[Jewelry making - Article 01102] - Re: [Orchid] FTC guidelines

[daniel spirer]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

Paul,

    I really have to go with James Binnion on this one. I don't think
    there is any way you can call a Cad Cam processed piece hand made.
    Recently I had a wax carver I occasionally use do a piece that she
    ended up doing on the computer for me. She came up with a computer
    formulated picture (that I had given her the general parameters for)
    that was transferred directly into wax. Sure I had my caster actually
    do the wax and then I got the casting in and finished it and did the
    stone setting but I would never have called this piece handmade
    (incidentally my caster accidentally dropped the wax and broke it but
    because it was on the computer we were able to spit out another one
    within a few hours and reship it to the caster---something absolutely
    not possible by hand). I didn't "MAKE" the piece (nor did my wax
    carver), a machine and a casting machine made the piece. Did I hand
    do some of the stuff (i.e. finishing and setting)? Sure but that
    still doesn't qualify it as hand made because other then those two
    things no one actually did anything by hand (machine stamped pieces
    often have to be finished by hand too). Could I call it hand crafted
    (as opposed to hand made)? Maybe, because the definition isn't as
    strict. But, in my appraisals, and descriptions of the piece I would
    never call it hand made. Regardless of the FTC definitions (which
    absolutely would NOT include Cad Cam pieces), it simply isn't
    handmade if you are having a computer spit the design out to a
    machine that creates the piece, regardless of the amount of finish
    work done. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with producing
    jewelry this way (obviously since I've sold the stuff) just that you
    cannot call it hand made. From your standpoint you should figure out
    another way to market it, but you can't ethically, or legally, call
    it hand made. 

    But then what are you worried about? As long as your customer
    accepts how you make the piece, why do you have some strong need to
    declare that it's hand made (which it isn't) as long as you can
    explain to the customer what part you do play in the designing and
    creating of the piece? 

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
www.spirerjewelers.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________