Marsha, Remember Form… Copyright Issues Part 2

First, Thank You for all your comments on my first post about this issue.

Unfortunately these posts are typed out…

We are not sitting having coffee or tea and brownies and talking about this in person, able to express and clarify points that may be misunderstood…

I will be trying to clarify my points as I find the time to write a bit more about it in upcoming posts. Remember, I AM in the midst of copyright infringement cases, so I have to make sure not to open my mouth too much. So these posts take more time than normal to write because I write and edit then re-read, write again (and deal with life in between)…

I also have questions and concerns about what is going on in the industry as a whole - bead and jewelry related.

What is right and wrong. What is acceptable, what isn't. Where do the lines get drawn...

I am learning & really trying to think about things as I get into this, and I want to share with anyone that wants to read about it (or maybe even go have that cup of coffee)…

And since it is Self Portrait Friday, I wanted to talk about my work and my inspirations and touch on why I make the work I do and why I feel I have a fighting chance with my copyright cases.

I thought that since I am constantly behind my iPhone snapping pictures of everything...

My Friday Self Portrait Photograph is appropriately this:

Self Portrait Friday: My iPhone and Me...

I am inspired by nature, by textures, colors, patterns, by fabrics, by architecture, there is so much out there to see if you have the time to look…

Playground equipment rust and wear… So beautiful!

I do not travel about with a sketch book in hand these days to sit and look about and take the time to draw. That is reserved for when I am able to sit and draw and doodle out textures and designs from imagery that I have captured or collected by photographs or fragmented memories of things seen.

I have two little kids (9 months and 2.5 years old) - my hands are occupied by them most of the time (not just holding them, but actually doing stuff with them and for them)...

My hands like to be in the garden, feeling the earth, caring for what grows in it and exploring what depends on it… I find peace out there...

I've got a Bachelor of Science degree in Entomology, concentrating in Wildlife Conservation.

I have a Masters degree in Art: Ceramics.

I like to observe, photograph, to interact, to teach, to explore, to laugh, to get freaked out by a passing insect that surprises me or walking into a spider web - ugh. 

To find inner happiness in the small things.

Heck, I even have a blog dedicated to my garden I enjoy it so much…

So is it any wonder that when we moved into this house five years ago - in the height of my business success, with lots of potential garden areas (there were overgrown ones everywhere), I found inspiration in being outside in nature. One time specifically after encountering earth worms that are freakishly large, wiggly, and plentiful in the garden beds here. 

I'm not into touching slimy things that wriggle all over the place, and move faster when you poke at them: and earth worms fall into that "freak me out" category. 

However, they are cool to look at, and I get a kick out of the way they eek me out. I sometimes wonder what people think as they walk by and see me doing the eww, one just wiggled on me jumping move - you know the one… 

You've probably done it too. 

They fascinate me: the way their bodies move, the way their "skin" is somewhat translucent, somewhat iridescent. And all that other cool stuff: like if you cut them in half, they become 2 (not sure about the technical stuff there), you can see some of their organs looking at them from the outside. Since childhood they have been interesting to me in some manner. I've never met anyone that hasn't had a reaction to earthworms, have you?

So thinking about their appearance of segmented bodies, the way they wriggle, their long, slender body I went into the house and did a few drawings - letting my mind fall into what I had seen and watching the lines appear on the page in front of me…

Soon after, I rolled out a slab of clay and started to carve that drawing into it, and a few hours later, hands numb from carving (I carve all at once for a uniform look), I had created a texture plate full of earth worms (see the bottom of the picture below, that is part of my texture plate)...

When I first started making pendants, I had to figure out how to make them faster to keep cost down. In earth clays, it's not the materials cost that is expensive, it's the time it takes to make something and fire it multiple times…

Carving textures like this allows me to cut many pieces from one slab of clay that I roll out on it (see the square commercially available clay cookie cutters - I use them all the time - as do many other clay artists… LOL). And those many pieces I cut out weren't all identical, but they were in fact pretty similar. You get that right - so I could create a catalog for customers to be able to order something and get what they were asking for, and give them something unique at the same time? 

It was a business move on my part (patting myself on the back for figuring that out - it was a "duh" moment in the studio).

There are many steps that follow in order to get the finished pendant to the level of quality I want my work to be at. I don't like my pieces big and chunky and heavy. Thin, beveled edges, glazed on both sides, clean small holes for stringing - that's what I want. That's how my pieces look.

So now look closely at the picture above...

Can you pick out my pieces and the ones I am calling knock offs?

Don't scroll down yet - it's like seeing the answers on a test. 

I tried to put in extra line spaces to help.

The ones with the Earth Worms texture?

Which - I must say - is a unique texture in itself.

And yes, is copyrighted by Marsha Neal Studio, LLC.

The ones that are not created in my studio are crossed out in the above picture.

Now here is another picture that my friend snapped with her phone in the gift shop in Colorado of a knock off pendant necklace with the Earth Worms Texture pendant.

Ok, wait… This one - it's different right - because someone went in and removed the lines from my drawing… Is it different enough? I would have to argue firmly NO. 

It's still my Earth Worms design - the outline anyway.

And yes - my flower design, cluster spirals, frog eggs, urban grid, and many more...

Why No? 

Well the technical stuff on taking a piece, or a picture of a piece and making a mold or copy can get a little boring (see the beads-of-clay blog if you want to learn technical insights on making clay beads - it is an invaluable resource). 

And I am tempted to actually make molds myself & photograph the steps in detail to give my lawyer even more technical evidence on how it would be done to help our case. Heck, I think it would be funny to do a bead challenge to see how many of my clay friends would want to do it too just to prove the point about the ease of making a mold from someone else's finished piece. 

Something being easy to do does not make it right.

I shouldn't even have to type that...

But just at the surface level of seeing pieces, take a look at this series of pictures for a quick general idea.

Scale is about the same.

Color is similar (again - it's a glaze - not a unique special to me thing - I am not claiming to have made up "green translucent glaze").

And you can see how the texture was removed.

You know it was removed because the actual carving is deeper (higher relief) but the outline is the same.

And if you look at the group shot a few pictures up, there are various sizes, but scale remains the same which means the mold was made from one of my larger pendants.

Oh, the molds that are used - and how they have to botch up a perfectly clean design by making molds from glazed pieces. Ugh - the loss of detail. So not pretty...

Ok, now before you continue to say: Marsha, move on, make new stuff (that is obvious by the way, and will happen as soon as inspiration is let free again and I get enough brain cells built back up after birthing 2 kids)… I can't do everything all at one time and actually have a semblance of a life outside of "beads". Because really, my life does not revolve around making art.

I don't have a point to prove.

I make beads because I like doing it…

I like making them for people to use in their beautiful jewelry designs…

I love the colors and textures of the designs and the glazes…

I am quite fond of their individual unique qualities that each firing offers...

I have to say that I made the decision to hire a lawyer after I got the many (many!) various pieces in hand, and into my studio and the similarities were astounding - definitely my actual designs.

I'm more amazed that they would just make copies, because clay is one of the easiest materials to make things from and make it somewhat unique… I mean - really?!

And it really started to hit me after I had customers come up to me at a show or email me to see if I had earrings that matched the pendant they picked up at a bead shop on vacation "because you do have ceramic pendants too, and this looks like it would match" (hello - that is because it is my design, but not my piece…).

Because over the last 8 years I made sure to make a name for my business within the bead industry by putting a ton of money & time into print advertisements, website design, and redesign, printable catalogs, new stock, new designs (again, my own drawings & texture plates), new glazes, time traveling, away from my husband, missing family events because of selling at shows, establishing relationships with customers, figuring out how to run a business and keep it afloat in a recession, teach people about what I was figuring out through Beads of Clay (our great wonderful family of clay bead makers!), then deal with some major personal losses and changes in the last four years…

I am not just going to sit here and let this just pass me by and lose any rights that I have to something I have created. This is a business. This is not a one of a kind super expensive piece of artwork that is going to hang in a gallery somewhere. 

I make and sell porcelain pendants & beads. Why would someone that doesn't realize the difference pick an $18 piece vs a $2 piece? Why would I let someone come in and just take everything I have worked hard for? I don't even allow people that buy from me at wholesale to sell regular priced individual retail pieces more than $.05 under my retail price to avoid undercutting and competition and the de-valuing of my work. I ran into an issue years back with an online store doing this, and I refused to sell them any more work. The foot went down then too...

I do not dwell on this. I do not spend my days doing nothing but mope about this situation. I have worked hard to distinguish my line of work in today's industry before this current huge boom in technology took over… By creating my own texture plates, documenting dates, copyrighting my designs, made it very easy for me to make the decision to hire my lawyer, and to give her information at the drop of a hat so she can use it to defend my work and have these knock offs removed from the market.

So I just wanted to share a bit more of my journey into understanding copyrighting your work in today's world. It's nuts out there… And unique one of a kind ideas are rare. But there are still rules and regulations to follow, even for something as small as a pendant (those little things add up). And in a world that is so lawsuit happy, you have got to protect yourself and know your rights.

I never thought I would be dealing with something like this in my life. I always think "well, better be safe than sorry and do it right - just in case". And then pray to come out of it with a fair decision and no bad karma… 

It was not me that decided to make a mold of someone's work and have it mass produced and distributed around the world. 

Someone did that to me… 

To my business...

And I am letting my lawyer deal with it…

I'm just backing her up with the details and proof…

And with that being said, I have wasted enough of my evening on thinking about this…

I hope I explained my unique situation well enough to give you better insight and thoughts about making your own work "yours".

Another post will possibly follow in a few weeks.

I will be traveling unexpectedly somewhat last minute to visit my FL family then head strong into the rest of my house/studio organization before the holidays hit.

I want this winter for making all kinds of new stuff…

Endless possibilities are hopefully on my horizon…

Thanks for stopping by!

I appreciate all the feedback...