I'm still getting my sea legs, as it were, making jewelry.  I've subscribed to "Art Jewelry" magazine and I have a growing collection of books, mostly bead and wire techniques.  Often I see a project laid out and think "oh I like that"  or "I like <this aspect> of that" and then I'll make something similar but different. At the same time I feel driven to be genuinely creative, and I have a sense of disappointment if I feel I came too close to following the project (or copying the item) too verbatim.  An example is the piece I just finished for my SIL.  I saw a pendant in one of my books that involved 10-guage and 22-gauge tinned copper wire and a round blue cabochon, with the 10-guage in a double spiral embellished with the cab and mini-double spirals of 22-guage, the embelishments glued on.  I made my pendant out of 10-guage and 22-guage brass, an oval pyrite cab,so I varied the shape of the base spiral,  and I varied the shape of the embellishment, and I used a slightly different type of bail.  On the one hand, I am proud of the piece, which turned out looking really professional IMO (and will probably post it for comment when I get some pics) on the other hand, I feel too much as if I "cheated" even though I barely referred to the "instructions".

Was I "inspired by"  or did I "steal"?

I would think it depends upon your own intent. Were you trying to learn a technique or trying steal someone's design to use as your own. Only you will know the answer. Billie

I honestly don't worry about it. I never copy someones design exactly but I find ideas and inspiration everywhere I look. Even if I were to make and sell something that was a pretty close rendition of someone elses work I find it a pretty far stretch of the imagination that the buyer would happen to have found and purchased the other makers work if only I had not "intercepted their customer". If you find something truely unique that is being made by one artist and selling well and you copy that design and go after their customers just to make money then you have my permission to feel like a horrible person.

Somewhere in history a person was the first to set a round stone in a four prong setting. Does that mean when we all do the same we are copying their design and should stop?  

I think as with any art form, if you do something different to make it your own then you would fall on the inspiration side.  I agree with the post that if you deliberately copy something from another artist because you see that it is popular is a little underhanded (well, maybe more than a little).  The exception I would think is anything that is mass produced already, but why would you want to reproduce something like that unless you did make it a bit different?

 I took a business class for the jewelry artist and we discussed things like patents and copyrights for jewelry.  According to my instructor (who also happened to be a jewelry artist), copyrighting designs is very difficult because if you change a design by at least 20% it is no longer considered the original design.  How you would determine what 20% is I have no idea, but if you are using a design that is published in a book, and the instructions for how to fabricate it are included then I would think you're free to reproduce it.

hello all,

This is an ongoing debate in many areas of life, I would say. The idea that to copy is flattering to some, and stealing to others. I do not know where to draw the line, but I am sure the debate will never be over.

Personally, I do get ideas from many sources, but then I seem to create my own unique style at the end of the day. Maybe that 20% rule is a good idea, but as you say---how can you tell how much it is in reality?

 

looking good.....south sea pearl

 

 >> According to my instructor (who also happened to be a jewelry artist), copyrighting designs            is very difficult because if you change a design by at least 20% it is no longer considered the original design.<<

This is completely incorrect information and it is unfortunate to see this kind of hearsay continually perpetuated on so many art and jewelry related forums. The actual fact is that any intentionally derivative work of a copyrighted design is infringement. Plain and simple. It is the intent to copy which makes it so. There is no acceptable "degree or percentage" of change which makes intentional copying some other copyrighted design a new work. It is still theft of intellectual property, provided that the original design has copyrightable content.

For clarification on this topic look here:  http://copyright.gov/

 

 

 

Is there a good measure of "intent to copy"?  I presume here we are talking about copying something with the intent to sell it as a competing item.

There is some much out there that has the same look that is made by the home crafts-person that it would be had to find the original source of the design. I would think that are enough public domain designs out there to keep you busy perfecting your skills to keep you busy for a couple of years without worrying about infringing on someones copyright.

To stick to the original question, the line is very obvious. Exactly  or even closely copying someones design for profit and not just to practice a technique is stealing but how many of us "art jewelry" types have any interest in that? To me it's 50% craftsmanship and 50% design. I'm not getting the full experience if I let someone else do half the work and therefore have half the fun. Design is the part I can do in my head wherever I am when I don't have time to sit at the bench.  I rather enjoy that part of the process to much to hand it off to someone else, especially against their will and at their expense.  Anyone with enough love for the craft to work hard enough to become any good will not be pleased with themselves for becoming  a master forger of jewelry designs.

 The fact that the question even occurred to you is a good sign. It shows your concern that your work has enough of "you" in it. 

bushidomosquito:

It shows your concern that your work has enough of "you" in it.

 

Yes, this was exactly what I was/am fretting about.  Even as a total newbie, I'm pretty much allergic to doing any "project" exactly as described.  

I was never really worried specifically about copyright, although selling in order to afford materials and to act as an excuse to keep creating begins to have some appeal.  However, it occurred to me that the level of discomfort I felt about this piece wasn't really responsive to any objective criteria.  Wrapping wire around a stone donut, which I also recently incorporated into a gift, isn't exactly a unique idea either, but I've seen so many different examples it never occurred to me that my variation wasn't mine.  In the case of the brass pendant, I actually referred to the original project a couple of times for help, so it doesn't feel as much mine even though I suspect the fundamental common idea isn't particularly unique either. 

I'm a bit too much of a scientist, I think, to just assume my "gut feeling" is the real criterion.

I may find myself re-making the pendant and earrings in a way that seems "more uniquely me" before gifting them.

Maybe I should clarify:  my instructor was relating a story about a signature clasp that she designed and used on all of her designs.  She happened to notice one of the mass producers in Bali or Mali or wherever they make jewelry for 5 cents a day was advertising a clasp that looked very similar to hers.  I got the impression that the response on the difficulty of copyrighting anything in the jewelry industry came when she contacted her attorneys about what she considered a blatant theft of her design.  Basically, she was told it would not be worth pursuing for the reasons I mentioned previously.

 Again, I think this was a situation in which a manufacturer was using someone else's design and mass producing it for anyone to use without any compensation to the original artist.

As jewellery has been made for thousands of years and most artists regardless of art form or medium have at some time during their learning looked at and been inspired by those that have gone before or that are around at the time the chances of some work being very similar is very high. I have used ideas and inspiration from others, where I have used a design close to one that has inspired me I give due credit to the original artist if known

I often get asked by my friends whether I can make them a copy of a piece of jewellery that they like. The answer is "yes, I can make something that looks like that, but it won't be exactly the same" I will also try to offer them my own twist or take on the piece so that they can have an 'original' design which has elements of the fashionable piece they like, but which no-one else will have, either. As has been stated earlier, I also will look at a piece from a book and be inspired, but unless it has step-by-step instructions, mine will never turn out like theirs because I too, make my own adjustments and embellishments.

I feel bad because I have made similar pieces to another artist, simply because I can make it cheaper for a friend. Should I never do it again? Well........I can't honestly say that I won't, but I do know that I can never, ever copy exactly what the artist does, I can only ever use their idea.

And I know that other people have copied my stuff too.......hahahaha. 

 

 >>I often get asked by my friends whether I can make them a copy of a piece of jewellery that they like. The answer is "yes, I can make something that looks like that, but it won't be exactly the same"<<

 When this situation arises how do you approach determining whether the object your friend wants duplicated is or is not a copyrighted design?

If the object is a copyrighted design, it is the intellectual property of another artist, and it is unethical to copy it or duplicate it. Changing it by putting your own "twist" on it does not make it a new or original design if the underlying intent is to copy the work of someone else. Intentionally derivative work of a copyrighted design is theft of intellectual property.

 

 

Michael David Sturlin:

  When this situation arises how do you approach determining whether the object your friend wants duplicated is or is not a copyrighted design?

And, you are absolutely correct...how do you determine whether it is copyrighted???? I guess the only gauge I have, is that the work is sold in commercial jewellery stores and is mass produced, by and large. I have never and will never copy work which is done by an individual artist and 'pass it off as my own', or even 'put my own twist on it' as I do understand that as artists, these ARE our ideas and as such, our bread and butter.

It is a tough call. Like someone said earlier, first there were people, then came the art created by those people, as we evolved, so did the art. There is not much new, but there are a lot of variations on a theme. Here is your task, you must create a  pendant out of three circles and two lines......  watch how many ideas are spewed forth......

Here is a bangle, can you make one just like it.... sure......but it's not what I prefer to do. I'll do it for you 'coz you are my friend, but wouldn't you like to look at something I've created myself???

 

Hi 

This is a really interesting topic.I designed and manufactured my own costume jewellery years ago and seemed to spend my whole life worrying about people copying my work. When you work from your head and your heart it is totally demoralising to see your designs being put out there by someone else as their own work. Having retrained in recent years as a silversmith I have a far more philosophical approach to the subject. Purity in your work is an almost impossible task to achieve because there are so many craftsmen and women out there and somebody once said to me that there is someone, somewhere thinking and doing the same thing as you. I take comfort in keeping ahead of the game and trying to produce two new collections every year, it continually pushes my boundaries. We all have to learn skills and even many of the great masters did it, once we have the knowledge it is important to dig deep to find our own inspiration and uniqueness. I think you are on the right track and you are still learning your craft so dont be toooo hard on yourself. You are aware of what you are doing which means you have honesty and integrity. I dont think you were inspired or stole.

Good luck for the future

Paula

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 I know this is an old thread, but a very interesting one at that, so forgive me on coming late to this party!

I, too, was "searching my soul" so to speak about emulating a design by an artist whose work I admired. Far from copying her designs outright, I took inspiration from her work and simply wanted to try out the technique and put my own spin on it. 

However, I still had that tiny little compromising-my-integrity feeling and voiced it to my son. He's in college now, and he was taking an art history and appreciation class at the time. I've never seen anyone embrace the art world so quickly as he did (before that class, I would drag him kicking and screaming to some of the finest art museums in existence, hoping he would "get it"...it paid off).  

He really gave me something to chew on to assuage my little bit of guilt. He said (and I paraphrase), Mom, your interpretation of that technique will be as different from her's just as your signature is different from her signature. Just as Monet and Renoir had differing interpretations of what they "saw", but expressed their seeing within the school of Impressionist art...that's the difference between your take on that jewelry technique and her's.

Well, after that,my conscience was clear. And I haven't looked back since.

Hope this helped.

Betsy   

I believe you were inspired by the directions.  I really don't feel that any particular element found in jewelry is totally unique.  It has probably been done somewhere else before.

This is also a topic that's been on my mind. I keep trying to come up with original designs but I continually feel overwhelmed with all the choices. Trying to focus and come up with just one design has been very frustrating. I have quite a few books and I also don't want to just copy something, especially if it's something I want to try to sell. I want to begin selling my jewelry online at Etsy but for that I need inventory. I'm stymied right now. I keep hoping I'll get past this block. To steer back toward the topic, it's not that I haven't been able to make any jewelry, but what I find myself doing most often is taking existing designs from books or magazines and modifying them, but I'm still worried that they look too much like the original. I'd love to hear from anyone who's gone through similar experiences and what solutions they've come up with, or any other advice they have to offer. Thanks, Tom

Tom, those magazines are created to inspire you!!!! and I contribute to lots of them. as long as you put your own spin on a design, I think it's perfectly fine. if you still think they look like the original then make a few more changes. you will probably come up with something really cool.... and all your own.