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Posted on 08/27/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Handmade product photography: Tips!

Handmade product photography Tips from Fair Ivy For people who hand-make products, putting your best foot forward in product photographs can make all the difference in an potential customer’s decision. Here’s our little guide to simple, inexpensive, and beautiful handmade product photography.

Get that perfect photo!

Handmade Product Photography:

Products generally stand out better if your background is not too distracting. Simple textures on the floor (e.g. a nice wood table, bricks, a tablecloth) work really well. You don’t need to try and be crazy unique with your background.
Take your photos in an area with indirect natural light. If you are outside and you look at the floor and your shadow is really faint or not there at all, it’s the perfect time. An overcast day, just after dawn or just before dusk usually work well.
If your item is rather simple (like a bar of soap), think of adding a small garnish to spice it up. For soap, use one of the ingredients—for example, we sat the Oatmeal honey soap from our February surprises down on some actual Oatmeal:
Take a bunch of photos, in all different locations. Do some close-ups, straight-ons, as well as some crazy angles and further-away shots. You may be surprised what ends up looking the nicest.
Do a little bit of post-editing in a photo program. This doesn’t have to involve monster Photoshopping skills. On a Mac, open the image in Preview, go to Tools>Adjust Color. Try increasing the exposure just a tad (to the right) and pushing the Saturation a tiny bit to the right as well. If there are a lot of shadows in your image, try moving the Shadows bar to the right a bit. This might not work for every photo, so play around with these settings a bit.
Be sure to crop your photo so that the product is the center of attention. Crop out any messy background distractions.
Voila!

Want some help with a particular photo? We’d love to give you pointers or make quick little edits! Email : info@fairivy.com for help!

Ps. We have some other lovely examples of handmade product photography over on one of our Pinterest boards: check it out here!

Posted on 08/14/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Handmade summer tea surprise

Summertime….living’s easy! We thought that nothing could be a better pairing with our other unique handmade gifts sent in July than this artisan berry handmade summer tea from Flying Bird Botanicals.

Appropriately dubbed “Old Town Berry”, this lovely flavor sensation is a citrus berry tea hand mixed without any flavor enhancers or sweeteners—it’s all natural, baby! All the ingredients are harvested by the hand-maker from local small organic farms and her own market garden.

It’s great as a summer tea or winter tea, either hot or cold. The fresh organic ingredients include: organic lemon grass, organic raspberry leaf, organic hibiscus, organic elder berry, organic orange peel, organic lemon peel, organic rose hips (we had to look this one up—apparently it’s the fruit that comes off of a rose plant!), and organic stevia.

The artists info card gave some great suggestions for how to enjoy this gorgeous tea. It reads:

“At Flying Bird Botanicals we are passionate about crafting delicious and nourishing artisan teas. Enjoy this delightfully sweet and tangy berry blend over ice in a tall summer tumbler for a quiet moment of sunny peace. Share a glass with a friend in the spirit of summertime fun.”

Not subscribed to our surprise gift boxes but still looking to partake in some lovely handmade summer tea? Check out Flying Bird Botanicals’ shop!

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PS. Want to receive lovely handmade and hand-wrapped gifts like this in the mail every month? Check out our handmade surprise subscription options:

Posted on 08/11/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Hammered silver necklace surprise

Here at Fair Ivy we adore hammered jewelry, so we couldn’t resist featuring this lovely hammered silver necklace (sterling silver!) in the shape of a loop as one of our handmade surprise gifts in July.

Made by Grey Goose Gifts, a regular handmade artist here on Fair Ivy (because we love her handmade products so much!), this gorgeous hammered silver necklace was lovingly wrapped and mailed to our surprise subscribers in July. A dainty yet noticeable handmade jewelry item made of sterling silver, we like to wear it both as an everyday accent as well as with an elegant dress on evening outings!

Visit Grey Goose Gift’s shop for this and other fantastic handmade jewelry items by clicking here.

Posted on 07/20/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Handmade freshwater pearl necklace surprise

This gorgeous and dainty handmade freshwater pearl necklace by A Brilliant Impression was mailed to subscribers to our monthly boxes for women. We always aim to choose elegant and classy pieces, and so when we spotted this one we knew it was just the ticket for a June feature. Home-made in Texas, this handmade freshwater pearl necklace combines a freshwater pearl with sterling silver chain to create this timeless piece.

Handmade Freshwater Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

Handmade Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

Handmade Freshwater Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

….yes, that is the necklace around the neck of a Buddha statue. Why not? Also, we though people might be getting sick of the same ole neck model in every necklace photo 😛

Handmade Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

Handmade Freshwater Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

….there’s that neck again!

Handmade Freshwater Pearl necklace : Monthly subscription gifts from Fair Ivy

Love this piece as much as we do, yet weren’t a subscriber back in June when we sent it out as a hand made gift box? You’re in luck! You can pick up this wonderful handmade gift by heading over to A Brilliant Impression’s shop.

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Do you want to receive a surprise gift box monthly? Or even two each month? If so, you may want to think about subscribing to Fair Ivy. Every surprise gift is handmade and comes hand-wrapped, along with an personal note card straight from the artist to let you know about their process, business and background. It’s fun, luxurious, and you will be supporting US artists at the same time!

Posted on 07/10/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Handmade Ocean Breeze Soap surprise

What better time to feature ocean-themed surprise gifts than in the summer? This June, our gift box subscribers received three lovely surprise items, one of which was this delightfully-scented Ocean Breeze Soap by Naturally So Young.

Handmade Ocean Breeze Soap - Monthly Surprises for Women by Fair Ivy

The fantastic scent is so fresh and so clean it’s a bit hard to describe, but we know it’s visual appeal helps! This ocean breeze soap has blue and turquoise layers much like the ocean, and even a pure white frothy top, like a sea swell.

Handmade Ocean Breeze Soap - Monthly Surprises for Women by Fair Ivy

Packaged in organic kraft paper with raffia twine, this lovely handmade soap’s cute gift packaging was even embellished with a little seashell, to round off the ocean theme.

Handmade Ocean Breeze Soap - Monthly Surprises for women

We hope you liked this lovely soap as much as we did! To purchase a bar, and to check out Naturally So Young’s other wonderful products, visit her shop by clicking here.

Do you want to receive a gift box every month? Or even two? Every surprise gift is handmade and comes hand-wrapped, along with an informational note card straight from the artist, to let you know about their process, business and background. It’s fun, luxurious, and you will be supporting US artists at the same time!

Posted on 04/17/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Handmade Love #14

Love this stationary (and all the other products) by Short Grass Designs.