I'm happy to announce that next weekend, Sunday, February 8, Topaz Studios will be at the Astoria Market's Pre-Valentine's Day market at the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden! I am busy at work making plenty of jewelry, scarves, bags, and tech cases to sell. Please join me!
I'm not afraid to admit I spend an unhealthy amount of time on Pinterest, particularly the Arts & Crafts section (probably more than I should). It always provides me with great inspiration for new projects, whether they're ones to sell or make just for myself.
There always seems to be a bit of a catch when I see certain items. Sometimes I will see a great pin with a comment along the lines of, "oh, this is such a great idea and looks so easy to make!" When I inevitably become intrigued and click on the picture to see the whole pin, I will see the Etsy logo in the corner, signifying that this is an item someone is selling.
It can be disappointing many times, seeing something great that I'd like to make (and hopefully sell), then seeing that someone else has already made and listed them for sale. On the one hand, this is something that is a great product that I could definitely make. On the other hand, as a small businesses owner, I believe that it is extremely important to respect other designers/business owners and not steal ideas/designs.
This brings me to the issue of inspiration vs. straight-up ripping off someone else's ideas. It can get very tricky sometimes, using inspiration without blatantly copying someone's design for my own profit. Even with things that aren't clearly from Etsy, I still try to respect the original artist and not copy detail-for-detail the pin.
So, my own personal guidelines for using Pinterest for inspiration for my products: if the inspiration item is clearly from Etsy, I will possibly make the item for myself, but will absolutely not sell. For anything else (especially when it's a clear how-to with no expectation of an exchange of money): I will make the item for myself and/or for sale, but the item I sell must not be an exact replica of the inspirational pin.
Copyright can be a very tricky thing in the regular world; in the world of Etsy and crafts, it's doubly tricky. For my own personal ethics (and yes, to cover my own ass), I very much try to respect the intellectual property of other artists but still enter into an exchange of ideas within the community. And as my own items are on Pinterest, I hope others follow this guide of respect as well.
In my online adventures I have come to be familiar with the Pinterest fail blog. For the uninitiated, this blog shows the difference between projects as shown on Pinterest, and projects as done by normal people.
Despite the fact that I've been on Pinterest for well over a year now, I have only very recently begun to create projects from the site. I had assumed that with my crafty know-how, I would know the proper way to create things and escape the fate of the Pinterest fail. Oh, how very wrong I was.
The project I tried to recreate was this:
What I got was this:
So in my quest to examine where my disastrous turn occurred (spoiler alert: every turn was a disastrous turn), I first noticed that I failed to even read the caption on the photo, which says to use spray glass paint. Whoops! Even so, using the manually-applied paint shouldn't have been so bad; I've had good results before.
I first tried using a regular paintbrush to apply the paint to the glass (the remains of a used-up Bath and Body Works candle), but soon realized that it was a) leaving streaks and b) not applying thick enough. Reading the label on the paint tube, I saw the recommendation to use a sponge instead of a paintbrush, which I quickly recalled that I did when doing the mirror years ago. I happened to have a sponge handy that I use for washing down mosaic grout, and decided to use that.
After using the sponge for a bit, it looked as though the paint was spreading more evenly, and was also giving the glass a thick enough coat to really make the frostedness stand out. I gave it a couple of coats anyway, and let it sit overnight to let the paint fully dry.
I already went into some detail about what happened when I peeled the rubber bands off, so I can jump right to how I can (potentially) avoid this in the future. First, I need a better sponge. While the sponge I used had small pores compared to, say, a kitchen sponge, a sponge with even smaller pores would do an even better job. I suspect a lot of the flaking had to do with air bubbles getting trapped under the paint from applying it with this sponge. A makeup sponge might work great for this kind of work.
Second, I need to be much more careful about applying the paint. This time I slathered paint everywhere, including on top of the rubber bands. Since there was no divide, it was easy for paint to get underneath the bands, as well as adhere so well that the paint on the bands didn't easily separate from the paint on the glass.
Third, I need to take more time. I tend to get overexcited and try to rush things, usually to the project's detriment. I should have stopped after the brush application wasn't working, clean off the glass entirely, and then start over from scratch, instead of trying to cover it up.
Ultimately I like the concept of these frosted vases (or what I'm trying to do, votives), and I think I'm going to attempt this project again, following my own corrections. I will certainly issue an update, and see if I can salvage this fail somehow.
With starting this new blog, I want to focus on not just my shop, Topaz Studios, but my creative process. Given the proliferation of DIY and the resurgence of crafting via Pinterest (which I fully admit I am addicted to), I also want to use this as a space to discuss the world of DIY/crafts in general and the issues that sometimes come up. I look forward to you joining me on this journey of creative exploration!
