SECRETS TO A NATURAL SHELFIE
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Sometimes people think that they canโt have everyday things on a shelf โ they think they have to have tchotchkes, which honestly can look a bit weird. Itโs nice to have things that really do need to be stored on a shelf, but mixed with prettier or unexpected things like wood flowers which come in different heights and sizes and add a woodsy texture to a still life. If youโre going to have books, donโt have just one book, but a nice hefty stack. Collections of things are great, and objects of varying height โ when things are the same height, it looks terrible. You also canโt have things that are all wispy and soft. You need a mixture โ of feminine and masculine, hard and soft, and then oversized things to ground it. |
โMIX FEMININE AND MASCULINE WITH HARD AND SOFT. THEN ADD SOME BIG SCULPTURAL THINGS TO GROUND THE PICTURE.โ |
ANCHOR THE SHOT WITH SOMETHING SOLID
Sometimes Iโll use a chain in a shot because I want something a bit more solid, and the plus is it falls in lots of different ways. You also hang it or use it as an extra-large bookmark. Or Iโll want something that will kind of hang off the shelf โ something that can kind of snake around things. Everything else in the typical shelfie is piles of books or a vase or a plant, so itโs kind of nice to have an amorphous shape that you can drape on the shelf.
THINK OF TRAYS AS MINI-STAGES FOR VIGNETTESI love a tray. Instead of having a vase on its own, you can make more of a statement if you put several smaller things together on a tray. |
โI LIKE A TRAY FOR CONSOLIDATING THINGS, FOR BRINGING SMALLER THINGS TOGETHERโ |