Woo!

Done...ish. That's right I have finished tatting the large order. I even pressed the lot of it, counting, double counting and counting again as I packed it. All that remains is the terror inducing task of shipping it to the other side of the planet. Yes, I have shipped all over the world, but never an order of this amount, one that will have to go through customs and absolutely have duties attached to it. There are invoices to create, which I never do and forms to fill out. I'd like to say that I'm never agreeing to this sort of thing again, but never say never right. Oh, and when I say that I sing the song from American Tail not that other song by that name.

In other news, apparently I should not have apologized for ranting. I was going to take it all back today, but I did really mean it. I mean, I don't apologize for the rant itself, only the way it made a few people feel, which was unintentional. The incident that spurred it was resolved with a simple, 'I didn't know' and I believe them. I really do appreciate all the comments of support though, they are really wonderful to read. I did want to respond to one comment though regarding etsy's stance on copying. Copyright protection is the sole responsibility of the the copyright holder. That means, it's your job to tell them with proof in the form of a dmca take down notice. Once they have that they either contact the infringing party to remove the items, or in the case of widespread abuse shutdown the seller. There are varying opinions on their use of this power in this regard, but my personal experience with one particularly aggressive copycat was quite positive. The offender literally disappeared off the Internet, in that form anyway, after I submitted the dmca to etsy.

Of course I was also on the other side of that once long ago when I first started my shop. It was unintentional on my behalf as well. It was a single item left over from a custom order for a friend, but the pattern from a credit less picture they found online turned out to belong to a very aggressive copyright protector. In that case I was asked very nicely by etsy to remove the listing which I immediately did and I learned a very valuable lesson. It also spurred me to design more and look where that has gotten me.

So, today begins the great remaking of sold items that will likely last for sometime as I've been working on the large order for three weeks and even though sales have been slow, they have still existed and I haven't remade a single thing in that time. The hardest part will be deciding what needs remaking first, maybe alphabetical or by date sold...see hard. Well, off to it then, there is no rest for the wicked.

I'm Sorry

I feel kind of bad about yesterdays post as it appears my evil might have scared a few innocent people. Really, I just needed to vent a bit and well, this is where I do my venting. I will never 'come after' anyone just because they attempt to sell tatting online. I welcome the infusion of talent into the marketplace. I find myself asked to make custom things for people often that do not fit my aesthetic and I would be glad of more talented tatters to fill those gaps. There is plenty of room for artisans creating their own designs and niches, there is, however no room for folks who copy or mimic...seriously full up on that.

On to better things then. You know I can't say anything about my most recent secret project partly because even I don't know how it's going to play out so there may ultimately be nothing to share. That being said I have a date when I should know more, two weeks. What I don't mind saying is that if this thing works out well it will likely change everything. I suppose that's enough teasing huh?

In other news, vigilant tatting yesterday puts me in line to finish the large order today or tomorrow which means it is almost off my plate! Woo Hoo! I really ought not complain, but man this has been a lot of work. It has distracted me from the horrible sales in my shop recently though, so that's good. I've got a field trip with the kids today, but I should still have time to tat later and then I need to make a list of all the things I haven't remade and get to work on that. It's funny, my husband asked if I was taking a vacation after the secret project and large order. I thought that I might initially, clearly it's more of a might not. It really is a good thing that I still love tatting and I hope you still love kitten pictures because that's all I've got for you.

I'm A Mean, Mean Person

Things are starting to settle a bit and I can see the end of the tunnel that is this large order. I received the thread I ordered yesterday at lunchtime which was much faster than anticipated and got my other small custom order worked out. Look, it's a picture of actual tatting that hasn't been seen before. The thread I was waiting for was the harvest orange there on the left. It's paired with a dark brown Lizbeth. Honestly I have very little Lizbeth as I find it a little too stiff for most wearables, but for pins it is perfect.

I did still spend the lion share of the day working on that large order, but not only did I have time for that custom, I had time for a few other things as well. I managed to schedule up the wunderkammer and spend some quality time on the twitter too. I even had time to troll the tatting listings on etsy to discover someone selling one of my designs again. This led to the awkward, 'please don't sell my designs' convo, which I hate. Then I added a facebook blanket statement regarding my personal thoughts on the issue. I will reprint that here just to cover all my bases.

Dear mostly new tatting friends, Let me state this for the record:
I don't care if you make something I designed for yourself, as a gift, to sell to your friend, neighbor, coworker or at your local craft fair especially if you give credit, but please I ask you kindly not to sell those pieces online where I make my only living. I hate sending mean messages asking you to take down listings. Thank You!

I really do want to encourage more people to learn to tat, but I fear the ease of learning as well as working from so many pictures available online without human contact has created a bit of a disconnect. I think people are just not thinking about the etiquette of creating from other peoples work.  I also still find it a bit odd that people feel so very comfortable selling something that they just learned how to do and somehow that seems to be the first thought for many. 'I'll learn this so just I can sell it'. Anyway, I guess that's a different rant. The point here was I don't want to be mean and hoard knowledge, but I do want to protect myself from competing with my own designs. I also don't want to have to feel like the bad guy, which I do every single time I have to send one of those messages, makes my tummy all upset.

So back to the large order today and hopefully there are just a few days left on that and I can get onto another project I've been sitting on and remake some things. Just got to keep swimming.

No, I'm not finished with my enormous order yet, but I'm about halfway there. I did get a lot of tatting done over the weekend, but it was primarily focused on my youngest daughters birthday. First I spent days cleaning the house, then I decorated the house, then after the party I had to undecorate and clean again. Of course it's was all worth it as she had a wonderful time with her cousins. I just need a week long nap now and I am not going to get it because I still have half an order to fill. I have woken the Wunderkammer and will try to keep it up this week. I'm also looking forward to a thread shipment so I can finish up a small special order.  So I will start the week off with kittens and epically popular bird feeder and perhaps there will actually be some lace to share this week.

Friday At Last

Well according to UPS my package made it to its destination. Yes, this time it had to be signed for an all that jazz so it should be fine. I've not heard any news one way or the other and my thought it that i won't for some time. When I do though, you'll know it.

Of course it was just another day of tatting and cleaning and apparently I was also volunteered out for some graphics work for the comic shop. Never mind that I had no idea how to do what I was asked and had to spend like a half an hour just figuring it out. Lucky for some people I thrive on figuring things out. Anyway, Happy International Tatting Day! I feel bad that I'm not up to a big event this year. Last year I sold dozens of discounted pendants for the day and got tatting into many new hands, but I just can't handle the extra custom work right now. I will however be tatting up a storm and I think I can manage to consume a little chocolate for the occasion.