I've got yoga on my mind. It would probably be better if I had yoga in the rest of my body, too, these days, but that's another story...

I've posted several yoga bags in the shop, and there will be more posted by the weekend. I'm really proud of these bags - they are solid and sturdy and playful. I was playing with the design of a yoga mat bag just before Christmas, and love the way it all came together. The size is just right for any rolled up yoga mat, with a little room to spare. You might think that it would be difficult to put a mat into a linen bag, but it's not - I'm happy to say it slides in really easily. I've also made sure the seams are over-the-top sturdy - linen is a material that frays a lot (part of its charm, but not something you want on the inside of a bag), and I wanted the seams to be as solid as the rest of the bag. I used a technique called French Seam, where I enclosed the raw seam inside itself so that it stays together. Yup, all that extra sewing just for you, my lovelies. You can see a picture of what I mean below.

I wanted to add a bit of playfulness to my super solid bags - hence the pose appliques. To some, at first glance you don't even notice it's a pose, but then you quickly see the shape form. Why did I design them to be Olympic-esque? I wanted to portray the strength and athleticism of some of you yogis out there. And, I didn't want one particular shape to be "the magic form". We are all different shapes and sizes and strengths, and how better to portray that through the abstract idea of a shape, than excluding the other 6 billion shapes that aren't mine (whch doesn't look at all like the applique)! There are three poses right now - downward dog, triangle, and warrior 2. Those are my favourite poses - what are yours?

And for you extra flirty people: I present the "I do it downward" bag! I love having these at the craft shows and watching people read the bag and then see a smile cross their face as they catch the double entendre. My only warning? Be careful giving this bag as a gift along with my "Use me, I'm yours" or "Here, let me dry you off" tea towels, you might be in for a wild night!!! Okay, now I'm blushing.

My lovelies! I'm so excited to show you my new logo! Isn't it gorgeous??? You might be asking yourself a few questions, and I am thrilled to be able to read into your brains and know what you are thinking, and have answered all your questions below! (PS, if you have powers that prevented me from seeing the questions in YOUR brain, just leave it below in the comments and I will answer it!)

Why the change, Tania? I liked the old one!
I did too! When I was thinking about opening my online shop in 2010, I knew I needed a logo. I got all excited about getting business cards (yes, before I had even drawn out one design for anything I would sell), and hired a student graphic designer to come up with a logo. Nothing that she sent to me blew me out of the water, but I liked the flower part of the logo quite a bit. The flowers have grown on me more and more over the months and now I love them! Don't worry... I am going to keep them, and they will reappear on this site in the future, just perhaps in my new colours.

I had been thinking about a new logo since about October of last year - something that reflected me and where I wanted to take the business more than the old one. I wanted something more natural, more personal, more in tune with who I am. I entered the OMHG contest in December, and at the beginning of January found out I had won a brand new logo and branding package! The timing could not have been better!

Who came up with such a brilliant design?
Kristen Hodges of Ahoy Graphics, that's who! She sent me several questions that got at the heart of what I wanted - the feel of it, the essence, the feelings, the colours, and the qualities I wanted to portray. I talked about it being natural yet architectural, modern, whimsical, and personal. I thought I wanted a font that was more organic, but didn't like any of the script fonts out there. She suggested this lovely graphic font and I loved it instantly. I love the big A's and D's and M's and how it all bounces along on one line so very nicely.

So, what's with the giant m?
Um... I thought you guys were smart? It stands for manusmade? You know, my business name???? Anyway... Kristen came up with a sketch of the word manusmade with a script M in a circle above it. I then suggested the M could be my own M, and as soon as I wrote it out, scanned it, and sent it to her, I loved it! I love how it's my own handwritten M - inspired by my entry to the OMHG contest which I wrote out by hand. Everything that I love doing is through my hands - writing, making, designing - and as I incorporate more of my own uniqueness into my business, why not have my logo reflect that?

Why is the blue variegated?
Because it's lovely that way! I also have some one-colour flat logos that I can use if necessary, but I love the textural quality the lighter and darker tones give the circle. I call it Variation In Blue. Kristen suggested a waterpaint feel to the background and I loved that idea. After a few drafts, we found the perfectly imperfect background balance. To me, it suggests water, texture, depth, and all things organic and imperfect. Absolutely beautiful.

So. what do you think?

As a one-person business, I play a lot of different roles in order to fully run manusmade - from PR and marketing to designer to photographer and copywriter. It's great in one way in that I am learning all sorts of things about different aspects of business, but difficult in that I don't have all the knowledge all the time and I spend a lot of time on learning curves.

Photography is one of those curves for me. I love taking pictures, with composition being my favourite part of it. The technical side of digital photography? Not so good. It took me forever to figure out how to really get good white balance on my camera (Nikon D80). Lighting is difficult for me too - I don't have a ton of natural light in my house, and the times when it is light, I'm usually at my day job! Someone told me recently that many of my photos in my Etsy shop were "yellow" and dark. So. I've gradually been taking new photos for the shop.

One of the biggest changes is that I've purchased a studio light set from Henry's Photo here in Ottawa. It wasn't too much money when I think of it as an investment in my business and a tool to allow me to sell more products. It was really easy to set up, and now I've got enough good light to take photos anytime I want. Nothing beats really beautiful natural light, but now I have a great option for those times when I want to get photos up on the site and it's 10pm! The other thing I got were some pieces of whiteboard from the hardware store to use as backdrops for the wall and floor.

I temporarily set up the lights in our spare bedroom in the basement, but will have to move them to another area of the basement that is more spread out. For the smaller items, I was photographing them on the white cardboard on the floor, and my butt kept hitting the futon behind me, and there wasn't enough space to really get creative with angles. Real professional, right?

As I learn what settings work best for each product, I am 'bracketing' - basically taking the same photo a few times with different lighting settings - so, I'll take a couple of darker options, some middle options, and some lighter options. Depending on the way the photo is taken, and the colour of the fabric, some photos end up looking better than others. For example, the darker coloured linens such as red and brown actually look better with darker lighting so that the richness of the material comes through - lighter shots of the dark linens wash them out too much.

Check out these napkins, for example:

In this example, I think the middle shot has the red that is truest to the real fabric - I will probably use this one, but then lighten up the background in Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro using the Curves processing feature.

All this, to get decent shots that will look great and will give the customer a true sense of what the product will be like. It's important to really let people know what the item they are thinking of buying is going to be like when they get it in their hands.

So, now that I'm a professional photographer, what does a photo shoot look like?

• go downstairs, set up and turn on lights
• turn on heater as the basement is freezing
• turn on camera, realize the battery is mostly drained.
• wait an hour while camera battery charges
• start pulling out products to photograph
• realize they are wrinkled, turn on iron and spend an hour ironing napkins and aprons
• set up products to take photos again
• go back upstairs to kitchen to get props - cutting boards, bowls, cups and saucers, eggs, cup of coffee (for me, not for the shots)
• bring everything downstairs without actually dropping anything
• figure out which props go with which products
• bump into sofabed 45 times as I try different combinations
• make sure not to walk into reflector umbrellas, poking eye out, as I reach for different props
• finally get shot just right, take photos, do a little jump for joy
• find all the eggs that rolled out of the bowl when I did my jump for joy
• start over for each product

Finally, at the end of the day, I'm happy with some of the shots. Now, to upload them all to Etsy and write product descriptions. Talk to you next time!

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Squirrel Sick Day Print by Doodle and Hoob

Hi guys! I guess there was too much kissing after my Valentine's lovefest - one of my loving husband's gifts to me on Tuesday was his cold :( I'll be posting more over the weekend and next week - stay tuned for behind-the-scenes picture on the recent photo shoot I did to update the store, as well as my new logo to be revealed!

Hugs and sniffles,
Tania xo