Beauty Shots

It occurred to me yesterday that before I tag and pack the jacquard hangings for this weekend's show, it would be a good idea to take "beauty shots" of them, to use in future show applications. So out came the studio lighting, backdrop, tripod, and big 10-megapixel camera. By the end of the afternoon, all the hangings finished to date had posed for the camera. Here's the dogwood hanging, complete with lucite hanging rod:



I used black sewing thread to suspend the rod about 18 inches in front of the backdrop. The thread completely disappears against the dark backdrop. The distance helps to prevent shadows cast on the backdrop by the two flash units in front of the piece. There's a third flash unit that points at the backdrop behind the piece, which also masks shadows.

I also spent some time redesigning my standard hangtag format to suit the jacquard pieces. The back of the standard format includes care instructions, which aren't really applicable here (except the "dry clean only" statement). On the front of the hangtag, I wrote a brief description of how the pieces are designed. And I mean brief: a mere couple of sentences to cover the entire Woven Pixel process!

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, come to the Contemporary Craft Market at the Ft. Mason Center. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Hope to see you there!