Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Thursday morning

Yo dudes, ready for a fun filled day? I am but I’m not gonna get it, cos I have to do admin stuff and not make beads again. I so wish being an artist designer maker meant that I could do just that all day, rather than have to worry about all the other stuff that goes along with running a small business. Whoever coined that phrase ‘Small business’ must have been trying to pull the wool over our eyes. There’s nothing small about the amount of admin we have to do such as the finances, proper paperwork, keeping all the relevant tax information and in a way you can do your tax return. Then there’s sourcing componants and materials, ordering stuff (I like that bit), stock control (boo), opening packages (hooray), advertising (hiss), cleaning the inside of beads (boo hiss boo)(ooo that’s not admin, but I don’t like having to do it), and the list goes on.

Then there’s photography, the pivotall element to any web-based business. I love photography (you know fun stuff like castles, flowers, gardens and people), but I just don’t seem to have cracked taking bead and jewellery pictures without an hours setting up and using a large flash, scoopy background thingy and shading. When I can consistently take wonderful pictures that really show the subtlty of the colouring in my beads consistently and quickly I shall be a happy woman. I shall also do a tutorial to help others that are struggling with this.

Off to take more pictures for a current order. Note to self – don’t put washing on until pictures taken or tripod will wobble all over the place. In case you’re wondering…..I’ve been taking pictures using the kitchen worktop over the washing machine as it’s next to the kitchen windows and gets diffuse light in the morning. The only problem is that our floor is 3 feet above the ground and it vibrates everytime the machine spins, and I keep forgeting this fact whenever I put the washing on in the morning, then have to wait until I can do any photography, by which time the sun is making an appearance near the windows and I have to do it another time, preferably next morning, but oops, I put the washing on……..you get the picture. Maybe I should find another spot?