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I'm still busy taking sock photo's-it's driving me loopy! Our pure wool Mongrel Socks come in a lot of different colour's, and getting shots that show clearly the variation is proving difficult-even with my home made light box. I'm so glad I didn't go and buy one retail as I really haven't been happy with the "true" colour I'm getting. On a pure white back ground the colours look so washed out-not at all like the vibrant colour mixes they are. I know I'm probably doing something technically wrong but I've gone back to natural sunlight and taken a few shot's with a garden greenery background, I don't know why, but they just look better to me, so I'm going to post a couple here to have a look how'll they'll appear on screen. I know the back ground is not how other product's are presented online-and all the experts recommend plain white backgrounds for product shots, but I am leaning toward this greenery background for our soon to be renewed web site.

Snap happy! Argh!

Busy week here at the home of Mongrel Socks. Aside from all the usual sock making endeavours, I'm busy getting shots together for our web site update. All is not smooth sailing, who would have thought it could be so hard to take a good photo of socks. I now have a new respect for photographers, where as once upon a time, I ignorantly thought, taking photo's must be one of the worlds easiest job's, in deed it is not! I've done a lot of reading on the net about taking a good product shot, that's been very helpful. Almost all the articles I read mentioned the use of a "soft box", which I had absolutely no idea of what it actually was or where I could get one from. None of the local photo supplier's had one in stock. Lucky for me my persistant trawling of the web paid off when I found an article (site) that not only told me all about how and why's of soft boxes but also showed me how to make one! Yipee! Which I have quite proudly just finished making, I just need to get some big thumping light's and I'll be in business. Speaking of which, business that is, I better get back to something more constructive than now.

Cool Customers

Plying our wares at Salamanca Market, every Saturday, gives us a great opportunity to talk to our customers, and get first hand feedback on what they really think of our products. It's all very well to make the sale, but what we are really interested in is what they think of their purchase down the track. Are our sock's as good as we said? Are they loving them? Usually the comment's we get back are all good, the only one negative we ever get is dissappointment when they wear out. Sadly the only way to own our socks and not have them eventually wear out....... is not to wear them at all. Most hosiery company's plate their product's with nylon or other synthetic's to give them a longer life and make them cheaper to produce and are nowhere near as soft and warm as Mongrels. Our Pure Wool Mongrel socks are a one of life's little luxury's. We won't compromise on the quality of the wool we use, we want our customer's to get and enjoy what they pay for. Last week-end as happens every week-end, we had customer's rocking up wearing their Mongrels, which gives us a warm feeling, knowing they are their socks of choice. One lovely lady, was telling me she was up and around before dawn that day, heading out she realised it was colder that she thought, so ducked back home to put on her pure wool Mongrel's, knowing she wouldn't feel the cold in them. Yep, that's why they're great!

No shoe is safe!

Oh happy day! We have a new family member. A little mongrel called Ardie. After spending the last few years dog free, and missing the joy and love that a little mate can bring, we took ourselves to the Dogs Home to find a new friend. It took 6 or 7 visits to find him, followed by a home visit to check us out, and then he was ours. He's about 10 months old, so not quite a puppy but still very puppy like. A soft, shaggy and so very loving little mongrel. We have been lucky to find he's not got many bad habits-but the one he does have is he loves to eat shoes. Oh dear! We've lost a few pairs, chewed beyond redeem, and some we just can find anywhere, although their fate is sealed I think.
He has even taken to spiriting away socks, living in the house of the sock it's not surprising, I suppose. So now armed with a huge shoe storage box (with a lid), and a whole lot of new chew toy's, I think we'll be right. We are so loving the company he brings, he's a lovely little distraction in our sock making day. And very best of all I've been out walking nearly everday, which is very good for me too.