Last week I told you about the free demonstrations of jewelry-making techniques that Art Jewelry magazine will be offering at the 2009 Bead&Button Show. Well, our online homepage poll last week showed that 73% of you guys have never even been to the show!

I hear you... traveling and workshops are expensive. So even if you can't attend the Bead&Button Show in Milwaukee, WI, you can still sit in on free demonstrations from the editors of Art Jewelry.

I'm talking about our online How To Jewelry-Making Videos. You can learn all sorts of stuff by following along as Jill and I explain various jewelry-making tips and techniques.

Plus our videos are shown in extreme close-up, which is a clearer view than you'll likely get in a class anyway. Ever tried to crowd around a teacher to see what they're doing?? Me too, and it can be frustrating when they're demonstrating a tiny little wee detail and you're the one stuck at the back of the group!

 So here's a behind-the-scenes peek at how Jill and I make our videos.

Early in the morning, the camera crew of Keith, Roger, and Dave set up all the lighting around our workbench.

In this photo, Roger is using a light meter to check the lights and help us avoid any distracting shadows.

Then later, when Jill and I come in, the lighting and camera angles are checked and re-checked.  You can see that we have two cameras. That way when Dave and Roger are editing the videos together after our shoot, they always have their pick of the clearest shot – you'd be amazed how often our hands get in the way!

Luckily, to help us with that, we have dual tv screens setup just off-camera, which you can see here. They help us keep track of where our hands are, and what's shown clearly within the frame of each camera's angle.

[What's tricky though, is doing a technique, while making sure that nothing (like your shoulders or stray hair) gets in the way, while watching both tv displays, AND verbally explaining what you're doing! *phew!*

That's why sometimes it's easier to just scrap the original audio, and voice-over the video later. We don't have to do that too often though, and prefer not to - it usually turns out better if we can go with the original flow of the visual and audio together.]

In this photo, you can see me pointing out the various pliers you'll need to make a wire spiral.

As I'm pointing to the tools, my eyes are fixed on those tv screens (that's my concentratin' face ;-) ). Jill took this picture from just behind the tv displays.

 Shooting a bunch of videos — we taped seven that day — can be sort of hectic. After all, there are five of us in this little work room, with wires all over the floor, a tv cart, two camera stands, and lighting equipment setup everywhere!

(Did I mention how hot that tiny room gets with bright lights and a bunch of people after a few hours? Wow!)

But all in all, it's a pretty fun way to spend a day. We have a good time on our "Art Jewelry Soundstage." There's plenty of joking around, like in this shot, where I'm sharing a laugh with Keith. Maybe we should release a bloopers reel... :-P

We really love that we can offer videos to you guys — we know that there's no better way to help our readers learn new techniques that to show you ourselves. All or our jewelry-making videos are on our Web site. They're free to watch, you just need to be registered on the site first, which is also free.

FYI, We also have a selection of some of our videos on YouTube! Visit Art Jewelry magazine's YouTube channel to subscribe – you can get email updates whenever we post new videos.  And you can easily share your favorite videos on social sites like facebook, myspace, twitter, stumbleupon, or by embedding the videos on your own Web site or blog. Have fun with it. :)

I'll keep you posted as to when our newest videos are finished in the editing room.
Until then, have a happy Friday!

 ~Addie~