How to WIN on Etsy: Create an Illusion and a Theme

This is part of a series in which I gave half-assed advice on product photography. Part one was about brightening your photos, while part two was about getting rid of the background clutter.

Before I jump into talking about photos, I have an announcement to make. My dear grandma has caught Etsy fever. As you may remember, she is the one who taught me how to crochet back in 2005. Well, now you can check out her own mad skillz at Hermits of Afton! However, because she has no interest in the marketing and selling side of the craft business, her shop is being run by yours truly. Because of this, I get to have more fun with the product photography (not that shooting hat after hat after hat isn't thrilling...but it is nice to work with other types of products). And that is what has inspired today's post.

In the post about background clutter, I mentioned how you should "control your environment". Basically, make sure whatever is in the photo is intentional and remove anything that doesn't belong. Creating an illusion is similar in that you are controlling the shot, but in this case, you are also showing a product in action. Is that vague enough for you? Here are some examples--using

products by Hermits of Afton, of course.

This pair of adorable monkey slippers should sell themselves, all by themselves, right?

Sure, a detail shot of the product is really nice. But a second shot showing how the product can be used would be even better, don't you think? Hats being worn on heads and not just laying on the floor. Pictures hung on the wall, instead of laying on the floor. A blanket wrapped around someone, rather than laying on the floor. Okay, you got me: anything is better than just laying your product on the floor.

So, we have a pair of baby booties and should theoretically show a baby wearing it. One problem, though: I have no baby and I have no access to a baby.

Enter the illusion.

I don't have a baby, but what I do have is a little girl with skinny arms:

Now scroll back up to those earlier pictures and try to un-see that the legs are actually arms. That, my friend, is il-lus-ion.

Here's another example that also incorporates the idea of "hide the (unintentional) clutter".

For the line of dish soap covers, I wanted to create a scene of tranquility. A scene that says, "By buying these prairie dress washcloths, your kitchen will be transformed into a magical place where doing the dishes downright rocks."

The only thing in the background is a blurred plant and a sunlit window, both intentionally included in the shot. But you know what isn't included in the Etsy pictures?

All the dirty dishes I had to move to get a clean (no pun intended) shot, not to mention all of our counter debris. By purposely excluding that from the shot, I made sure the customer's focus would only be on the product and how they could use it in their own home.

(By the way, if you look closely, you may even see the dividing line of where I cleaned the sink and counter.)

Here's the last example, which incorporates intentional clutter, creating an illusion, and maintaining a theme.

For the line of sewing products, I wanted to create a theme which was, "Look how bright and beautiful and clean your sewing workspace can be! To get this space, all you need to do is buy this scissors case!"

Now, when I said "intentional clutter," you didn't really expect clutter, did you? A couple needles, a button, a sewing machine, strewn haphazardly as if a seamstress were caught by surprise while hard at work. Hard at work in her very bright and very clean workspace.

Again, illusion. I don't actually know anybody whose workspace is that neat. Here's mine when I'm sewing:


However, does anything in that photo appeal to the buyer in you? Probably not. And that's why we create an illusion.




Here are some wonderful examples of creating illusions and establishing themes on Etsy:


Gray Donkey Toy Rattle by MiracleFromThreads

Forget the baby! With such a whimsical layout, wouldn't you want to play with this?!


Vintage Monogram Passport Wedding Invitation by BeyondDesign

Since this wedding invitation is both travel- and vintage-themed, the seller maintained the theme by incorporating vintage travel items.

So, if you're confused about how to create a theme, answer these questions:

• Who (or what) will use the product? A baby? An overworked mother? A dog?

• How do they (it) use it?

• How should they feel while using it? Pensive? Tranquil? Excited?

• Can you photograph it being used?

• Better yet, is there a way to create the illusion of it being used, while controlling your environment?

• Finally, how can you tie all of these ideas into one beautiful picture?

And lastly, here are some ideas for creating an illusion:

• Have a beach-themed item, but no beach within 500 miles? Find a sandy volleyball court or playground.

• Have an item that is designed to be used on animals...but you're allergic? Find a realistic-looking stuffed animal to use (but for the love of Rob Kalin, make sure the viewer can't tell it's a stuffed animal...stay tuned for that upcoming article)

• Have an item to be used at a wedding? Buy a $30 dress from a thrift store and stage a mock wedding, using close-up shots. Better yet, you may even have a friend who would love to relive her wedding by posing in her dress.

Upgrades, Repairs, and Other Joys of Home-Owning

Back in July, when we were so young and fresh-faced, Keene and I walked through what would become our home. We oohed and ahhed and peeked in rooms. We mentally redecorated the living room and pictured the children playing in the backyard. We immediately began the process of buying the house.

But you know what we should have done? We should have been pulling the previous owners' clothes out of the closet. We should have knocked all of their dishes out of the cupboards. We should have pushed their toolboxes off of the workbenches in the garage. Because you know what we found once the house was empty and ready for us to move in? A whole lot of particle board.

Bowed particle board in the closets. Sticky particle board in the pantry. Waterlogged particle board in the garage. There was more particle board in the house than in all of Home Depot.

So, I've had some people ask for pictures of our various upgrades and repairs. (Yes, really! This isn't a situation where I just want to talk about something, so I say, "People have been asking me ________." No, people really have been asking me. Seriously, I can prove it.) So here are our latest projects.

Pantry

This was the very first thing we blew money on fixed up. Now, this is actually a picture of our closet, but the shelves are similar to those in the pantry. Meaning, exposed particle board, haphazardly installed, and awfully inefficient where space is concerned.


Keene started by ripping out all of the shelves. Turns out, the walls behind the shelves were just as gross:


We repainted the walls and Keene installed wire racks instead:


And then he installed a broom/mop/child-holder on the back of the door:


Now, ten points if you can spot our next repair in this picture.


Think you've got it?

Yup, the door itself. Notice how it awesomely opens so that it effectively blocks you from the rest of the kitchen? We have found that that area is like a little Bermuda Triangle: In the span of four feet, you have a bathroom door, pantry door, two spice cabinets, the fridge, and the dishwasher all vying for the same opening space. At least once a week, somebody finds him or herself trapped in this mess of doors. While it may not solve the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, replacing the pantry door (so it swings in the other direction) will be a quick and easy fix.

Before:

After:

Here is a dramatic reenactment:


Garbage Disposal

Moving along, we also installed a garbage disposal. I wish I had pictures of the before/after and installation process. But that would have been very boring, so I didn't do it. Instead, here's the after:



Spider Tree

There is a large fir tree in our front yard. It was so close to the house, it literally pressed on it. An inspector told us that it would eventually have to be chopped down, as it would wreck havoc on the house. We decided to just trim the branches which were touching the house--rather than chopping the whole thing right away.

So we started with this:


And we started chopping branches.


And then we discovered something horrific: old pine needles literally two feet deep below the branches. Which emitted strange, green fumes and set forth hundreds of wolf spiders when we tried raking them.

Blehuhuhchu. That's the sound I made. Over the course of a weekend, we alternated chopping branches with exorcising the pine needles using a snow shovel and garbage bags.


Once the trunk was naked from seven feet down, we called it quits.

Landfill cleanup

One thing we did notice during the initial walkthrough was this:


A large pile of junk, garbage, and rotting wood. "No worries," we thought. "That'll be gone before we move in! Yay!"

But guess what was waiting for us once we moved in.


Another weekend of hauling garbage to the curb and further testing our garbageman's boundaries.

Kayden's New Room

Finally, a fun project! Kayden got his loft bed about four years ago:



For those not in the know, a loft bed is basically a bunk bed, except instead of a bed on the bottom, it's just open space. Or you could think of it as a bed on stilts.

Anyhow, the loft bed was fun and novel when Kayden was a little boy of eight. But now he's a strapping young man of eleven and the loft bed has lost its appeal. Every night, climbing up and down a ladder has started to wear on him. Moreover, his new room has a lot less space than his room at the old apartment, so we were facing a serious organizational dilemma.

So I came up with a brilliant idea.

We took out the mattress from the loft and measured the area:


Then we had a piece of heavy plywood fitted (albeit very tightly fitted) to the area:


Keene bolted the plywood to the metal bars, using carriage screws, nuts, and these weird metal things:



Then we lay down a rug which appeared to be made from the fur of a Muppet.


Maia did the honors of smell-testing the new carpet:


Keene built a wall-hung bookshelf, which was promptly filled to bursting:


When times got hard and our motivation wanned, Kayden pushed us to keep going:


And gave his approval of his new reading- and play-nook:


Lastly, we moved Kayden's mattress (temporarily on the floor) to underneath the loft and his desk against the wall. I wish I had taken a before picture to show what a huge change this was and how much space it created for him. Next time, next time.

Bitter o'Clearance.

If you haven't been by my Etsy shop lately, you are about to miss out on an awesome deal. For a long time, I've wondered how to make my shop look more cohesive. I liked the variety, but at the same time, it was a little too chaotic with too many product lines.

My first step was to ditch the book thongs. Or rather, to move them to their own Etsy shop. I'm not really feeling them right now, but I don't want to quit them entirely. So there they sit until I decide whether to start promoting them...or to just kill them already.

My next step is actually happening right now. I thought about which items were making my shop look cluttered. Which items didn't have that "Bitter o'Clock" look about them. Which hats had been hanging around since before I developed my own style.

It was actually easy for me to spot them. They weren't quirky, strange, or random. They were just hats. Nice hats, sure. Well-made, okay. But just hats. So, I decided these were the ones that had to go.

To ring in 2012, I am discontinuing some of my older products. From now until Wednesday, January 11th, all items in the Clearance section have been marked at 50% off the normal price. Yes, this includes the custom orders. But this is first-come, first-served. I will not be re-listing anything.

On Thursday, January 12th, they will be marked down an additional 25%...by only for a few hours. By Friday, January 13th (wooooooooo), they'll be gone. Vanished into the ethers of Etsy. For-ev-er.

There you have it. Pop over to my Etsy shop to see if any of those hats tickle your fancy or anything else.

How to Make a Hat-Stand for Less Than Ten Bucks

I hear tutorials are popular on blogs. But I also hear that I don't really know how to make a tutorial. So instead, I will give this a tutorial title, but just show you this cool thing I made. My readers are smart: I'm certain they can figure the specific steps for themselves without proper instructions.

As a hat-maker, I've always struggled to find a good way to display hats for craft fairs. I started out by laying the hats flat on the table. That's a great way for people to not even see what you are selling.

Then I added some of those creepy, white Styrofoam heads into the mix:


Another time, my friend and I tried a stand-up lattice idea. It was a way to show off the hats vertically, but it seemed awfully busy:


Last year, I got the idea of going the shabby-chic route and displaying them on vintage candleholders:


Again, not a bad idea, but the table seemed just a little too shabby, with not enough chic.

A couple weeks, I began thinking again of ways to display those damn hats. I wanted something simple, something bright. Like me, you might say.

I went to Michaels for the materials, though Keene suggested Home Depot would probably be cheaper. Here's what I got:


Wooden "plaques" in various shapes - $2.00-$3.00 each
Acrylic paint in various colors - $.59 each
Wooden dowels - $.99 each
Wooden discs in large and small - $2.00-$3.00 each
Wood glue (already had, but is probably around $2.50)

First things first, I drilled a hole partway through the bottom of the discs, so it didn't actually penetrate the other side. I did this while holding the power drill in one hand and the disc in the other hand. This part scared Keene. But you know, some people just don't take enough risks when it comes to power drills and hands.


When all of the half-holes were drilled, I used what Keene insists is not a hacksaw to cut the dowels into varying heights between 9" to 24" tall. Then I wood-glued the drilled holes, and hammered the dowels in with a rubber mallet:


I also used a level to make sure the discs were level, because that would have been an embarrasing tutorial if they weren't.


Then it was time to paint:


By the by, if you're going to also buy paintbrushes from Michaels, don't go for the cheap ones unless you want little hairs stuck in your paint. I ended up using a clean kitchen sponge after realizing this.

After several coats of paint, the hat-stands were finished! Hooray!

How to Fail on Etsy: Clutter in the Background

I've become an Etsy photo snob over the last year, because one can't browse through Etsy without finding some cringingly, eyebrow-raisingly bad photos. The item itself could be beautiful and of high quality, but a bad photo makes it hard to know this.

You may wonder, what makes me think I'm an expert on product photos?

Well, I have eyes. It's true. And they are even good, strong eyes. (And stunning, I might add.) So when I see these photos, I rely on my good eyes to say, "Wowie, that is a really bad photo."

I am not a photographer. I like taking photos, but they are never going to be of hanging-on-living-room-walls quality. I'm okay with this. We can't all be professional photographers, but we can take decent product photos for Etsy.

Remember that bit about being a photo snob for the last year? Well, before that, I was the seller who gave more thought to the dirt under my fingernails than to the photos I listed online. Then I wondered why my awesome stuff never showed up on the coveted front page of Etsy.

What makes a bad product photo? Last month, it was bad lighting and shadows. Today, it's clutter.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean actual clutter, like dishes on a kitchen counter or your kids' backpacks and jackets laying on the couch. More commonly, it's simply the visual clutter which is taking up space in your photo.

As a potential buyer, you try to focus on the hat. But then your gaze keeps drifting to the glowing light and dark vortex of a hallway in the background. You stop wondering how you'll look in the hat and start wondering if the person is in a cellar. Maybe she is trapped and being held for ransom?


I remember coming across a baby blanket for sale on Etsy. The workmanship appeared to be top-notch. However, I couldn't tell you anything else about the blanket, such as the color of the yarn or the design. But I could tell you about the bedroom in which it was displayed: from the hollow brass headboard and the box of Kleenex on the nightstand (hey! I have that same box design at home!) to the traditional country-style quilt on the bed.

You may be asking, "But if the room is clean, what does it matter?" There are two reasons why you should keep the background uncluttered: 1) it keeps the focus on the product, 2) simply put, it's more professional. Could you imagine browsing a catalog online and seeing the model standing in a bedroom with the blinds half-drawn, a cat walking behind her foot, and a cobweb hanging from the ceiling fan? Of course not. Professional product photos are created in controlled spaces, with the photographer considering any possible background clutter.

While we all know Etsy is a place to buy goods directly from the maker, buyers still want to know that they are dealing with professionals. There is nothing professional about, "Hey, this is the Kleenex I use to wipe snot from my nose while working on the hat which you'll later wear on your head." Or, "Hey, I don't make my bed and I just throw dirty clothes on the floor...but don't worry, I take great care of my products!"


(Don't worry...this photo didn't actually make it onto Etsy.)

So enough with the criticism, what can you do to declutter a shot? It can be as simple as posing your item in front of a blank, empty wall. The plain white background is really popular on Etsy because it won't detract from the product and because it produces a super clean shot. Nevertheless, I like bright, bold colors, so I use a ghettography prop: posterboard. I bought posterboard in several vibrant colors from an office supply store. Then I either prop the boards against something or pin them to the wall, depending on where I need them.

This is what a typical setup looks like:


My "photo studio" is on a desk in my bedroom, near a window where I can take advantage of the natural light. From afar, there is definitely clutter. But that is not what will be in the shot. Instead, the customer will only see something like this:



Nevertheless, the background doesn't have to be empty or a solid color to be uncluttered. Incorporating a pattern into the background can enhance a photo. For example, Etsy seller Bridal Brick Row uses a brick wall background in each photo:


Pixel Cloud uses a soft, sedate wallpaper to accent the shop's vibrant prints:


In closing, be mindful of the background, know and control what your customers will see, and make sure your product always remains the focus of the photo.