This is our second Wendy to be featured in The Loopy Limelight. (Our first Wendy was here.) Today’s Wendy has actually been one of our Loopy Photographers for over a year now. There is a lot of yarn coming and going from week to week, so WH (my Wonder Husband, who had been the sole Loopy photographer since Loopy began) trained Wendy on photoing yarn awhile back. WH still comes in in the evenings and on weekends and does all of the actual color-correcting and some of the photoing, but Wendy preps most of the yarn and takes photos during the week. She also has a very fun jewelry shop on etsy that I’m partial to, but I’ll get to that in a minute…
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Loopy: Hi Wendy! So, tell us the truth – how do you feel about photographing allll of that yarn every week? And what’s the hardest part of your job as one of the Loopy photographers?
Wendy: Hmmmm.  How do I feel?  Walking into the photo room is like walking into a rainbow.  Love it!  The hardest part?  Perfection.  Creating a technically accurate representation of yarn colors and textures is a challenge I enjoy each week.  It may be hard but it is rewarding when we succeed.

Loopy: It is pretty fun to come to work in a place that has so many colors – I agree! What made you interested in taking up photography in the first place?
Wendy: I was born with a camera in my hand!  My mother instilled a love of all things Created and taught me well how to live with a camera in your pocket to capture the moments in life worth remembering.

Loopy: Do you have a favorite thing/place that you like to photograph?
Wendy: Three favorite topics… I live in St. Louis and Forest Park (downtown STL) is the largest park in the U.S., even larger than Central Park in NYC.  It was host to the World’s Fair in 1904 and still has much of the old world architecture in its buildings and bridges.  It is an architectural delight to photograph there. I also love to shoot at the beach, and the expressive, character-filled faces of older folks.

Loopy: And now you have a beautiful jewelry line and you get to practice photoing that.  How did you start into jewelry?
Wendy: Thank you for the compliment!  I started creating jewelry with a dear friend 8 years ago when we got into ‘remaking’ old jewelry and turning it into something chic and wearable.  Grandma’s vintage jewelry was really fun to remake.  It’s all about reclaiming beauty!

Loopy: I think that’s recycling at its best. Where do you get your ideas for your designs?
Wendy: People.  Places.  Nature. The world around us is filled with interesting designs, shadows, colors, faces, and textures.  It’s a never-ending source of inspiration!  So many rocks… so little time!

Loopy: You know, knitters feel that way about yarn and patterns, too. Do you have an area set up as a jewelry workshop?
Wendy: I do.  We’ve converted a small guest bedroom (8×11’) into a creative room and photo lab.  ‘Less is more’ for us.  Three of us can squeeze into the room at once.  We sit around a small round picnic table.  It’s great for face time with the kids and lends itself to swapping ideas and sharing stories.

Loopy: Speaking of your kids, tell us about the ‘Jitterbug Jewels’ part of your jewelry line.
Wendy: Jitterbug has been a way to involve our teenagers in the creative process.  It’s a line of jewelry created ‘by kids… for kids’.  They work alongside me creating jewelry for younger children while honing their technical skills.

Loopy: What a fun way to get them involved! Tell us about your family.
Wendy: We are ‘beach dweller wanna-be’s’ landlocked in America’s heartland.  We love the Midwest but the beach has stolen our hearts.  We have three teenagers ages 14, 16 and 19…  One attends college in California and the other two go to the same high school where my husband teaches Geometry.

Loopy: Do you have other hobbies that you like to do?
Wendy: Photography and Jewelry are both hobbies that have turned into businesses.  Beyond them I enjoy the creativity of landscaping design (code for ‘digging in the dirt’) and interior organization/decorating.  My passion finds it’s fulfillment when we (the whole family) help a neighbor reclaim their overgrown landscaping or lending a hand to a friend whose home needs a facelift through painting, sewing curtains or repurposing furniture.  Reclaiming Beauty… it’s our family’s way of life.

Loopy: That certainly sounds like a nice way to help your friends and neighbors. Back to the yarn- is it even possible that you would handle all of that gorgeous stuff all week long and not be a knitter?
Wendy: Yep.  It’s possible… maybe because I still share something in common with knitters.  We both take raw materials and create something unique, lovely and wearable that is intended to adorn and enhance the natural beauty of the wearer.

Loopy: Well that’s true.  But we’d still like to see you knit someday… Anything else you’d like to add
Wendy: I’ve worked in retail in the past but never have I worked for a company with the honesty, integrity and dedication to customer service that I’ve seen at Loopy.   Sheri is committed to her employees as much as she is to her customers.  She has created a relaxed, productive work environment and trains us well… which translates into us being equipped to do our jobs well.  For me, I’ve learned so much about the technical side of photography… it has stretched my abilities (and patience with details) and broadened my horizons.  I aspire to be a master photographer one day like her husband, my trainer.

Loopy: Awww. What a nice thing to say!  We’re glad you’re here with us every week, too. And I know that all of the Loopy customers are glad that you are spending so much time photoing the new stuff, so that we can put more up every week!

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I’m still catching up on reading all of the wonderful RAK’s that you posted on Friday’s Blog. It’s so fun to get new ideas and be inspired.  The Random Number Generator picked Angie as last week’s winner.  Congratulations, Angie! To be entered again, just find another RAK to do this week and post on this coming Friday’s blog in the comments section. We’ll announce another winner from the new comments posted there, next Monday.  Keep up the great work.

Sheri newthingsgoinguponthewebsitesooooon(Edit: now up – 12 pages of new stuff!)