Time Capsule: August 2008

It was three years ago this month that Inspirational Beading began, and I started on a journey that seemed so small at first. Four hundred and fifty posts later, I can hardly believe how much this blog has grown. My original concept was simply to share what I was making, what inspired it, and the materials that I had used. But new ideas kept forming, and now Inspirational Beading has so many regular segments that I can barely fit them all in every month.

One of my favorite things about blogging, is creating a stamp in time - a reference to what was happening at that moment. It’s fun, and sometimes a little scary, to go back and review old posts. For me, it’s wonderful to see how much my designs and photography have improved, along with my skills as a blogger.

To celebrate how far Inspirational Beading has come, we’re going to go back and take a look at some posts from three years ago, and how different they are from what you’ll find here today. There were only three posts in August 2008, and all of them were part of the original concept: The Inspiration, The Beads and The Beadwork.

The difference in photography style is very noticeable. Since then, I’ve made changes to everything from backgrounds and lighting, to angles and props. Although I still use metal coasters as bead cups when I’m working on a design, it’s been a long time since I used them for photographing bead palettes. After awhile, the glare off the metal started to get to me. I much prefer the small, clear cups that I use now, which make seed beads look more full, and displaying accent beads loose against the backdrop.

I experimented with a lot of different background materials, including cloth, felt, paper and mirrors. None of them really produced nice photographs, especially with poor lighting. Today I’m really happy with the textured black posterboard and indirect sunlight approach. The third photograph below was taken in April of 2010, as part of the 6th Photo Game. I re-photographed the beads from one of my original posts to show the difference in style and quality. Today, I’m happy to report that I finally used up that bead mixture!

Do you ever look back on old blogs or journals and compare them to today?

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook