Monday, September 13, 2010

Do They Stay or Do They Go Now?

So I've had my "Bumpy Series" of pendants going for a long time now...I didn't realize how long it's been since I first blogged about them and also that I've not re-blogged them even though I've kept them in stock on my website...I like them, quite a lot really, but I'm just not sure if I should keep them going or not...I've recently seen some similar pieces and I'm struggling with whether or not these represent me enough that anyone will think of me when they see them. I already get a little lurch in my stomach any time I see work with a similar glaze finish to those I use...I realize that I don't have copyright on any portion of the rainbow... I cringe when I see/hear of a similar idea to what I've made...a comment on my bracelet bars from "Anonymous" about how they had just fired a kiln load of them...seeing Elaine Ray's lovely bead caps after I made mine thinking I had just invented sliced bread...why does it bother me so much? I know that I made those items out of those, "wouldn't it be great to make that in clay" moments, not because I had ever seen them done in ceramic before.

That's my biggest problem with this series...they're just a basic shape with some dots or lines...nothing stops someone else from making something identical...as their own idea or after seeing mine somewhere...intentional or not...collective consciousness or not...

I was discussing this with hubster the other night and realized that my initial response to seeing work that has a commonality with mine is always that it is a coincidence...I never think it's a copy...why is that? I've been published...quite a few times now...I run ads...surely some of that similar work has been influenced by mine...why do I always feel that people will see the other work and assume that I am the one influenced? At what point do I not care, having the knowledge that what I put out there was not something made to emulate another's work?

So the questions remain...does the Bumpy Series retire? What reaction do you have to seeing work that resembles something you've made?

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