Today seemed like a good day to share a little detail about the cover of Corsets and Cuffs.
First – a huge thank you to those who have commented on how much they like the cover and how well it goes with the story. That’s my goal for every book I publish (even if I miss the mark sometimes!).
Anyway, once I decided on the name of this book (which I had such fun choosing), I knew I wanted the cover to have a woman in handcuffs.
I found a graphic for the woman.
Only the dress was a hideous shade of brown. I thought I’d saved a copy of it to share with you, but (as luck would have it) I can’t find it this morning.
Anyway, I changed the color to blue and added a bit of lace at the neck because there wasn’t anything there.
The next thing I did was add the gloves with the handcuffs.
I actually ordered a pair of “old west handcuffs” and let me tell you… these things are heavy.
Not only are they heavy, but once they are latched on your wrist and tightened, they are mighty uncomfortable. I don’t know if Captain Cavedweller got them fastened too tight or it is just the way they are made, but the slightest movement of my wrist made them rub and pinch.
So now you know why Brianna is anxious to keep from getting them slapped back on her wrists again!
Anyway, I had CC put them on my wrists and take a photo of me with a pair of gloves. He’d purchased a pair of pretty rose-pink leather gloves for me forever ago, but due to the freakishly large size of my hands, they didn’t fit, so I’d tossed them in a box we keep of gloves.
However, they seemed like they’d be perfect to wear with the handcuffs, so I forced them on my fingers and posed for the photo.
And I look like I’m wearing a white shroud, but it’s just a white sheet. It’s easier for me to crop what I don’t want out of the photo that way, which was everything except the gloves and cuffs.
However, after I started playing with the gloves against the dress, I didn’t like the way the pink looked and switched the color to blue. Ah… much better.
I ended up adding a link to the cuffs to get the position just right with the sleeves of the dress, but I really don’t think anyone will notice (so, shhh… don’t tattle on me!).
Once the dress was finished I started working on the background.
At first, I’d planned to use a photo I took in Shaniko of the jail museum.
But I just didn’t like the way it looked. It was too dark, too much wood… too something!
So I went with this background instead and added the sheriff’s sign.
And that’s how the cover came to be!
