Sole Authorship

[ps_bond]

Now that is a contender for the ol' business card job description....

Molecule Shuffler!!

The hotter the work, the faster we shuffle the molecules

[Ominicci]

I can see both sides of the discussion - each to their own as they say.

So what is the opinion on those of us who can't design but like the making??
If I make something that is not my own design (but credit the designer) are my products anything less? And I don't mean copying items out there already.

[Di Sandland]

No, NIcci, (I use that to differentiate you from Nic ) I don't believe your work is any the less because I don't think you are just copying. You are using other people's designs as an inspiration in the same way that I use colours, or somebody else might use lines.

Where our inspiration comes from doesn't matter, its what we do with it htat counts.

I have a client who has asked me to make her a version of a necklace she saw on somebody elses website. I've told her that she'll get a version of it but it will be my version and that I couldn't possibly do it exactly the same as that is cheating. I think she understood - I got the commission anyway!

[Ominicci]

Di - I was actually thinking of a design challenge scenario (which has been mentioned). I have some lovely large cabs that I keep looking at and don't want to put them in a plain old bezel setting. Some of them are unusual shapes and need something a bit more, but everytime I sit down to do something with them I go blank.

[Di Sandland]

What I said still stands - just 'inspired by the work of soandso'.

Every artist gets that blank - I do it all the time in my daytime job of writing. My head buzzes with ideas, until I look at that blank page...

[EmmaRose]

I do try and do most of it myself. I don't mill or draw wire though! I make my own findings on higher end pieces. Trouble is sometimes I feel a jack of all trades and master of none.......
Em

[caroleallen]

I think if you want to make a living you have to find ways to compromise sometimes.

[MuranoSilver]

What your proposing, Peter, is a bit silly in the commercial world...that you want to do it all yourself, because that could be engraving, complex pave stone setting, precision lettering in relief only able to be done in wax by cnc, which can only be programmed with cad, then there's engine milling on a lathe...Are you really proposing, you would buy a cnc cutter, £5k and the cad software £3k and a pro casting set up £50k and then spend at least 3 years learning cad, then 3 years learning casting, because you would have to tell the customer, the silver ring will be about £60,000 pounds, and should be ready in 6 years......or do you want me to do it with lesser equipment, with less skill...but at least I can do it me'self madam.....
what about as you say, you need a catch...or a micro belcher to hang a handmade pendant on...are you off to italy to buy a chain knitting machine for £100k no by your own admission your not....
Dont forget, your buying people's skills too with outwork...often years of experience, just in one dedicated field..

Goodness Ben did you get out of bed on the wrong side this evening?? Fancy calling "Mr Bond" silly!!! You should know by now that "Q" has set him up with all that equipment and he's got the wherewithall to use it too!!! rofl.

3) a customer likes the idea of hand made, perhaps a bit wobbly, unusual stone setting techniques, again, a bit wobbly, because it looks handmade...

Darn so few of my customers want wobbly settings, guess I'll have to work on that while I'm how do you "wibble" a molecule
Peace, Love & Jellybabies
Nic x

[geti-titanium]

Hmm.... now this is a topic.

Where do I stand on this? 10 years ago I made a dramatic decision to quit making nuts and bolts (to put it simply) and focus on jewellery. The changeover was gradual, with me learning everything I could about the different processes while the company carried on with the engineering. I relied on an outworker to do certain processes - until he let me down and I couldn't rely on him to work to my standards, the more I was let down, the more I learnt until it got to the stage where I was doing everything.

But, as much fun as I was having though, you get to a stage where you can't do all the manufacturing and run the business so you have to step back from your babies to let them grow. I taught my staff the different processes and we still do virtually every thing in house with me taking more of a back seat in the manufacturing and back to running the company.

There must be nigh on 70,000 hand assembled and finished (I can't claim to call them handmade rings because of all the technology we use) GETi rings out in the field now after 10 years and I still do all of the development of new designs, everybody in the company pitches in with new ideas of how to make the designs. As long as I'm in charge we will always keep as much as possible being done under one roof - even if it's not always me doing it personally.

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Generally, I think everyone is strung out on a line with 'the joy of making' at one end and 'money' at the other. If all we want out of life is the pleasure of creating something which is a unique expression of what is within us - chances are we are not always going to find a buyer but we are going to love our hours of labour! At the other end is the need to make enough money to live on....and suddenly finding a cheaper way of producing a design means more money in the back pocket and it would be total madness not to go for the cheaper opton even if it does mean we spend more time raising orders than raising silver bowls. Somewhere in the middle region is making to commission because we partly sacrifice what we want to do to supply what the customer wants but probably still enjoy the creative process and get paid for it. Sometimes we are at different places on the line which makes for a varied career and wide experience, but where ever we are on the line we are just a little bit way from everyone else - so should we look up to or down on others? We may envy someone who is in a different position and can work toward that direction but it is a very personal choice where we decide to pitch our tent - and just as well really because it makes for so much variety - and if we are happy in our work (where ever we are on that line), aren't we lucky!!