Recently I've had to drop everything to deal with someone who is actively marketing copies of my work. Oddly, on a forum I participate in, this topic came up:"How much do you share with people about your processes?"
Responses ranged from tell-all ("I tell people exactly how I do something, because if they can copy me, more power to them!") to say nothing ("I'm being copied and it's no fun.")
In general, most craftspeople benefited early on from others sharing tips and techniques and are happy to pass information on to others in the same spirit. Others have grown more cautious.
Where do we draw the line?
Here's what I said:
I demo-ed for the first time in ages at my big retail show last year, getting ready to do it again in a week, and I'm currently dealing with someone who is knocking off one of my lines. This is a timely thread.
I think we're talking about a range of information-sharing situations, and a corresponding spectrum of the kind of people who ask us to share.
There are people who ask out of idle curiousity; collectors who want to know more about our processes because they are investing in our work; art teachers looking for quick and easy projects for school; fellow artists looking for inspiration; wanna-be's who want to be seem as "real artists" without going through the process; and lazy blankety-blanks who want to draft on our success.
There are also simply different people who, in the course of growing and evolving as artist, develop similar ways of doing things. Convergent evolution.
We can have a range of responses, from open-hearted generosity and returning in kind to our community, to jealously guarding the simplest little design feature in our work. I've been guilty of both extremes from time to time. :p
I try to aim for the middle--ideally, inspiring another artist enough for them to explore their heart and find the work that is uniquely their vision. I'm just not as spiritually evolved as some others here to openly share everything I do and how I it.
Thoughts: When I was getting highly annoyed with the people who demanded I show them exactly how to make a Lascaux Horse artifact so they could go home and make one just like it, Alisha Vincent was extremely helpful. She pointed out the Shaker box guy in the tent next to me said there were 29 steps to making a box--and he was demonstrating seven of those steps.
Also, demonstrating does not have to be straight teaching. As he demonstrated, he was EDUCATING his audience on what went into a beautifully well-made Shaker box. I now focus on EDUCATING my audience, too. (This will be the last time I demo at this fair for awhile--it's exhausting!)
I've learned to
1) share enough that people understand what went into the piece, and a general idea of how to start their own exploration if that's what they want. I recommend books, videos and workshops if they want to go further. (Polymer clay has TONS of resources available on techniques, projects, etc.)
2) educate about what makes my work different from other people's work.
3) acknowledge the inspiration of other artists (for example, I did not "invent" my faux ivory technique. It's a constantly evolving modification of Tory Hughes' recipe. And I have Susan Carlson, another League of NH Craftsmen artist, to thank for teaching me how to do freestyle quilting.)
4) share encouragement and networking opportunities for other artists.
5) share business-building information.
6) occasionally develop and teach a specific project. These are not my core designs or anything spiritually near and dear to my heart. Often, though, the process of developing such a project and thinking outside my box leads to new designs and ideas. So it's a helpful process for ME, too!
