June 30, 2009

My Shop is Open

This week is another turning point for me. Last Friday I left my day job to concentrate on Primoeza full time. After more than five years of studying and working and then another six months working to get this off the ground, I feel like it's finally taking flight and I have the tiniest bit of lift off. I'm far, very far away from making an income from knitting (oh boy, I never even know that would be on my list of things to do), but thanks to my extremely supportive friends and the Rayman's utter confidence in me, it felt like the right time to take the plunge.

It's been an eye opener to see how much work is involved in setting up a small label. I only have eight scarves in my shop to start with (and one has sold), so make that seven, but every step and decision has to be made consciously until I've developed experience and a visual vocabulary for myself.

For example, my main activity of late has been photographing the scarves. My computer is overrun with photos of scarves. My thought process was something like:

ok, so I should style the scarves on a plain white background so people can see them for what they are

I don't like the way that looks. I should put it on the mannequin - and outside in natural light - oh, it's turned out a bit dark


I need to show the detail


what the hem looks like


and the swing tag

actually, maybe I should do them indoors, what if it's raining the next time want to take photos? Indoor is more convenient, and the colours look warmer.


Oh, and what if i put them through the poladroid processing? Cool! But then people can't tell the true colour...


I have this beautiful fabric I borrowed from my (ex) work, maybe I could use that as a background? Should I style it like this?


And on it went, and multiply by eight.
I won't bore you further with Virgo neuroses, but you can see the final decision here.