Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Annie Lesperance Jewelry

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Look what I found this week in the Try Handmade Inbox.

Annie Lesperance: As far as I can remember, I always loved to create things. But it is when I discoverd jewelry making that I knew what I wanted to do. I am still learning new techniques every day and this is the part i love the most about metalsmithing…Sky is the limit!
All my jewelry are entirely handmade using sterling silver, stones and pearls. My inspiration comes from nature and organics forms and I like to experiment with different textures. I really love to create beautiful jewelry for people to enjoy

Interview with Sally, Sally Rags

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[hLeah]

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Sally of Sally Rags lives in Salem, Oregon. She and her husband, Jim have three kids, all adults now, and two dogs, a Doberman named Dave and a Black Lab named Wanda. Sally loves flowers, butterflies, and bubble baths and surrounds herself with fabrics and yarn. Her store is filled with wonderful things she’s made from recycled yarns and fabrics. Check out all her items at her store.

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Time and Tide Photo

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Good photography is about timing and patience waiting for the perfect lighting or the clouds to be just so, something that Time and Tide Photo does well. Time and Tide Photo was created by a husband and wife team of Emily and Jayson. Emily has always had a love of doing crafts and has dabbled in painting, and ceramics, besides photography. She has been doing photography on and off for about 12 years and first got introduced to film photography in high school. She started doing digital photography after taking a class in college. Jayson has just recently, in the last year gotten into doing photography. Friends, family and coworkers have asked to buy photos and suggested that they sell them. So they decided to give it a try.

Influenced by Ansel Adams’ photography, their subjects are often landscapes. They also like to keep up with current photographers on Digital Photography School.

Our photos are created because we love to take photos. In every photo we take, we enjoy the subject or place, the composition and the lighting. We do not take photos because we think that they will sell or make money, we do it out of passion and instinct. We think that the positive energy, creativeness and passion shows through in the final products. People should buy from us because they are supporting local artists, and because they are getting a unique piece of art. Larger retailers create mass produced products purely for profit.

When not working on their photos, Jayson works full time in banking and Emily is a full time Mommy and also works part time in retail. You can get more information from their blog and you can view Emily’s Flickr stream and Jayson’s Flickr stream for more great photos.

Tara Turner

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My name is Tara Turner and I am a fine art photographer and digital artist who has a driving passion to capture the beauty of my surrounding environment, whether it be a misty landscape, a moody sky or an old brick wall with a hundred stories to tell. I focus on combining my two favourite genres of photography- landscape and urban. By merging these two mediums I hope to make a statement about how as people we affect the environment around us. As well I hope to evoke emotion by creating a visually appealing, unique and imaginative piece of work, as ultimately in the end, some things can’t only been seen…they must be felt

Dealing with Infringement: Part Two

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Last week I talked with Eloise of HidenSeek who found herself in the unfortunate position of having one of her designs copied by a large retailer. My post certainly captured your interest, and I found that a lot of you are concerned about finding yourselves in the same situation as Eloise, Gemma Correll and Laura of SheDraws. This week I share some of Eloise’s tips for handling suspected infringement.

1. Protect your work from direct duplication

If possible, watermark photos and images in your online shops. While this may not completely deter copyright infringement, it means that any images taken directly from your shops will be easily identified as yours. “I started putting a watermark on the images in my shop very early as a first step,” says Eloise. “I understood back then too that it is pretty impossible to protect your work from copying. The watermark for me is just a sign to big companies that you are willing to protect your intellectual property and of course they become unable to use the ‘I didn’t know it was copyrighted’ defence.”

2. Gather support from other artisans

As I learned from your comments last week, infringement is a huge worry for a lot of indie designers. There are numerous communities and even a Facebook group dedicated to identifying and stopping copyright theft. “The support that was offered to me so freely and the abundant kindness shown by thousands of people back then, still fills me with the warmest emotions whenever I think about it. I learned that people are willing to put themselves on the line for a perfect stranger that has been wronged and that when we the little people band together we make an unstoppable force.”

3. If you suspect infringement, contact the individual or company immediately

“When you are dealing with individuals…let them know of the problem and seek for a calm and quick solution, they will probably want to avoid any stress and trouble, just as much as you. If they show great resistance or indifference to your plea, you could treat them as a company. Companies will seldom reply to your personal plea. You should still immediately let them know of the problem and be very diplomatic about it, so no rough accusations, just ask for an amicable solution.”

4. Don’t back down…but keep your cool

If calm communication doesn’t work, don’t feel defeated. “Feel free to make your problem public and find any way to apply pressure to them. You could send them a proper bill for your services that they so conveniently appropriated or you could take them to a small claims court (that’s what it’s called in the UK at least and you don’t need a solicitor for the procedure). I wouldn’t suggest you go for a proper court case unless you are rich or can find a no-win no-fee lawyer. Even then, expect an excruciating few months, legal proceedings are a very tiring and dirty business.”

5. Don’t let fear of infringement ruin your passion

Particularly when you’re feeling powerless, it’s easy to think ‘It’s not worth it’ and call it a day with crafting – but don’t! “All in all, you can’t do much to protect your work, other than lock it in a box and never open it again. Since you are going to show your art to the world, might as well go all the way! The more your art is seen, the easier it will be to defend yourself if the unfortunate happens. The fact that everyone could see I had sold the specific artwork on Etsy months before Paperchase produced their own copy, made it very clear in everyone’s eyes that I was the one being copied.”

Have you got questions or simply want to share your experience? Post in the comments section below!