Keeping Calm, Carrying On
Hi all, a little bit of crafting has been happening this week but not as much as I’d like. After a fairly good run of good health, I was struck down with the dreaded migraine again mid-week, which meant a lot of things in progress were put to the side for a few days. Life at work has also been ridiculous, which is why a particular sign has found its way onto my desk:
That sign has given me and some of my work colleagues a bit of a giggle too :-)
I must be honest and say that I lost a little bit of the crafting mojo this week due to a somewhat unhappy incident. A kind reader has alerted me to the fact that a lady in Canada is going to be teaching a class at a large craft expo in November on how to make . . . a Shmerpi!! Except she has called it a ‘monster‘ and appears to be passing it off as one of her designs. If that is not enough, she has used this picture of Sebastian the Shmerpi in the brochure about the class. Seriously folks, what the ????
It’s totally bummed me out. I know that a Shmerpi is not a difficult design to copy but how disrespectful is it to just pass it off as your own AND teach it to others as if it was your own design AND steal use my picture to promote it!!! And as tempting as it is to provide a link to the lady in question, I won’t. But oh how the blood boils. I have contacted the lady but I am just not looking forward to the whole awkwardness of sorting it out.
I was working on a new pattern to release but this whole incident is making me rethink about whether I should go ahead with it.
But thank you, thank you, thank you to the kind reader who did contact me. On the upside, I am very grateful for the global craft community that does “look out” for each other :-)
Moving on to non-crafty but happier happenings, I accompanied Ava on her first school excursion yesterday as a “Parent Helper”. Her class went to watch a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Oxford Children’s Theatre in Box Hill. It was definitely an entertaining show with lots of laughs and interaction with the kids – Ava, however, was distracted with her new Dora lunch-box and kept asking me every few minutes if she could open it up and eat her lunch!
It’s been a while since Ava and I have had the chance to spend the day together – just the two of us – so I certainly treasured every moment of it. At 3 years old, she is becoming quite the conversationalist and it was a joy to talk about anything and everything that was on her mind, and to see her trying to find ways to explain and express what she was thinking. I think I need to start carrying a tape recorder so that I can capture all of the wonderful thoughts she’s trying to express at the moment (she has a hilarious imagination!).
(Yes, that wonky fringe/bangs is my doing!)
Okay, back to more crafty (and happier) posts on the weekend (I hope!) and pics of a few goodies I’ve received in the mail. And hooray it’s Friday! Hope your end of the week is a good one and your weekend is even better!
September 21st, 2007 at 11:53 am
I can’t believe I just read about this exact same thing at planet june,
http://www.planetjune.com/blog/open-letter-to-a-thief/
and now to come here and read this! I’m so sorry this happened to you. I can’t get over how blatantly they stole in both cases as well. Something similar happened to me recently but in no way as severe as your case. I know what you mean about rethinking things too. I’ve been “rethinking” a lot lately.
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September 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
That is a huge bummer to happen to you! With a migraine too, you poor thing. Hope things get better!
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September 21st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
How frustrating for you! I had a similiar incident recently but not as bad as what this lady is trying to pull of! The cheek of her posting your photo as well… Unbelievable! I know it is icky having to placed in position to have to confront someone with this sort thing and my thoughts are with you on the issue.
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September 21st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Did she even bother to photoshop your label out of the picture, or was her gall just that great? What a schmuck! I hope you get this resolved! Please keep us posted!
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September 21st, 2007 at 1:41 pm
What the??? Some people out there are unbelievable!! We need an international society of craft spies!
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September 21st, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Geez..that ain’t cool but YOUR Shmerpi is :0)
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September 21st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
There’s absolutely no need for you to use a strikethrough for the word “steal.” It’s 100% stealing, and absolutely ridiculous. It makes me so incredibly sad and outraged to hear about things like this happening to people like you, Myra, and many others who are brilliant and generous enough to share some of your talent with others. I have learned so much by trying my hand at free patterns and tutorials, and they have given me so much joy! The fact that some people take advantage of others is just galling. I hope the situation gets resolved quickly, to your satisfaction, and that this soon becomes just an unpleasant bump in your creative road. Your Shmerpis and Chibis are very distinctly *you,* and no one can copy that essence.
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September 21st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Hey, that’s just not right! I mean copying and selling is one thing, geez, there’s a lot of that happening. But to teach a class in a craft expo passing it off as their own….I empathise with the blood boiling feeling. Now I’m really curious to find out who this person is.
Ava is so gorgeous and poses so well for the camera. Hope the mojo comes back soon!
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September 21st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
hi!
well, that made me angry too… why are people so dishonest? how can they live with a lie like that?
and if I had a cute lunchbox I think I would ask my mum the same every minute! :)
have a nice weekend too!
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September 21st, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Oh how horrible is that. Why do people take credit for other people’s work. I hope that it gets sorted quickly for you. Hope the migraine doesnt come back either.
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September 21st, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Bad luck and not at all in the spirit of most of the craft community. Good luck in sorting it out to your satisfaction. Hope that the migraine has eased. My daughter will agree that they are a beastly affliction!
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September 21st, 2007 at 11:17 pm
that is so horrendously unfair, i can’t even believe it! who. would. DO. that??? i sincerely hope it gets cleared up quickly and easily for you and the lady in question feels suitably shamed!
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September 22nd, 2007 at 12:27 am
whoa – she even stole your picture???? I understand interpeting different styles into your own work and trying to learn new techniques, but that is full outright (and shameless) thievery! What can you do about it?
I remember in college art classes we would all sort of gravitate into groups of ‘influence’, where it could definitely be seen who was being influenced by their classmate’s work and who was leading the pack – but no one ever tried to pass off another artist’s work as their own, it was always ‘Sherri was doing this cool thing with stripes, and it made me want to try it, except I added X and Y and didn’t use a ruler’ etc…
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September 23rd, 2007 at 12:16 am
Oh my gosh. I am getting a little tired of all this. What is going on out there in craft-land? I am so sorry to hear about this, Jhoanna. We must all just keep on thinking about the copying issue – in everything we do. Raise the bar, and keep on challenging ourselves, personally – and ignore those BITING little copycats who don’t have a shred of originality. Sigh.
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September 23rd, 2007 at 11:04 am
I think you shouldn’t bother writing to the women concerned but contact the craft expo organizers,explain the situation and direct them to your website and the original shmerpi and photo.I can’t imagine they would be too happy.
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September 27th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
such restraint in not naming and shaming, your a better woman than i! isnt the Oxford Childrens Theatre a funny little place? im on my third audience of Jack and his beans, two more to come!!!
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