Polka dots it is

As if anyone wants to see one more post about my Plini backgrounds. Fortunately for those wondering, this will be the last as I've made my final decision. Polka dots it is! I'm about 75% done re-shooting the photos and color-correcting them. I don't know why I didn't think the polka dots were a good idea at first. They're exactly the feel I wanted the Plini figurines to have. Whaddyathink?

a tarnished weekend

I had big plans for the weekend. big. HUGE. Okay, not that huge. But some other important family drama went down and I lost a whole day. That may not sound like much, but when you put off your work all week with the plan to get things in order come the weekend, it can really throw things off. I should probably stop putting things off, and just do them when I have the chance, because you just never know what is right around the corner.

I'm still trying to come up with a new background for my Plinis. I have more to list, but I've been putting it off until I can find a background to settle on. I'm still a fan of the recipe page. But overall I'm just really undecided. I have to play around with the angles.


My mom suggested a ball jar for a vintage retro feel. I really like the idea. I'm just not sure now if it's too distracting. Maybe minus the lacy doily. Or if I could find/think of another vintage-y item that would be nice.



This last photo I was kind of just joking. I used a ceramic bird candle holder I have. It looks like he's spying on my Plini. But I think it would make for a confusing photo to use. Is it just the Plini for sale? Is that weird bird included? I don't want to cause any confusion in what is actually for sale...if that makes sense.



Or maybe I'll just stick with an all polka dot background. No props. Hmm..that's a thought.

Also, while searching the apartment for props I found this vintage metal server my mom gave me. It was so tarnished it was almost entirely black. I cleaned it up using some tarnish remover cloths thinking I could use it in my Plini photos. But it looked weird. My hands got really dirty though!

a new background, me thinks maybe

Oh my gracious dear me...it's been way too long since my last post. I can't say I haven't been busy though. More Plinis, finishing up my custom order for a wedding set, making a birthday card for my Nana, feeding the "outside cat" (see my previous post), and other various things.

But today, what's weighing heavily on my mind is my wanting to change up the way I photograph my Plinis. I've always had them on a bright white background. But it's really very time consuming and sometimes I don't think I capture the natural color of certain Plinis as good as it could be.

I don't know if that's a good idea though. I do like a white background because there's no distractions and nothing to influence your opinion of the Plini besides the Plini itself. Plus, I think it gives a teeny artsy gallery type of feel. I don't want my Plini figurines to be translated as disposable toys, but rather teeny works of "non-hoity-toity" art. If that makes any sense.

So I've been playing around with some backgrounds and weighing the pros and cons in terms of how long it takes me to prepare the lighting as well as edit the photo.


For the first one I photographed a Plini on a recipe page of a book. I was thinking it might be interesting if the page related to the plini. So say I had a Plini with cookies on her head, she could be sitting on a cookie recipe page. The lighting was pretty easy to deal with and I think it looks interesting with some of the text in focus and some not. But I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Mind you, I took these pictures really quickly so they're not perfect. Just for comparison.



This second one is photographed on artist canvas. It still sticks closely to my orignal white backgrounds, but has a little texture. Is texture a good thing? I don't know. The lighting was a little harder to work with and I had to play with the color balance because it mostly picked up blues. But overall it didn't effect the color of the Plini in a bad way.



My third try I went with what appeared to be a black background. But when I photographed it I realized it had a teensy bit of sheen on the paper which equals instant dull gray on camera. I played with the contrast and the photo got very grainy. Then I had to tweak the coloring of everything for a while. I don't think I like the black at all though. I was thinking it might make the bright colors pop and it just might if I manage to find a better piece of black for the background and photograph it better. But for now, I don't feel like dealing with it. I have enough to deal with with the white backgrounds.



The fourth photo I went with this "pretend lace" cardstock paper I have. I loooooove lacey things and back when I was taking pictures of my food-themed jewelry I'd usually photograph them on a doily. But this looks kind of fake and strange I think. The color was a bit of a pain to deal with too. It picked up a lot of blue and when I tried to fix it the photo got a little grainy. Also, I'm not sure if I like that pink shows through the eyelets of the lace. Will pink match with every one of my Plinis? Hmm...



And lastly, I thought maybe a solid color would look nice. I've been using solid colors for other various things in my shop, why not my Plinis too? Question is...do I stick with just one solid color for all of them (for uniformity) or whatever color compliments the Plini at the time? The problem I have with colors is that they react strangely with the Plini colors sometimes and I end up having to color correct them a lot.




Well that's what I have so far. Overall I like the book pages the most. But I've seen that technique a good amount of times. Is it too unoriginal? I've been pacing around my apartment looking for other surfaces and things to try out. I guess I'll keep brainstorming and let some ideas percolate.

a word about hamsters.

..well kind of. There's one in my shop! I don't know why it took me so long to get some photos going of these lil hamsters. I have two more not listed yet. Actually, I do know why it's taken me so long. My camera is insisting on throwing a temper tantrum after five or so pictures. I don't think it's a fan of the macro setting. Speaking of the macro setting...am I in the minority when it comes to knowing what the macro setting is? You know, the little tulip setting as opposed to the mountain setting on your camera? I was casually taking about it to Lou the other day and he had no idea that was what it was called.
Anyways, I think my camera needs a new rechargeable battery. I've been avoiding it because I'm lazy and don't feel like looking up the one I need. But now that it's come to the point where I actually have time to list more items, but can't because my camera won't stay alive for longer than five minutes I believe it's time to "bite the bullet" as my mom would say and get a new one.

I started making more wedding figures today as well. They're all sculpted out and ready to be painted. I'll be working on that tomorrow, along with hunting down a camera battery.

*sigh* In a perfect world...my creations would take their own pictures and list themselves.

Holganize Me!

I came across an interesting website a while ago and it wasn't until the other day that I stumbled on it again while organizing my favorite links folder. It lets you upload any image and "holganize" it. *jazz hands sparkle sparkle magic* It says that a Holga is a cheap plastic camera from China that makes funky/weird/cool effects on the photos. eh. I've never heard of it. But it was fun to holganize things. Check it out for yourself! Holganize Me




Ok, it's not THAT cool. But it's a nice effect nonetheless.