Hi Judy, I believe in editing out unwanted items like dust, lint, pet hair, etc. But when it comes to elements that are part of the actual jewelry piece, it’s best not to edit them out. Some people will see nicks in the wire, etc., but in my experience, the vast majority of folks don’t see those “flaws” – they just see jewelry that they’re falling in love with. The important thing is that the jewelry is comfortable to wear and durably made. Your expert eye might see an imperfection, but to the general public, that “flaw” likely looks like a wonderful feature showing that the piece is handmade. Generally only other jewelry artists will notice most “imperfections” because we’re familiar with making and inspecting jewelry. 🙂

As far as tool marks go, they really are a drag but I remember standing in front of a Matisse I absolutely have loved forever. As I stood there, I saw all the mistakes, the muddiness of colors, the extra lines that were altereed and changed etc…
Then I thought of how I was standing exactly where he had probably stood to paint. In that instnat I became him.
Another time I showed a piece I was wearing to a shop owner and with shaking knees, I “happened” (if you believe in coincidence) to turn it over and saw my fingerprints in paint, the piece was not finished, and I was so embarassed. I quickly said, “well I thought about painting this…” And she jumped right in and said, “NO, don’t paint it. It’s perfect like this.” I took that to mean our “marks” are our marks and they make us human with human made objects. I would, too, rather that than the mall. 🙂

Tool marks are part of the beauty of hand-crafted items. If they are particularly noticeable, I may go back and texture the piece to blend the area into my overall design, but I generally don’t waste a lot of time on this.

Cat hair (or in my case, little black-and-white dog hair), fuzz, dust, etc. seem to me to be more about cleanliness. While I don’t claim my items come from a pet free environment, I don’t want potential buyers to wonder if they’re going to have an allergic reaction to what they buy. All my jewelry is cleaned carefully and inspected under a magnifying lamp before I photograph it and again before shipping. I’m debating getting rid of all the black velvet displays I have because of the near-impossibility of removing all the fuzzies – my leatherette displays are much easier to clean!

Strips of masking or packing tape are a great way to de- fur and clean velvet display boards…lay the strips down so they overlap and smooth them down with your hand. When you lift the “sheet” of tape off it not only takes all the fur, (I have four cats and fur is a way of life) dust etc with it – it also makes the velvet nap all stand up so there are no swipe marks.

I’m very curious about shooting on paper with the jewelry hanging. Does anyone have a picture of that?

A professional photographer told me that black glass was the preferred background for jewelry. The gloss background shows reflections of your piece and the high contrast makes gold, silver, and lighter gemstones pop. If your darker stones disappear, adjust the angle of your lights so the glass looks light gray in your photo. However, smooth black glass is hard to find and can be expensive. I sprayed one side of the glass from an old photo frame and flipped it over. The fuzz and fur are wiped out … with a microfiber cloth and window cleaner.