it ours. I have started planning and designing this over and over ... On paper and in my head. While I know what guides me in my designs - and my passion with design - I had a little problem with trying to plan ahead because my designs pop in my head without any control.

In case you have not guessed by the name of my company, I like dragonflies and when I see them I feel serenity within. Watching the graceful movements that they make, I am able to dream and design. On top of this, when I was younger my father called me dreamer and we had the love of art as a bond. My first jewelry components were a gift from my father. Somehow he saw something that I was not aware of and he opened my heart to the beauty of handmade jewelry and my ability to express my art through all the many ways that you can make jewelry.

After much thought and changing my mind many times, I have decided that the name of my line is Protection. There will be 46-50 unifying pieces that center around this theme. Following are my first few designs for the series and the components and their meaning.

The first in the series is Green Lagoon (named by my sister, Neta).

The second is my Layered Protection Set.

The third is the Labradorite Protection necklace.

Fourth is the Bone Dragonfly necklace set.

Fifth is a Reversible Agate Set. 

Sixth is the Thousand Flowers Set.

 And seventh is my Sea of Protection Set.

This weekend I will be working on other designs and hope to have a few planned out by next week. I really want to complete this class before the end of summer so that I can possibly take another class that will be dedicated more to Polymer Clay or Metal smithing or stone cabbing or lamp working. As you can see, I have a thirst to learn more and add to my skills. Please share you thoughts on my jewelry. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Copyright Dragonfly Serenade Jewelry Designs & Rebecca Doremus

Photography Conundrum

My journey with jewelry photography and where it has led ...

For quite some time I have been an avid amateur photographer. Starting back with my Pentax 35mm Camera (which I would still prefer most days - but it was stolen and film is expensive) through eight digital camera's of varying brands, styles, and levels. 

I have learned many things about cameras and what I feel is right for me and the most comfortable and does the best job based on my skill level and needs. Now that I have the camera that I have been wanting for many years, and all the lenses, etc. I am ready to begin my trial and error jewelry photography studio.

I may have felt competent as a landscape photographer and an animal photographer, I do not feel this way about photographing jewelry. Reflections, lighting, glare, flash, macro, focus, no shake, and on and on. It is a challenge and since I want to succeed with my jewelry design, I must study and master the photography end of it.

I have tried so many different ideas that I have seen or read about. I have a portable photo booth, but typically there is not enough light that gets through the tent and the flash keeps wanting to go off. When the flash is turned off the pictures are too dark. If I allow the flash, there are bright spots on the jewelry. 

Left to Right: Portable Photo Booth Kit from Hammacher Schlemmer; PVC Frame Photo Booth; Cloud Dome with camera frame.

 The next thing that we tried was making our own PVC Pipe frame for a photo booth that would allow the lighting to be placed higher and from a different angle so that the glare and reflections would be minimized while providing light with less shadows. This worked better but the lights that I purchased did not clamp well and would shift constantly around the pipe.

I went back to researching and came across the CloudDome Company. The original cloud dome was designed with jewelry photographers in mind. It looked like it would be perfect. The light would diffuse because of the arced design of the dome. There would be no reflections, bright spots, etc. One problem though .... I did not have the funds available for something like this. They have since made a model named the Nimbus for smart phones which looks interesting but I prefer a real camera for my photography.

So my husband started trying to figure out a way to make something similar for me. He is a genius and I ask too much of him, but I am so very thankful that I have someone who can think about these things and really wants me to find what will work best for me. He purchased some light covers and has been modifying them, but we still have more work there. The pictures come out much better but it is hard to keep the camera still and the area for the photograph is limited based on the circumference of the hole in the light cover. We will be visiting this more in the future but I decided to try something else.

Quick snapshot taken with my
Android Motorola Razor Max

Using the corner of my desk (which I do not really use for anything at this point) I have set up a small area for the photography. I am able to clamp the lights onto the hutch (which holds better than on the PVC pipe), have placed daylight bulbs in the lamps, made a backdrop that would not reflect light from a painters canvas frame and some soft see through white fabric that I had. Using scrapbook paper under the items to be photographed allows me the ability to change this as needed and I have a few props to use - mostly shells. I have set up the large and smaller tripods for use and also have a wireless remote for the camera to eliminate any shake. I manual focus the camera for the shoot as I have found this really works better with my macro lens. And I get additional light from the light bouncing off my wall and back onto the area (gloss paint). 

The pictures taken in this setting have been considerably better but the whole thing can be very time consuming - and I want to make jewelry - not spend all day taking pictures of it. So this leads me to the software that came with my camera. I have a Canon EOS Rebel T3 that came with the EOS Utility software. By connecting my camera to my computer, I am able to use the computer to take the picture. It imediately comes up on my screen where I can tell if adjustments need made. I have it set up to NOT save the picture on the camera disk because I would only have to take it off in the future. By using the software I am able to see right then and there whether I need to take the picture over, and if not I already have it in my computer to work with. I LOVE this software. The results are great using my setup studio and I cannot wait for us to be able to work out the cloud dome and try it with this software. As we advance I will post more, but for now, I am content that I can take a decent photo of my jewelry to use to advertise and sell it.