Is Flesh Best?

Before I get into the reason for the title of this post, I have some news to share. Yesterday evening just as I was sitting down to dinner I made my 300th sale. It is official, I've now met all of my current goals. I have 400 feed backs left, over 1500 hearts and now over 300 sales. So if you would, please join in a brief moment of Woo-Hoo......Alright that's enough. I'm afraid to get too excited about things for fear that the Gods will find me too arrogant and take it all away. Is there an electronic equivalent to knocking on wood? I just don't want to jinx myself.

Now on to the reason for the strange title. Well it's partly because I've read that a provocative post title draws in new readers. Of course anyone drawn in by this title will probably be sorely disappointed and never return, so I guess that it's a wash in that category. The real reason is an honest question. You may have noticed that I have, in the past, taken advice from people without using my own judgement in an effort to better my little etsy shop. There was a big fuss awhile back about folk being icked out by jewelry, clothing and other accessories being photographed on people as opposed to mannequins. While this makes a certain amount of sense from a hygienic stance particularly for earrings, it is a bit silly for most things given that we all try on jewelry and clothes in stores without a second thought as to how many others have done the same thing. However, I decided to err on the side of caution and began taking all my photos on a fake head.

Just a few days ago I finished a new necklace design and when it was done I draped it over my own neck as I usually do to look at it in the mirror. I assume that I'm not the only done who does this. Well, it looked great and I proceeded to take pictures to list it, but the pictures just didn't make the piece look right. I decided to try out a live picture and posted the result for critique and the response was overwhelmingly positive. It appears people like looking at pictures of real people. I've since taken a few new pictures of old pieces on my very own neck. The question I pose to you is, does this really help? Will people be more likely to purchase the jewelry now that they've seen it worn or is this just another waste of time?

Please take a second to check out some of the new pictures and let me know what you think. There are a few in my etsy mini in the left column or you can visit my store for a few more. Thanks so much for your time and opinions. They are very much appreciated!