[Jewelry making - Article 00023] - Re: [Orchid] Hand made was Detecting quality

[Dale Burnett]

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    Another very interesting thread.  Again, I can't help but jump in
    here. 

    First of all, whether or not an item is handmade is not determined
    by who handmade it.  It is determined by whether or not it is
    handmade.  So whether the artist offering it for sale was the one
    who handmade it or whether it was handmade by someone else does not
    determine if it qualifies for that label.  Naturally, if you are one
    who makes jewelry, I would think you would want to be offering
    jewelry that you yourself made, but maybe not exclusively anyway. 

    Second, I must say to Beth that buying a cut stone and setting it in
    an already purchased setting does not qualify as handmaking.  It
    qualifies as assembling.  The purchased setting could be handmade by
    someone else and thus qualify as handmade in and of itself, however.
     The stringing of purchased components together to create a necklace
    would come a lot closer to handmade because the individual
    components in their original form did not even come close to
    resembling the finished product.  However, technically this may
    still be assembling. 

    Third, to John, the prints of the original painting are the same in
    principal but they are definitely not handmade.  They are prints of
    an original handmade painting.  Even though it would be obvious, if
    you were buying a print, how would you feel if someone were to
    represent it as an original painting?  Yes, a differentiation should
    be made. 

    Fourth, just because an item does not have the designation of
    handmade does not mean it does not have artistic value or merit. 
    Although a customer may value an object d'art more if it is
    handmade, it still embodies the artistic vision and design skills of
    the artist even if it is not handmade.  The handmade designation
    does not refer to the end value of the object, but rather the
    process by which it was arrived at. 

    Fifth, as Beth said, what the customer knows and doesn't know about
    who did what is the very heart of the issue.  It is about not
    misrepresenting what you are offering the customer so that they know
    exactly what they are getting for their money.  Some may not care,
    but I think it is up to us to clearly represent the facts and let
    the customer do with them (the facts) what they will.  Stretching
    the definition of what can be considered handmade just so an item
    can be given that designation I think does not serve anyone well. 

    Six, casting does present some gray areas.  I agree with Will that
    carving a wax model and then casting it should not disqualify a
    piece from being considered handmade.  The casting is one step in
    the creation process.  Perhaps the line should be drawn as he
    suggests when a mold is made and multiple "duplicates" are produced. 

    Lastly, it seems to me that, despite its shortcomings, the FTC
    regulation's very intent was to protect our ability to label
    something we create as handmade while excluding those who mass
    produce items from being allowed to apply the same label.  As
    methods of mass production become more widely available and more
    widely used, more are affected, including some of us.  If we can't
    even agree amongst ourselves what handmade means, how can we expect
    a bunch of bureaucrats to figure it out?  So I challenge my fellow
    Orchidians to come up with a more suitable wording for the
    regulation. 

Respectfully,
Dale


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