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Thursday 23 May 2013

Photoshoot in May - Part 1

....or "What Happens when Three Etsians Come Together"

This month, three Etsy shop owners got together to work in collaboration. Matt of Arcane Armoury, Georgina of Curious Doors and Nevermore Dolls, and myself. 

Matt and I met Georgina through the Etsy Team In Here Life Is Beautiful and before we knew it, we'd started messaging, Skyping and bouncing ideas around. It helped that we are able to occasionally be geographically adjacent, so the opportunity to invite our Cap'n G. over again (see previously...) was welcomed ....especially since two of the three of us had birthdays around that very weekend!

The first day of shooting - cameras, that is; Arcane Armoury's luscious wooden and brass creations are merely props - saw myself and Georgina assembling two outfits from my wardrobe. We both got dressed up but Cap'n G. was in more of a photography mood, you'll see her in the next instalment....  So we got Matt to dress up as his Steampunk alter ego, Weldon Rivett Esq.




Image is important when you run an online shop. People make judgements about items very quickly when shopping on the internet and Etsy is very good at supporting its members with helpful tutorials and Blog articles. It is also very useful to get constructive critiques from fellow shop owners and Georgina and myself both saw potential in Matt's Steampunk outfit, as he wore to the Weekend at the Asylum event in Lincoln last year.


 The thing I love about Etsy is the way in people are able to share not just their creations, but themselves. When you get to know a bit about the person who made your lovely purchase, it adds value and restores the human dimension to this virtual version of trade which can be anything but.

So here we are, enjoying ourselves. I mean working. Actually, (she grins) both at once!

I never thought I'd be a model!

I trained as a professional modelmaker and gained a degree in Design Representation (Modelmaking) in 1996. (I'll tell you about my meandering career path some other time.) When I started The Navigatrix, I never really intended to model my wares. The Steampunk outfit was assembled initially for fun, then it turned out to be useful for the Weekend at the Asylum Steampunk Fair.

I've been a Live Roleplayer for many years and The Navigatrix was the first character that I'd created without a rulebook! The character and the shop developed side by side and continue to do so. With Georgina and Matt, we have created a fictitious Airship that we and our IHLIB Etsy team Leaders crew. The three of us have carried this onto Facebook as the Steampunk Share Page (Cap'n G's grand idea).

 I've never really been a girly girl and rarely wear makeup. Cap'n G. was in charge of hair and makeup and taught me how to apply the various layers of paint to my face. We caught ourselves a couple of times with huge grins on our faces...this is what we do for a living! OK, there's endless hours of photo editing, listing, networking, networking and more networking aside from our main passion of actually Creating...but it's a very self-affirming, empowering way to spend your time.
Sibling Rivalry? Actually, we're the best of friends.

 I'm so grateful to many other people for making these photoshoots possible. My dear hubby and a good 'mummy friend' looked after littl'un whilst I was busy. Thankyou if you helped in any way, however small. These things sometimes just come together, don't they, and feel right? 
Home from school and eager to copy Mummy. Meet my little monster :)

Buy this here!

There's more to come but I'll leave you to absorb that lot and explore the links for a while. All three of us appreciate your support, your encouragement and your most welcome custom. Do pop by again!




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