Picture Time!

Hello, world!

A quick note on my photography skillz... they are not great.  

A longer note on photographing jewelry... it is not easy.  Little tiny shiny things reflect background colors in odd ways.  You may note that you can see bright blue in the bezels of my latest amethyst and quartz pieces... its my iPhone 5c's reflection  

Wait, hold on, I use my PHONE to take my jewelry photos?!  WHAT?! No wonder I cannot take decent pictures!

Well, guess what?!  The cameras of most smartphones have fairly high resolutions and have decent up close focus (real picture-takers call this 'micro' focus).  Also, my husband and I moved about 5 months ago, and I still have not located my real camera.  So, y'know... I make due.

There are some great products that can make photographing jewelry more consistent (but not easy), like light boxes.  I have a nice little collapsable light box, and it helps to diffuse powerful white lights to create a well lit piece with no strong reflections.  But I am still disappointed in most of my final photos.  I think my pieces are prettier in person.  In that vein, I wanted to mention that the astrological pendants are all oxidized to create some contrast between the engraved design and the high shine finish.  This did not come across well in the photos, but at least you know now.

Many design houses with glossy ad companies (Chanel, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, etc) use computer generated images of the products and photoshop them in.  Others take light box images of their pieces and then photoshop them into the ads.  Either way, you get a really detailed, evenly lit image of a small shiny thing in an artistic and often shadowy photo.  I'm looking at you, DeBeers!  One day, Lex, one day...

Bottom line, please be patient with me as I sand all my rough edges.  I am not a smooth or accomplished saleswoman/photographer/accountant/marketer.  I am a girl accustomed to playing with hot torches, sharp gravers, and noisy polishing wheels in the basement by herself.  Those are rough edges I know how to smooth:)  

Til next time!

Lex

PS: my mother's jewels are currently being checked over and cleaned.  I will photograph them this week, and get them posted by next week!  

Testing, Testing, 123...

Hello world!

If you have had a chance to poke around the website before now, you might have encountered some inconvenient bugs... like the contact page not actually contacting anything, or an inability to purchase an item.  Stay with me, people!  As of today, your messages will wing their way to me, and things are for sale.  Again.  For now.  I will mentioned again that my skillz with technology are more philisophical than physical.  

Please, as always and forever, feel free to contact me, even if it is to tell me something is not working like it should/could.  Republic Design LLC also has a Facebook page, so get on the FB and like it!  I'm reading all the comments and I appreciate all of the support.  Its a new thang for me to have such feedback, and your praise is warming my heart :) Keep singing, and spread the word, my little birds.

New items will be added to the gallery before too long, so please come back to check out some of my past projects!  My best client's personal collection (hi, mom!) will be temporarily on loan to me this week for general maintenance and documentation.  It's a great collection, with earrings, pendants, and delicious rings in a variety of precious metals and gemstones.  Heck, she even has a piece I made in college!  #throwbackthursday #newtwistoldtrick

Til next time...

Lex

First Product Display

Hello World!  As an tech sous chef, I understand that this is the first bit of 0s and 1s written into every bit of coding a computer gets.  I am not that tech savvy, and this is my first blog post ever (not including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc...).  So here goes!

Today I added a collection I am very proud of.  My lil Astrological Constellation Pendants have finally grown up and gotten their photo taken.  Mind you, I still lack an entire collection of the 12 zodiac signs, because every time I turn around another friend or relative snags their constellation.  Not to worry, though!  I can create a charm and ship it to you within 3 days of purchase.  

I designed each constellation interpretation myself, pairing down the more complex and often massive constellation maps of the zodiac.  Distilling the essence of a horoscope's star map took some time and a bit of creative license.   These pendants may not announce to the world that you receive your daily horoscope via Snapchat, but they are a personal way to remind yourself of your best (and sometimes worse) traits.

Also, my new website has given me a venue to post several limited edition necklaces.  I discovered local agates in a Des Moines basement.  The basement had been used as a lapidary shop for several years in the early part of the century.  The agates had already been capped with bails when I got my hands on them, so I looked for the right vintage chain to go with the brass coated caps.  After locating a few beautiful old watch chains, I was able to make a bit of the past into one heck of a statement.

Enjoy browsing, and never be afraid to email me with questions...

-Lex