HAF Member Art Thread

[Sireal]

I like art and this is what I do. www.wulvzwerx.ca

[proudfootz]

Let's see if this comes across:

Just found objects...

[McQ]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

Your works are seriously impressive. I spent a good fifteen minutes going through your site and didn't find a piece of art or sculture that didn't strike me as beautiful in some way.

[Sireal]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

Your works are seriously impressive. I spent a good fifteen minutes going through your site and didn't find a piece of art or sculture that didn't strike me as beautiful in some way.

Thank you! I like to take what most consider ugly/insignificant and make something beautiful from it, I do that with everything including my life.

[McQ]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

Your works are seriously impressive. I spent a good fifteen minutes going through your site and didn't find a piece of art or sculture that didn't strike me as beautiful in some way.

Thank you!

[KDbeads]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

I'm wanting to learn how to do stuff like this:
http://www.wulvzwerx.ca/images/Custom/IMG_0289.JPG
Is this silver clay or sheet work?  Landed myself a big cress kiln so I'm thinking about playing with silver clay sometime in the future to possibly showcase cabbed agates (this is an upcoming hobby actually, I love agate slabs) and the fused glass I already do.

Oh and BTW..... I've got a puddle of drool on the keyboard from all the stuff on your site.  I LOVE the unusual stuff.

[Tank]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

Brilliant work, seriously let down by the photography though. Your stuff could look 10, maybe 100 times better if photographed properly. If you're up for sending some pieces I'll have a go at doing a better job for you. Photography is my hobby and I specialise in macro work so have the lenses and appropriate lighting gear to get the best out of your stuff. I loved the Ivory work.

Your web site is also note behaving itself correctly.

Regards
Chris

EDIT: You're in Canada, which precludes me doing the photography for you, which I would love to have done  

[MariaEvri]

here's a little manip. of a small project I'm working on

[Sireal]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

I'm wanting to learn how to do stuff like this:
http://www.wulvzwerx.ca/images/Custom/IMG_0289.JPG
Is this silver clay or sheet work?  Landed myself a big cress kiln so I'm thinking about playing with silver clay sometime in the future to possibly showcase cabbed agates (this is an upcoming hobby actually, I love agate slabs) and the fused glass I already do.

Oh and BTW..... I've got a puddle of drool on the keyboard from all the stuff on your site.  I LOVE the unusual stuff.

@KD.The top is sheet work and the nickel/iron meteorite is bezeled in on the bottom. I have not worked with precious metal clay before. I do all my own sheet/wire and casting-everything from scratch. I got into this by doing lapidary work and have always loved cutting stone. Stone sculpture was a natural for me and I took to it like duck to water. I find the learning curve for jewelery rather steep, it is a whole whack of occupations rolled into one. I've been at three years and have so much to learn I think I'm going to need another lifetime before I really get it down to a solid art form. When anyone asks me how to get into art as a career I say there are only two rules: 1) Begin and 2) Continue. Go for it!!

@Tank. Yeah, the photography sux, I do it myself as well-all part of the plan! I have more recent pieces on my fb page if anyone is interested:https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Carman-KirbyWulvzwerx-Arts/187638001249182?ref=ts I had the web site thrown up in a hurry and I really do not like web sites for selling as I have never sold a piece off the web and they are damn expensive. That I am as organized as I am is in itself a miracle, I really like chaos but have to temper it to make ends meet. Art is a very difficult career unless you're in big galleries and making a fair buck for your work which is often not the case.

[KDbeads]

I like art and this is what I do. http://www.wulvzwerx.ca

I'm wanting to learn how to do stuff like this:
http://www.wulvzwerx.ca/images/Custom/IMG_0289.JPG
Is this silver clay or sheet work?  Landed myself a big cress kiln so I'm thinking about playing with silver clay sometime in the future to possibly showcase cabbed agates (this is an upcoming hobby actually, I love agate slabs) and the fused glass I already do.

Oh and BTW..... I've got a puddle of drool on the keyboard from all the stuff on your site.  I LOVE the unusual stuff.

@KD.The top is sheet work and the nickel/iron meteorite is bezeled in on the bottom. I have not worked with precious metal clay before. I do all my own sheet/wire and casting-everything from scratch. I got into this by doing lapidary work and have always loved cutting stone. Stone sculpture was a natural for me and I took to it like duck to water. I find the learning curve for jewelery rather steep, it is a whole whack of occupations rolled into one. I've been at three years and have so much to learn I think I'm going to need another lifetime before I really get it down to a solid art form. When anyone asks me how to get into art as a career I say there are only two rules: 1) Begin and 2) Continue. Go for it!!

Awesome!  I already do jewelry so the mind is on that train of thought to begin with.  What you do in sheet work I do in beads:
http://www.krausdesigns.com/images/center.jpg

For help on photographing, this is compiled from a bunch of beady friends:

After doing some research on photography tips, this is what I’ve found…

To photograph your jewelry, you need some basic equipment:

1. Camera (no, duh, eh?) From researching, most professional photographs are taken with either a 35mm camera or a digital camera. For photographing jewelry for a website, most people find the use of digital cameras much easier. With a digital camera you don’t have to mess with film and then wait around to use up a whole roll before getting the pictures developed.

Some considerations in choosing a digital camera, are mega pixels, macro settings, and memory. The mega pixel count will determine the quality of your photo, what is called the resolution. The higher the mega pixel, the more detail there will be in your photo. For most web shots, 3mp seems to be sufficient. However, if you are also going to be printing out photos (either for a professional portfolio or personal family portraits), you will want to bump up the number to around 5mp or higher. Keep in mind that the higher the mp count, the heftier the price tag, and the larger the image size.

The macro setting(s) on your camera change the focus of the camera, so it can focus on very close objects often within a few inches or feet away. From my understanding the macro setting is known as the digital zoom of the camera. When looking at the zoom on your digi camera, the optical zoom is hailed as better than a digital zoom; that is, an optical zoom can often give you clearer pics, even if you have to crop the periphery of the photo.

The memory module on the camera stores the photos that you take. Obviously, the larger the memory card (the higher the number of MB), the more pictures it can hold or the larger the pictures it can hold.

Another really nifty feature for the camera to have is an active LCD display screen on the back of the camera. This will allow you to see what setting is on (macro or normal) as well as see the photo after it has been snapped to decide whether a re-shoot is necessary. It’s also really cool to see a pic right away…mucho better than a Polaroid! Mr. Green

Also a consideration for your camera is the battery type it uses and whether or not you want to have an AC adaptor for the "just in case" times you find yourself with dead batteries and no backup. Whistle

2. Tripod This is very helpful in getting clear, quality photos. Even if you have a very steady hand, this can be a very worthwhile investment. They are sold in tabletop models as well as larger floor models. What you are mainly looking for in a tripod is good construction and great stability. You’ll want a tripod that can carry the weight of your camera and its accessories (such as additional flash or lenses), one that doesn’t wobble and one that adjusts to the varying heights that you desire. Also you will want to make sure that the “head” of the tripod will attach to your camera.

3. Lighting To photograph jewelry, you are looking for indirect or diffused lighting to avoid shadows and excessive reflections. Indirect natural sunlight works well for some. There are also photography tents and domes that work to diffuse light while you display your piece. You can also construct one of your own using nylon fabric or a plastic milk jug.


Tutorials:
http://cameras.about.com/gi/dynamic/off ... Findex.htm
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/gre ... hotos.html
http://www.lapidaryart.com/projects_2.html
http://cameras.about.com/od/cameratips/a/macro.htm
http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents ... hy.htm#Wax


Domes/Tents:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19002.html
http://www.clouddome.com/specs/prodShot_ccpt01.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BF ... e&n=502394

Also:
http://www.home-jewelry-business-succes ... raphy.html

One thing I like to do is get a 3 gallon white bucket, cut a hole in the bottom the same size as my lens, set up lights around the bucket to shine through the white walls and turn off the flash.  This method takes a bit of tweaking but you'll get less harsh light, no flash, no shadows and if you have a setting to play with the color intake you can change it around to find what works best.
To give you an idea of what you can do, this was shot with 3 true spectrum bulbs outside a 1 gallon white paint bucket on top of a white melamine shelf with my crappy little autofocus digital :
http://www.krausdesigns.com/images/2006 ... ay0001.JPG


Edited to fix links!

[Sireal]

Beautiful Work!! Did you do the cabochon as well?
Thanks for the photo tips, I like the bucket idea and will try it

[KDbeads]

I got the cab from S&S Lapidary, www.sandslapidary.com , I Love their unique cuts.  About half my collection of cabs have come from them.

Right now I'm rocking with an area native before I move away, she's shown me quite a few interesting places to hunt at.  Mostly I'm looking for topaz, just to say I have some from here before I leave but I've also landed myself a bunch of banded flint/chert I'll be slabbing out once I get moved and can get my hands on the equipment.  Mostly for practice, though I do see a ton of potential in the stones, they keep 'talking' to me.

[YaarghMatey487]

I still can't figure out how to attach pictures...oh well. Here are some photos that were vetted on CNN. They're from my trip to Europe this past January. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-547837

[Sireal]

I got the cab from S&S Lapidary, http://www.sandslapidary.com , I Love their unique cuts.  About half my collection of cabs have come from them.

Right now I'm rocking with an area native before I move away, she's shown me quite a few interesting places to hunt at.  Mostly I'm looking for topaz, just to say I have some from here before I leave but I've also landed myself a bunch of banded flint/chert I'll be slabbing out once I get moved and can get my hands on the equipment.  Mostly for practice, though I do see a ton of potential in the stones, they keep 'talking' to me.

These guys have some nice rocks! this one http://www.sandslapidary.com/servlet/the-252/Chrysoprase-Designer-Cabochon/Detail is very nice, chrysoprase is one of my favorite stones. Keep letting those rocks "speak" to you, it is a magical art form.

[bloomicy]

New user here... attracted by the thread posted on Twitter!

I am an artist who uses text as part of the artwork itself.  I'm always looking for interesting, thought-provoking, or otherwise cool text to use in my artwork.  Catch is, it really should be public domain or creative commons. I'm looking for poetry, essays, short opinion pieces, etc.

Suggestions?  Thanks!