A video recording experience!

I arrived home yesterday from shooting two videos at the studios of North Light Craft Books.  One is a video of basics, which grounds you in the method.  The other is more advanced techniques, but you have to wait a little bit to get more details.  I think you'll love the project!  They will both be available around Thanksgiving.

But talk about a roller coaster of emotions.  Anxiety, exhilaration, joy, warmth, support, disappointment, and success!  When you have all of those emotions rolled into one day you know what it's like.  At the end of the day you're tired, exhausted, zombie-like, wrung out, and relieved!  So, let me tell you a little bit about it.

I had been talking to North Light about doing a video since last March.  No, not March 2012, but March 2011!  I guess sometimes things need to percolate.  This was the week!  My husband and I arrived at the North Light studios in Cincinnati on Tuesday at about 2:30 p.m. with lots of tools and a mind flooded with ideas.  We found Kristy Conlin, Amy Jones (editors) and Ric Deliantoni (managing photographer) at the studio.  They helped us unpack, talked about the plans for the shoot, and then we were on our way to Thompson Enamel.  We made it at closing time, but Teresa Workman, sales manager, and Tom Ellis, enamel artist and technical guru, were there waiting for us.  A quick shopping trip for supplies and then dinner with them was the perfect end to the day.

Teresa Workman looking for some special enamels! 

Wednesday, 3:44 a.m., I'm awake!  What am I doing awake?  Geesh!  Try being quiet for about three hours so your partner can sleep while you wrangle with an internet that yields NO connection! Now, THAT'S a challenge!  Got to the studio and selected all of the materials I needed for the first scene.  Actually, I didn't need much since it was the intro, "Hello, I'm Barbara Lewis ... ", which I managed to need four takes to get right!   The North Light staff was very patient, gave me pointers and we made it through the intro to scene 1.  This is how the first couple of scenes went and then things started to fall into place.  The rest of the day went pretty well.

Editor Kristy Conlin arranging the set

Thursday, I managed to get the intro right with two takes, breezed through about four scenes.  I think the guys were shocked and, frankly, so was I!  The day went really well.  North Light did something different at the end of the day.  Kristy and Amy came on camera to take a stab at the Painting with Fire immersion method of torch firing.  Both of them made perfect beads in no time at all.  I think we might have two new converts!

I wish I had taken more photos.  If you "Like" North Light Craft Books on facebook and you'll be seeing some appear soon, plus they have lots of fun information.  This was quite the event for me.  In many respects I can't believe I'm at this point ... but in life things seem to happen so gradually by the time you're there, you're ready.