Who Knew?

Just for a lark, I went browsing on Overstock.com the other night.  I didn't want anything, I didn't need anything (or so I thought), but with as many sleepless nights as I've had as of late, you've got to do something to fill in the time, and part of it is spent on my computer.

While browsing in Overstock, I decided to take a look at the cameras.  Mind you, I can't really afford a new camera, as much as I would like one, but it's always interesting to see what is out there.  There were lots of cameras, and I think that the next time I get one, I might go for something a little more sophisticated than my Sony Cyber Shot, as much as I like it.  It's doing well, but I can't ignore the fact that it probably has a limited life span because of the tape holding some of the exterior together.

While looking at cameras, I took a quick look at tripods.  I have one... a giant one which I used for taking jewelry pictures, but it was too big and unweildy and way too hard to get close ups of my work.  So I finally gave up using it, and sometimes just took fereehand pics and sometimes got great pictures and sometimes got nothing but a blur.  But look at what I found on Overstock!

A 3 1/2" table top tripod!  Who knew?  It's perfect for getting close up shots of my jewelry that are clear and concise.  The only criticism that I have of this miraculous device is that when the camera is mounted on it and tipped forward to get snapshots, I need to stablize it on it's back leg so that it doesn't fall over, lens first.  But that's a small price to pay for the clarity I got even in my first set of pics (taken in bad lighting).  Set up a time release pic, a hand to steady the device, and look what I got!

This is a necklace in progress.  I'll post pictures again when it is complete.

In the meantime, thank you all for your name submissions for my beaded color blended samples.  I'm working with all the names right now.  They're all so terrific that it's hard to choose just one for each chain, but the good news is that I am working on yet more blends and I will certainly use everything that was submitted to me.  Please check back in a couple of days for the results.