a couple of weeks ago our national telly station kindly broadcast a 5 minute segment on your correspondent. it's occasioned quite a lot of friendly mail which has been delightful.
it's also prompted some weird comments from otherwise unknown people, who wander up to me when i'm out and about, and say things like...'saw you on the box, love your work, i'll be doing that now too, i needed a new idea'...
and of course there have been a few emails asking me to send the precise instructions for making the pieces that were shown. rather bold requests, i thought.
hmm.
copying someone else's work directly is NOT a new idea. i wrote my dye book so that more folks could make beautiful colours without poisoning themselves...but i do hope that when making their textile pieces readers will apply plant dyes 'in their own handwriting' and with their own distinctive style (and of course harvested from their own "backyards").
it's been a delight to see how the work of the many students who've passed through my orbit has developed over the years....so i say (along with the French, but in a slightly different context) vive la difference...otherwise the whirled would be a dull place indeed.
have a nice day...and dye happy
words, art, ideas, technique, technology... Who owns the rights? I applaude those who share their gifts. Enriching the life of another can never make you poor. Giving is its own reward. I applaude you.
ReplyDeletethanks Solo...I do realise there ain't nothing new under the sun (and hey, listening to music there are so many familiar riffs that reappear). just comes as a surprise when people baldly inform one that they're going to walk exactly the same road...
ReplyDeleteLook on the bright side, you've launched a new movement in wearable art. Think of Salvador Dali, there were many who copied but none who measured up.
ReplyDeleteThe whole copying thing used to really bother me; now I just notice it and feel kind of superior to the copier (that sounds so snooty, and I don't really mean it that way). It still is annoying, but the person who is copying is never going to accomplish what they are trying to copy. Plus, they're always about a year behind my/your creative curve. Hopefully, they start out copying, but that leads them to find their own voice.
ReplyDeleteI do know the feeling, India.. hard to accept sometimes... well most all the time... This has happened so many times to me over the years but I have found that most people don't follow through maybe for many reasons .. not enough time, materials, intuitive freedom, or just not enough perseverence, or their own original ideas thrown in to give it an edge of its own.. I don't know...
ReplyDeletemaybe when we need to make a living at it we are more serious for aesthetic finished results...
people like to say ...copying is the finest form of flattery, but...individuality reigns as far as I am concerned.. original ideas expressing honestly who you are...
All the best... and your dog is adorable...