Monday, April 20, 2009
To purchase prints, please go here.
For whatever reason, the PayPal code would not work correctly within this piece of dung blog editor. So I've extracted it out to another page. Please leave a comment if you have any issues or questions.
I have prints of Sundara Yarn up for sale, at long last! Dress up your crafting area with vibrant photos of your favorite Indie-dyed yarn!
Print Details
:: 5x7 printed on professional paper in a lustre finish, which is a matte-like finish with gloss-like shine
:: Packaged in an archival polypropylene sleeve and a cardboard backing for stability. Please recycle!
:: Delivered in sturdy photo mailers
Purchase Details
:: Each print is $12.00
:: Add 5% state tax for Massachusetts addresses
:: Add $2.00 for shipping within the US, and $4 for shipping everywhere else
:: Shipping can be combined for separate purchases made within a 2-day period. Example: if you buy one print today, then one tomorrow, shipping will be combined
:: Purchase via PayPal, at the bottom of this post
:: First 10 buyers will also receive a 5x7 flat card of "Sock Collection," with envelope!
Here are the four prints available:
Sock Collection A coloful heap of Sock yarns |
Vibrant Violets A trio of purpley Sock yarns |
Fresh Greens A trio of refreshing green Sock yarns |
Warm Golds A trio of rich coppery Sock yarns |
Purchase via PayPal
To purchase prints, please go here.
For whatever reason, the PayPal code would not work correctly within this piece of dung blog editor. So I've extracted it out to another page. Please leave a comment if you have any issues or questions.
I hope you enjoy these photos, and thank you for your support!
Filed Under: Photo Store
Thursday, April 16, 2009
State of the Knitting Address
In November I started Camden from Knitty Fall 2008. I had three skeins of Sundara Yarn in Arabian Nights (delectable combo of rich browns, purples, blacks). Rather than knit it flat, I knit it in the round and got as far as the armpits.
It's been sitting in my knitting basket since December, and is now covered in cat hair.
Rather than figure out the yoke situation for Camden - which isn't going to be hard, really, I just didn't feel like thinking about it - I decided that if I didn't finally knit with Aran Silky Merino once and for all, I was going to die. So I winded up one skein of ASM in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon and started the Just Enough Ruffle scarf.
2.5 rows and one bind-off away from being completely finished, I used up the one skein and didn't feel like unwinding another. And then I didn't feel like knitting altogether.
A couple of weeks, maybe a month passed before my fingers started to itch, itch specifically for US 1 needles and some sock yarn. Out came Sundara Yarn in Bronzed Forest which I have been stashing for awhile. It's now or never.
What is this pattern, you ask? It's a Wackadoodle sock, a strange mix of Child's First sock, some random ribbing, and slipped stitches on the foot. I didn't have any intention of knitting it other than a full-blown Child's First sock. My wandering brain had other ideas. I decided I wanted to only knit the first 6 rows to see how that would look (spirals!), but then after a few repeats of that I decided to break up the pattern and do some ribbing in between. And then as I was doing the heel I decided it might be cool to use the same slipped stitch pattern on the foot.
I would start the second sock, except the first looks so schizophrenic that I am slightly afraid of what might happen with the second...and also because recently at the bookstore, I spied Cookie A's new book Sock Innovation and snagged it without so much as opening it.
I had to start right away. Out came Sundara Yarn in Candied Chrome, also cooking in my stash for god knows how long.
This is Wanida. It is freaking brilliant. I can tell it's going to knit quickly.
But I'm not going to know for sure just yet because I just got my hands on another Cookie A pattern that I've been pining for - PINING FOR I tell you! - and I have to set Wanida aside (for which I set aside Wackadoodle, for which I set aside Just Enough Ruffles, for which I set aside Camden) in order to knit Marlene.
So that's the State of the Knitting. No. It's not pretty.
My head is very elsewhere these days.
I'm going to be hanging some of my prints at a local and popular bakery-by-day and restaurant-by-night. The foot traffic - both bi and quadrupedals - is huge here, so I'm really excited about this marketing opp. The owner doesn't care WHAT I put up, just as long as it's "big." He even wants prints in the bathroom. EEEE!
Duck and I went over one evening just before closing to do some measuring of the wall space. This is the bakery/coffee area, with my mockup of what prints will go where. Not a ton of wall space here, but that's good actually. If I have to spend another minute trying to decide which photo I should use and where and in what size, I will go absolutely mad!
The little wall space next to the sugar and cream station I think will display a framed 5x7 of Logan, the puppy I just photographed.
No it's not a big size, but I figure I HAVE to squeeze something in there. While people stir sugar in their coffees, they'll glance up and see that Logan with his baby eyes and oversized paws, and walk away with a big smile on their face. It's inevitable.
The column in between the large windows will have a 30x24 canvas of the owner's three dogs.
 You can see more photos of them here. :) With their own cupcake incarnations, they truly live the sweet life.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Pet Photography
Monday, April 13, 2009
I just did a post over at FOC about Logan, who is a very special puppy with two very special parents, J and R, who met on Ravelry!! How cool is that?! He even moved to Boston all the way from Seattle to be with her. Now that is love.
And so is this...
For more about Logan, click here.
Filed Under: Pet Photography
Sunday, March 29, 2009
I am spending most of my blogging time on my biz site now, but thought I'd drop by before to do a little cross-posting. I just finished designing a sample coffee table book for my photog biz, and wanted to share a few key pages.
I know you've seen these before here, but not in published form, right? Favorite crafty pets from our favorite crafty bloggers!
Grumperina's Kitty:
Frecklegirl's Bob:
Maritza's Malachi (her cat LG is also in the book):
And of course, Bunny and Veebs:
I love the way the book came out, and loved best of all the thrilling experience of flipping through your own coffee table book.
There is however one more print vendor I want to try. I hear their finished book product is a tad better, for about the same printing price. In the end, these books are not going to be cheap. It's all in the labor: all the time sorting through each photo, processing them, determining page layout, deciding which photo gets which layout, DOING the layout. It doesn't get much more custom than this. But if I can give potential clients a little more bang for their many buck, everyone wins.
Alas. I have no knitting to show :-( But if anyone out there is still interested in Sundara Yarn prints like the ones shown here, THEY ARE COMING. I have just come out of the R&D haze. Blergh. I wanted to offer postcards but have changed my mind. The papers used for items such as cards simply did no justice to the yarn color. I wouldn't feel comfortable charging what I would have to charge, so I'm abandoning that idea for now and just sticking with prints. Beautiful, vibrant, matte prints. 5x7s will be available soon. It's been a matter of packaging them right, and finding the time! Always a battle with the time!
Still working through your Q&As from last month! I haven't forgotten about them
Filed Under: Pet Photography
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hey dudes. Notifications have been sent out to all of the 10 winners of the FOCStudio contest, and all prints have been mailed out. I sandwiched the prints between two pieces of sturdy cardboard - it doesn't look pretty, but it works!
I will be offering the prints up for sale soon, as well as flat note cards that can be used as postcards. I hope to have these ready in a few weeks, or as soon as I get some of the logistics squared away.
Stay tuned!
Filed Under: Contest
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thank you so much for all your great questions on my new biz blog. I plan on answering every single one - eventually! The winners are those that posed the "top 10" questions. I've already started posting answers. I'll be in touch with the winners within the next several days.
Again thanks for visiting, thanks for participating, thanks for supporting. This blog - when I can devote time to it - will now officially go back to being about knitting, and knitting only.
With the occasional cat photos thrown in, of course.
Filed Under: Contest
Friday, February 13, 2009
I've gotten my hosting issues resolved and now FatOrangeCat Studio is officially rearing to go! The FOCStudio portfolio is up, the FOCStudio BLOG is up, and business cards have been distributed to neighbors. We had a fun neighborhood association get-to-know-each-other-better dinner the other night and I did bust out the cards. No one had ever seen Moo cards before, so to my delight it was a little like picking and trading Garbage Pail Kids cards as they tried to decide which card they'd like to keep, based on the image on the back. Love the Moo cards!
I'm still not 100% done with everything. There are some photos I need to add and tweak in the portfolio, some details I need to flesh out, and copy I need to write. The one area I'm having the most trouble with is the "About" section for my blog. I know I always go straight to the About section when I come across a new blog, so it's important I set the right tone. And since this is a business I must be more open and honest about what and who I am, without using any cutesy pseudonym. We're talking full names here.
But I have trouble talking about myself when not prompted. I have no idea what to say that would be interesting...and incredibly witty...and insightful...and serious. And yes it needs to be all those things at once.
So, it would be great if you could help. This is what I propose: Leave a message on any post on the biz blog and ask me a question, whether it be about photography, my favorite drink, how much VanBuren weighs, what Bunny's other nicknames are (he has a lot!), what the weather's like today, whatever. It will give me something to write about!
No matter if you don't have a specific question, just drop by and say hello!
OH and if you could make no mention of this knitting blog, I'd really appreciate it. Not that you WOULD. But in case. I'm trying to keep them separate. It's a slight neurosis of mine. ********
ETA: OH MY GOD! So many FANTASTIC questions already! I'm going to be answering them all! Keep 'em coming! - Feb 13
*******
In return, I'll be giving away 5x7 prints of Sundara Yarn. As mentioned in an earlier post, these were taken back in the summer/early fall '08 when I had the privilege of being her product photographer.
1. Sundara Yarn Stock Pile, (2) 5x7 prints and (1) 5x7 print mounted on foam core.
What does a print mounted on foam look like? This:
The board is about a quarter of an inch thick, and is extremely sturdy. Totally unbendable. It can be framed as usual, depending on the depth of the frame you use, or hung unframed using plastic or metal formboard hangers. I haven't actually tried this myself. I'm testing this out to see if I'd offer it as a product.
2. Sundara Yarn Pretty in Pink, (2) 5x7 prints
3. Sundara Yarn Fresh Greens Trio, (2) 5x7 prints
4. Sundara Yarn Violet Trio, (1) 5x7 prints and (1) 5x7 mounted on foam core
5. Asiatic Lily, (1) 5x7 print mounted on foam core
OK so this isn't yarn, but it's a SNEAK PEAK of a series of florals that I'll be working on for the spring. Next to orange cats and knitting while watching baseball, I love flowers best. At one time in my life I even wanted to be a florist. Haha!
That's (10) prints total that I'm giving away. I'm not sure yet how I'll draw winners yet, but it probably won't be randomly. Maybe the 5 questions I decide to answer get the prize, plus 5 comments...Something like that.
So stop by the FOCStudio blog anytime between now and Tuesday Feb 17 (or so), and really, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your encouragement and support!
Filed Under: Contest | Pet Photography
Thursday, February 05, 2009
I said to myself that I would consider my photog business officially launched once I got my portfolio up, my blog up, and my business cards in. All three. I've been working the last month on the site, and finally my cards have come in. They're MOO business cards and they're fantastic. I ordered just a set of 50 first, to see how they look. I picked 45 of my favorite photos, and interestingly some of them did not translate well at all onto a little card. Anyway that's fine, because I plan to order 200 next using just 20 photos so that I can have duplicates. With these 50 I'm going to have a hard time giving ANY of them away since they're all one-of-a-kind, for now.
The group of cards on the left made the cut.
Ha, I just realized I didn't take a photo of the other side. I'll do that later. Very happy with these cards. They're the recycled "Green" versions, by the way, but still sturdy.
Anyway, I'm going to rant now. The cards are in, but I am still NOT officially launched. I've been having major headaches with my site. I ignored my own favorite piece of advice - You Get What You Pay For - and went with a cheapo hosting plan from Godaddy. Beware people. Running your site on their shared server is UN.belIEVE.ably slow. As soon as I installed Wordpress for the blog, the whole thing ground to a sticky, ugly halt. It was ridiculous. I did my due diligence and added caching and compression and tweaked some configurations, to no avail. Do a quick search on "godaddy wordpress slow" and you'll get back a hefty set of results. GOD I wish I had researched this better, what's the matter with me.
When I contacted customer service they told me to upgrade to a virtual private server and then closed the ticket. I'm like, Uh I am the ONLY PERSON LOOKING AT THIS SITE RIGHT NOW. So you're telling me this plan you offer is actually unable to handle A SINGLE VISITOR? Their online admin is unacceptably slow too. They suck. Hard. And I suck for picking them. I can't wait to move and get this show on the road already.
I had a whole giveaway contest all ready too to celebrate the launch. I'll have to postpone that until next week at least. I hope you guys can contain yourselves. Harrumph.
Filed Under: Pet Photography
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