Sunshine and Rainbows

I have decided to remove this post. Not because I changed my mind about anything I said, I didn't, I just decided it did not convey the tone I want my public blog to have. Thank you to those who commented supporting me.

Instead, I offer you this picture of a current work in progress. I recently learned Russian spiral stitch.





I am really liking the structural nature of this stitch. It's also fun to expirament with different beads and sizes and see what happens!

New Pattern: Fall Leaves

With August winding down and September about to start, it is time to start thinking of fall. With that in mind, I offer you this pattern done in some lovely autumn colors. I actually designed this ring last fall, but for some reason never got it made (I think it was because I didn't have the right green in my stash). This year, I will be making this ring for myself and possibly for others. In other news, I am still working on my project for the Bead Soup Blog Hop. I am liking the ideas so far, we will see how execution plays out. I have also had 5 separate bracelet orders in the last 2 weeks (WOO!) all through people that I work with. And finally, I have great hopes of selling the Fairy Branch Necklace soon. Someone I work with has expressed an interest in buying it for a daughter who likes to work RenFest. I am also hoping to do some studio cleaning of the long weekend, so next week I may post some before and after pics. Maybe.

Quote: Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

8 Bit Rings

So, after much debate, both internal and external, I have finally decided to open a separate Etsy shop just for my rings. I give you 8 bit rings. Only a few items listed right now, but over the course of the next week or so, I will be adding more. Some you have seen, some you haven't.

So, why the new shop? A lot of reasons.
1) Branding. I really feel like my rings are a product that I bring the most of myself to. As such, I feel that I can really develope a specifc brand around them.
2) Pricing. I have been badly underpricing my work. While my prices covered materials, they did not adequately cover the time spent creating a piece. This move allows me to alter my prices to more appropriately reflect my labor, without too much sticker shock.
3) To generate interest on Etsy. My original Etsy shop never really seems to get much traffic. I am hopping that the rebranding, the specialization, new pictures and descriptions will help generate more interest and traffic for my shop.

So, feel free to go take a look at the new sho and leave some comments with any feedback you might have. All opinions are greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Quote: In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.
David M. Ogilvy

Bead Soup Blog Party!

So, I already mentioned that I have joined the Bead Soup Blog Party this year, and today I recieved my bead soup! YAY!And since my partner, Sarah Elder of My So Called Junky Life, has already recieved her package from me, I can show you both! Since I forgot to take a picture before I sent, I am using the picture she posted. Here are the mystery items I sent her:



And here is the package I got from her!




Love the pretty bag it arrived in. Love the things in the bag more. So not my normal style, but that is the point! I am really looking forward to playing with these! I have a couple of custom orders I have to finish first though.

Also on the horizon, I am trying to pull together a Talk Like a Pirate Day blog hop. This would naturally take place on Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19th. The idea is that participants will make some lovely pirate booty and then share in a blog post done pirate style! Should be fun! (I hope...)

Quote: 1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007), Breakfast of Champions

Black velvet and that little boy smile...

I like the music of Elvis Presley. I am not fanatical about it. But say what you will about his life or his death, that boy could sing.



In addition to making a really bad ring pattern of Mr. Presley, I made a Dead Elvis treasury on Etsy. It is truely amazing how much Dead Elvis stuff is out there. Amazing.



Quote:
Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high
Mama's dancin' with baby on her shoulder
The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for

Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave
White lightening, bound to drive you wild
Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl
"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for

Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Every word of every song that he sang was for you
In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon, what could you do?

(Guitar Solo)

Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

If you please, if you please, if you please

Black Velvet by Alanna Myles - 1989

Craft show follow up and Bead Soup Blog Party and a fishy!

First, the Kansas Etsy Team blog today features pictures from our trunk show. Check it out to see a really bad photo of me and some great photos of some fellow crafters!

And B, I will be participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party for the first time this month! I am very excited. My partner is Sarah Elder of My So Called Junky Life. She does some beautiful jewelry made from vintage odds and ends, as well as restoring/altering larger pieces like frames, tables, and such. I really enjoyed browsing her blog and can't wait to see what she makes with the mystery items I sent her!



And finally, in a bit of non-beady craftiness last week, I loom knit a fishy tawashi. Thank you to Brenda Myers of Loom Lore for the pattern. It is not up on her blog yet, but it should be soon.



Quote: Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.
Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)

My first craft show

Over the weekend I got to attend my very first craft show! It was a small, local trunk show with members of the Kansas Etsy Team. I made a whopping $40. Well, not really, after buying lunch, drinks, some last minute items like a cash box and reciepts... *sigh*.

I will say that it was very much a learning experience for me. I got to visit quite a bit with the other vendors, get feedback on my display (it sucked) and on my product(they liked). I got to have some good business discussions on things like "is this a business or is it a hobby?", "how to price in a bad economy", and my favorite "variety of product is nice, but the money is in a niche market".

That last one really made an impression. It made me realize that the one thing I really love making is my beadwoven rings. I am good at it, and I feel I bring a lot of design to beadwoven rings that wasn't there before. That said, going forward I will be making more rings and do less playing with other techniques. I will also be rebranding my rings, so look for that announcement in the near future!

I will leave you today with a picture of my sad little table. Feel free to offer any comments or advise.



Quote: In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.
David M. Ogilvy

EtsyBeadweavers August Challenge

The voting is open for the EtsyBeadweavers August Challenge - Summer's Juicy Friut! I didn't get an entry in this month, but there are some lovely ones to choose from, so go pick your favorite!

Quote: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

The obligatory copyright in regards to jewelry post

NOTE TO READERS: Since I first wrote this post, I have found new information that copyright does not apply to patterns. This makes total since when you think about it. However, I still feel that if you want to be a jewelry artist and not just a jewelry maker you should work on creating original designs. You will feel better about yourself if you do!


Copyright. ©. Lawsuits. Courts. Fines. Public humiliation and spiritual distruction.

Yeah. Not.

Copyright is the simple concept that if you created something, it is yours and no one else has the right to copy it without permission.

Let's examine that. First you have to create some 'thing'. An actual tangible thing. A painting, a recording, a printed text, a photograph, a bracelet... something. And it has to be something that you created, that didn't exist before, something unique. Not easy.

Your reward for creating this thing, whatever it is, is that no one else can copy it or profit from it but you. Except when they can through Fair Use (more on that later) or when you give them those rights.

So, you created a thing and it is yours and no one else can copy it unless you say so. MINE!

So, that seems simple, right? Until you start asking questions.

1) How do I know what I created is unique?
2) How do I prove I created it first?
3) How do I keep other people from copying it anyway?
4) What do I do if someone says I copied their item?
5) I made it/own it, I should have the right to sell it!

Ok, that last one wasn't a question, but still a valid point.

1) How do I know what I created is unique? - You don't. You might be able to reasonably assume it based on the fact that you have never seen anything like it before, but unless you have seen everything... well, you just don't know for sure. I suggest research to see what else is out there.

2) How do I prove I created it first? - The easiest way is by publishing it. This is basically publicly declaring that you have created something. Publishing comes in many forms these days from the traditional books and magazines to gallery showings or performances, to blog or flickr postings. Basically, any thing that allows you to shout forth to the masses ,"I MADE A THING!".
Alternately, you can fill out a form and give the goverment some money and they will make a note that you made it. Whichever.

3)How do I keep other people from copying it anyway? - You don't. You can discourage copying by including copyright statements or symbols on your blog, book, or flier. You can enforce your copyright by bringing legal action against those you find who did copy. You cannot prevent infringement.

Just a note: if you never put your thing out there in the public view but you run across another just like it, it's probably not a copy. It may even turn out that yours is the copy and you just didn't realize it.

4) What do I do if someone says I copied their item? - Well, did you? Sometimes, our minds work in weird ways and will dredge back up things we saw long ago with no context so that we think they are original ideas... but they aren't. If that happens, apologize. Remove the offending item from public view. Try to do better next time.
If, however, you deliberately copied something thinking you would never be caught and that you could make money off of someone else's creativity - go hire a lawyer cause you are probably getting sued.
If you think it was actually your idea first, say so, show your proof, stand up for yourself. Hire lawyers as needs dictate.
If none of these apply, you may have had a parallel evolution of an idea - this is where two or more people come up with the same thing independantly. In that situation, try to work with the other person to see what, if anything, can be worked out.

5) I made it/own it, I should have the right to sell it! - Yes, you have the right to sell things you have made, or things that you own. You do not have the right to make for the purpose of sale things for which you do not own the copyright. So, if you made one for yourself two years ago, but now want to get rid of it, that is ok. If you made five just so you could sell them, that is not ok. And if you are selling that one off item you no longer want, go ahead and credit the designer - it's just polite.

Additional things to think about:

Fair Use - the copyright laws allow for fair use of a copyrighted item for things such as education and satire. It is highly unlikely that either of these will apply to jewelry makeing - well, unless you are entering the Ugly Necklace Contest - that would count as satire. Oh, you thought education meant you could teach someone else's design? No, it means you can use someone else's design to illustrate something else you are teaching - such as use of color, or shape. You can't actually just teach the design itself.

Derivative works - the copyright laws state that when you own the copyright on a thing, you own the right to make derivative works. This is things that are based on the first thing. In jewelry, this would be making the same bracelet in a different color or with a different focal. The basic rule is that if you can tell it was based on something else, it is derivative.

Components - some people think that while you can't use the whole of a work it is ok to use components from the work. It's not. Copyright protects a work in whole and in part. So, if that bracelet you see in the magazine has a really cool and unique beaded clasp, it is not ok to use just the clasp on some other bracelet of your design. Turns out Cinderella's stepsisters were right, it's not ok to take pieces from others even if they look good in your new whole.

You may now be thinking that you should never again look at any designs by anyone else, just so you can never possibly be accused of infringing. That is certainly one path. The other path is to look at other's work with an eye to inspiratation rather than instruction. Don't look at a piece in a magazine to tell what a bracelet will look like, look at the piece to tell you how a bracelet can feel. Do you like the bracelets that are loose and drapey, or the ones that fit closer to the wrist? Do you like the dark color combinations, or the lights, or a mix? Do you like the chunky look or the elegant? Take these thoughts and create something of your own with a similiar feel to that magazine piece, but that is unique to you. It will make you an artist.

Quote: Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)