Etiqueta: tips and tricks

Green Lion Saw Frame

MartaOms
Teniu la versió en Català a sota

Since some time ago, lots of jewelers were asking me about my Green Lion Saw Frame and why I use this saw frame and not another one. So I decided to write my opinion and my feedback about it.

First of all, I want to remark that I’m working as a jeweler since 20 years ago and I have the first version of Green Lion Saw Frame. I bought mine almost 6 years ago, at the first beginning of them.

Before that, I always worked with the most common saw frame, I worked with it almost 15 years and I never felt the need to change it.

One day I started to see some jewelers I was following talking about the Green Lion Saw Frame and all of them were recommending it. So I decided to buy one because mine was quite old and decided to change it and try this new design.

My surprise was that when I started to work with it, it was so great. The feeling when you hold it is more comfortable because of its hard rubber handle and the weight is better distributed. When you work the saw frame doesn’t go to the sides or backwards like the traditional ones, so having a better distributed weight makes it much easier to saw with it.

I must explain also that I loved the design, the shape and the black colour made that I loved it the first time I saw it. But, it also works amazingly, so what else can I ask?

I just discovered this amazing video where the creator explains why he designed this saw frame and why this one is different from the others.

To finish I need to explain that I know about a very technical saw frame called Knew Concept, that it’s very interesting. I know a lot of jewelers that use this one too and they’re very happy, so here is also a photo of it and a video from RioGrande talking about it. I personally don’t have this one but maybe in future I will try it.

Style: “Neutral”

So, after these videos and information, which one is your favourite? I’m sure that Green Lion will gain lots of new fans, I’m true?

You can find the Green Lion Saw Frame:

You can find the Knew Concept Saw Frame:

<<< Català <<<

Des de fa temps molts joiers em pregunten sobre la meva serra Green Lion i el perquè faig servir aquest arquet i no un altre. Per tant he decidit escriure la meva opinió i la meva experiència sobre ell.

Primer de tot, vull remarcar que treballo de joiera des de fa 20 anys i que tinc la primera versió de l’arquet Green Lion. Vaig comprar-lo fa uns 6 anys, ben bé al principi que els començaven a fer.

Abans, sempre havia treballat amb l’arquet de joieria tradicional, vaig treballar-hi uns 15 anys i mai vaig tenir la necessitat de canviar-lo.

Un dia vaig començar a veure que alguns joiers que seguia parlaven del Green Lion i tots ells el recomenaven. O sigui que vaig decidir comprar-ne un ja que el meu arquet ja estava vell i havia decidit canvia-me’l, i volia provar aquest disseny.

La meva sorpresa va ser quan, un cop el vaig tenir a les meves mans, i vaig començar a treballar-hi, era fantàstic. La sensació és que és molt més còmode degut al seu mànec de goma i alhora el pes està molt millor distribuit. Quan el fas servir no es tomba cap als costats o enrerra com em passava amb l’arquet tradicional, o sigui que com que té el pes molt més ben equilibrat fa que sigui molt més fàcil serrar amb ell.

També haig de confessar que em va encantar el seu disseny, la seva forma i el color negre van fer que m’encantés des del primer moment que el vaig veure. Però, és que a més, funciona molt bé, per tant, què més li puc demanar?

Fa uns dies, vaig descobrir aquest video interessant on el mateix creador explica perquè va dissenyar l’arquet i perquè és diferent de la resta.

Per acabar, necessito explicar també que conec un altre disseny d’arquet més tècnic anomenat Knew Concept, i que el trobo molt interessant. Sé que molts joiers el fan servir i que en parlen molt bé, per tant aquí en teniu també una foto i un video de RioGrande parlant-ne. Jo personalment no el tinc i no l’he provat però potser en un futur ho podré fer.

Style: “Neutral”

Per tant, després d’aquests videos i informació, quin és el vostre arquet de joieria preferit? Jo estic segura que avui el Green Lion guanyarà molts fans nous, no us sembla?

Podeu trobar la serra Green Lion:

Podeu trobar la serra Knew Concept:

How to Photograph Jewelry

MartaOms

When I started selling my jewelry online I realised that I need better photos for my pieces, because photography is the most important thing when you sell online. It’s the only way the customer can see your product and have an idea of how it looks like.

So I decided to invest in a good camera and great lens. My first camera 15 years ago was a Cannon G10, then I had a Cannon G16 and since 3 years ago I use a Cannon EOS 750D. Actually the two lenses I use more are my Macro EF-S 35mm, and my Ultrasonic EF 20mm, both with 1:2.8. I’m a big fan of Cannon but I’m sure there’re Nikon and other brands that have amazing machines. I’m also lucky to have a photographer for friend (Dario Rumbo @_dazzad_) that always helped me to choose the great combination of lens and camera.

On my jewelry I use a lot of gemstones, and since the beginning I realised that the best light to shoot gemstones was natural light. I tried several times to use artificial light and light boxes but I never got the photo results I got with natural light. If you are a professional with photography skills or have a great set up, maybe you can control the light and get amazing results. But, this was not my case, I’m jeweler and all I want to explain here is my experience as a no professional photographer.

I use natural light, with indirect light and a translucent white curtain depending on the pieces. The best hours to shoot are the morning and late afternoon, because the light colour is perfect and not so intense. The cloudy days are perfect to use natural light and also the best days to go outside for a photoshoot. The clouds mitigate the light and reflections and the jewels look great.

I’m not going to talk about the sizes and the format I use because it changes a lot depending on the photos. I usually shoot in big format and change it with the edition depending on what I need.

I use Photoshop for edition. I know that it’s maybe quite difficult for a beginner, I did some classes during my jewelry studies and then I learned by myself asking to some friends and looking tutorials. There are lots of photo edition tutorials on Youtube! I also use Lightroom CC app on my phone to edit photos. This app is very easy to use and it lets you edit your photos as good as Photoshop.

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/case-study-how-to-photograph-jewelry/150875867017

Here is my experience and I hope this can help you to make better jewelry shoots. Some weeks ago I discovered and amazing article from Etsy talking exactly about how to photograph jewelry. Here is the link to this article and it maybe will give you some more information and some tips and tricks.

If you have any suggestions or questions don’t hesitate to leave them in comments. So everybody can collaborate to grow this article with more information about it.

Now it’s time to go to shoot!