CAT | Other Artists
UPDATE – All of the images in question have been removed! Yay! It took about 24 hours for that to happen, and I know that in this time, we collectively left hundreds of comments on her page (which were quickly deleted). We did it!
Late last night, I wrote of the businesswoman who was in copyright breach by using other maillers’ images and claiming them as her own on her page on Facebook. At that point, all of my images had been removed, but I just couldn’t sit back and watch such blatant violation continue to happen in the chainmaille community.
So many of you were angered by this situation as well. You shared the post and my comments on FB. You went to her wall, pointing out the URLs of the original images.
Your comments were very quickly deleted, sometimes within seconds. And she continued to claim that she did nothing wrong.
Every cloud …
Her immediate action was to watermark the images. Obviously, watermarking your intellectual property in this day and age is a great idea, and I support that. However, she also cropped and watermarked a few images that were clearly not hers! Some of the photo manipulation has been documented on fellow mailler crazymoke’s blog. These manipulations can be difficult to spot at a glance, especially to non-maillers. But—as several maillers have pointed out—it is statistically impossible to have two separate images of maille drape in exactly the same way, with the seams of the rings in the same positions, the reflections the same, etc. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to “prove” this to Facebook, unless the rightful owners of the images continually report those photos as copyright infringement. (No one except the rightful owner can file a copyright violation report on Facebook.)
[NOTE - these images have also since been removed. Yay!]
…has a silver lining
On the other hand, most none of the images on my long list are no longer on her page on FB! So it seems that, at least, she recognizes that it is not appropriate to keep those images on her page. Yay! (I do, by the way, have screenshots of many of these images when they were on her page … just in case that ever would come in handy.) Perhaps the fans who continue to loyally support her will wonder what ever happened to all those other designs she once had on her page.
As artists, we take it personally and feel violated when someone wrongs us. And part of us may want them to be punished. But that rarely happens. That’s just not how the world works. We may think it is unfair that her fans believe she has done no wrong, and we may not agree with her suppressing the hundreds of comments made on her page over the past few days. But if she removes now that she’s removed all the questionable images, I will at least feel as though we accomplished what we set out to do. This outcome likely could not have been achieved by any of us fighting her alone; it really did take all of us banding together.
Thank you to all who have come out and will still come out to support this issue! As artists, we really do need to protect our work. I hope the owners of the images that get stolen on Facebook always report image theft to Facebook. And I will keep an eye on this business. The optimist in me wants to believe that somehow, she’s learned from all this, and will turn over a new leaf.
Although, I won’t lie, an apology would’ve been nice.
18
Defending (chainmaille) copyright one image at a time
30 Comments · Posted by Rebeca in Other Artists
Please read the update on this situation!
A post on Maillers Worldwide alerted me to the fact that a business on Facebook might be stealing one or more of Blue Buddha’s images. No big deal, I thought. We encounter people using our images without permission every few weeks. Usually as soon as we let themknow, they apologize and immediately remove the image or add a credit to our company with a link back to our website. It’s clear they never even realized they did something wrong, and they move quickly to correct the situation.
So it is very rare that I will call a business out for inappropriate behavior. In fact, I can’t remember ever doing it on our company blog before. But one business has crossed the line.
Capturing Essence has posted many images on her page on Facebook that have been published years before, by other artisans, including two Blue Buddha images. I reported the B3 images to Facebook, and they have been removed. I would’ve been content to move on, except I know she is still displaying many images that are not hers. She claims no wrongdoing and insists all work and photos on her page are her own. I don’t doubt that some of the images on her page are hers, but others … well, look at the list below and decide for yourselves. If she were innocent and all these other people stole her images, why doesn’t she say so, instead of deleting all comments that refer to the other images? Capturing Essence, if you’re reading this, please leave a comment below offering evidence that the photos you claim are your own, are indeed your own!
Fellow crafters and supporters of the arts, I ask you to visit Capturing Essence’s page on FB and let her know that stealing images from others and claiming them as her own is not appropriate. PLEASE keep a respectful tone as you do this. I do not want this to get turned around so that we are considered the harassers, and she the victim. You can feel free to simply link back to this blog post, too.
Here is a list of the images that are questionable. Facebook may be taking some of them down as I write, so know that I will come back and adjust this list periodically. I have also contacted all the rightful owners.
UPDATE: Capturing Essence has removed most images, as indicated below! Woo!
This image was posted on Red Panda's website several years prior to appearing on Capturing Essence's page on Facebook. See first link in list at right.
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original - http://www.redpandajewelry.com/products/full-persian-chainmail-basics-bracelet
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original - http://www.longcanyon.com/YOJ/2005.htm (scroll down to week 17, Celtic Visions. Refer to crazymoke’s blog post about the photo manipulation on this image.)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.etsy.com/listing/37481945/sterling-silver-barrel-chainmaille
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.finechainmailjewelry.com/byzantine-chainmail-necklace.html
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://chainmaillebymboi.blogspot.com/2009/02/helm-chainmaille-pattern.html
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://youvegotmaille.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-etsyblogger-donnapool.html
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.mailleartisans.org/weaves/weavedisplay.php?key=558
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.flickr.com/photos/redcrow/1279380570/
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.fishlips3.com/class_description.htm (scroll down to chain maille section)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://wardscorner.net/maillepicts.htm (scroll down about halfway)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.phoenixchainmaille.com/finejewelry.htm (waterfall earrings)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.longcanyon.com/YOJ/2007.htm (scroll down to Double Flower, Feb 26)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://chainmaillebymboi.com/sterling-silver-and-copper-tryzantine-bracelet/
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.etsy.com/listing/65953685/snowflake-chainmaille-pendant
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.spiderchain.com/custom/index.shtml (scroll down to “HANDFLOWER”)
SUCCESS! IMAGE REMOVED!
the original – http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazymokes/4349267270/in/photostream (although the images are not cropped alike, a close examination reveals them to be the same image, and a blog post about stolen photos from the artist shows this to be so as well)
There are other images that I believe to be stolen, but I do not have proof. If you recognize any other images and know the rightful owner, please contact them and share this blog post.
It is a shame that in the face of all this evidence, she still insists that the photos are hers. Businesses like this make it that much harder for honest artisans to make a living. And believe me, I want the honest artisan to make a living!
16
A Personalized Chainmailling Sock Monkey?!? Awesome!
5 Comments · Posted by Jenna in Behind the Scenes, Misc Crafts, Other Artists
Here’s a little bit of Friday Fun that brightened up our chilly winter morning.
Which B3 staff member is this?
If you guessed Blue Buddha founder Rebeca, then you are correct!
She was thrilled when her dear friend Anna Goldberger presented her with this sock monkey, complete with mini Wubbers pliers and her cats Apollo and Zeela. “I tied a piece a string on an angle here,” Anna explained, pointing to the chest area, “for you to take off and replace with a piece of chainmaille. I thought it would be appropriate that the chainmaille go over the heart since you love it so much.” Awww! 
Rebeca just about melted.
And of course, she whipped out her pliers and started making the mini Jens Pind necklace* right away. No doubt, this is one of the coolest gifts ever.
* Because someone is bound to ask – the necklace uses size B20 Niobium (20ga AWG 3/32″ / 2.8 mm)
28
Show Off Your Maille: FRIDAY is FANday!
1 Comment · Posted by Jenna in Behind the Scenes, Jewelry, Other Artists
Wow! We asked you to show us your maille and show us you did! We loved seeing all your posts to our wall on Facebook this week. There were way too many to squeeze into one blog post, but we did it anyway. Check out this awesome collage of chainmaille aweseome-ness (yes, I just used awesome twice in that sentence.) Keep doing what you’re doing to spread the addiction to this great craft. You guys rock!
To see all the show offs (and become one yourself) visit our page on Facebook.
29
Meet Spider, our next “Ask an Artist” contributor!
7 Comments · Posted by Jenna in "Ask an Artist" Series, Other Artists
It’s been far too long since we’ve gotten to dive into the mind of a great chainmaille artist and we are thrilled to have Spider of Silverweaver and Spiderchain as our next contributor. Spider has been a longtime friend of Rebeca and Blue Buddha Boutique – basically, we adore her. Not only does she produce incredible chainmaille supplies, great projects, and some awesome instructional DVDs, but she’s just an overall great lady. When you consider all the things Spider does (on her website she says “I’m Spider, the founder of Spiderchain Jewelry. I’m the designer, webmistress, accountant, shipping department, and janitor. I coil, cut, count, weave, choose, email, anodize, troubleshoot, and teach.”) it’s easy to forget that she has another full time job – mother.
Our “Ask an Artist” article with Spider will focus on her experiences with balancing work and life – something we feel so many of our readers can relate to. Read on to learn more about Spider and find out how you can ask her your questions about “doing it all”…and keeping it all balanced.
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Spider is a chainmail artist currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her childhood was spent in Mendocino, a secluded community of artists on the California coast, though eventually she followed her left-brain to Boston to join the technology revolution, receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. After several years as a computer geek she discovered that her passion lay not in technology, but in art and today she spends her time discovering new and beautiful ways to weave metal.
Spider’s passion for making and teaching others how to make chainmaille got her started with her own business, however as many small business owners can attest to, the day-to-day dealings are often less glamorous (in Spider’s case, fulfilling supply orders, answering customer questions and keeping up with inventory) than the passion that got them started. For Spider, the challenge to manage her time stems from the need to keep up with her business each day knowing that when her second grade daughter comes home from school, it’s all about homework, cuddle time and swim lessons.
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It’s your turn to pick Spider’s brain about balancing work and life. We will be accepting questions until Saturday, October 15th! Here’s how to get your question to Spider:
1. Write it in the comments section at the end of this blog entry
2. Post it to our wall on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BlueBuddhaBoutique
3. Tweet it to us using @BlueBuddhaBtq: http://twitter.com/BlueBuddhaBtq
4. Email it to me at community@bluebuddhaboutique.com
Learn more about Spider:
Finished Jewelry Website: http://www.silverweaver.com
Supplies, Kits, and Instruction: http://spiderchain.com
ask an artists · chainmaille business · silverweaver · Spider · Spiderchain · work life balance
