I wanted to address a couple of questions that came up regarding the light box. I also should say that this set up will work for jewelry or any small item, not just beads.
Jael asked, “What’s the red thing at the top, Chris?”
The red thing at the top is a heavy duty clip that holds the wooden dowel in place, which the lights are clipped to.
Regina commented, ”
Hi Chris,
thanks for sharing this info. Isn’t it amazing what some creative juices can produce?
I use the same type of lights. We picked them up at Lowes. Any of the big-box home improvement stores will have them.
How many watts are your light bulbs? I’ve got the daylight fluorescents in my work lights so they don’t get so hot. I’m using tracing paper as diffusers, but I think your plastic box works better.
Did you buy the gradated paper or did you print it yourself. I think I could format one with my photo editing program.
Thanks again!”
I’m using the compact fluorescent light bulbs (doing my part to use less energy 
) and they are 25 watts, which is equivalent to 100 watts for incandescent bulbs.
I just printed the gradient paper myself. You can easily create one, just make sure it’s saved at a high dpi for printing.
I will find my gradient file sometime this weekend and post it for those who don’t know how to make one.
Here’s a gradient image you can print. Click on the image for the full-size image to print, or right click and click “save target as” to save the image to your computer.
My goal today is to get everything gathered and added up for taxes. I’ve been putting it off, but it’s like a big storm cloud hanging over my head…..
I’ll be back Wednesday with Part 2 of the photo series.
thanks for the further explanations!
I have to work on my taxes, too.
Bah, humbug!