Summertime, and the living is easy ...

... I love it, and can do without the ridiculous warnings of a 'dangerous heatwave'.

Although I know there are 'vulnerable' people out there, nothing more than common-sense is needed for anyone capable of getting out and about by themselves. 

I'll leave mothers to care for their squalling kids as best they can; keeping your, and their, cool is really not rocket science - it's done, and done very well I might point out, by people of all ethnicities, backgrounds and income-levels in countries as diverse as Australia, Argentina and Arabia. So don't tell me that 'it's the heat!; when your obnoxious brat screams or spews  - especially when there are half a dozen other kids in the same space, none of whom are screaming or spewing like yours. The difference is that those kid's mothers have functional brain cells which they haven't destroyed for the sake of a short-lived high ...

It's not 'the heat', it's your own damned laziness and/or lack of common sense.

It appears that 'the elderly' are especially at risk. I'm elderly myself, and I am probably at less risk than most other people my age in the UK - and many far younger people - because I am not daft.

I was on the bus yesterday and a woman about my age looked really quite ill. She was fanning herself frantically in an effort to keep cool, and was mildly relieved when some good-hearted soul offered her an ice-cold bottle of water - still sealed - from her bag. She held it against her face and neck. The good-hearted soul urged her to drink it, but the hot woman refused saying she wasn't thirsty. The good-hearted soul told her, quite correctly, that didn't matter that she wasn't thirsty, she should stop frantically fanning herself, relax her body and sip the ice-cold water slowly.

Misery-guts me jumped in at this point, and said that it would also help if the hot woman removed her jacket and headscarf which were clearly heavy and tight, so that the slightly-cooler air flowing through the windows and door - which the helpful driver had opened by this point - could be of some assistance. 

The hot woman had reached her stop, and got off - fortunately, we saw, into a shady area, with someone waiting to meet her - and the bus continued on its way. The good-hearted soul and I chatted. I pointed out that the hot lady had probably had on a bra and knickers, maybe a vest and a pantie-girdle 'for support'. She certainly had on a blouse tucked into a medium-weight skirt, a pair of heavy-ish tights, sturdy shoes, a cardi, a jacket and a headscarf. It was 27deg C outside; hotter in the bus with no a/c. 
'All that underwear?' asked my new Pakistani friend in amazement.  She was well-covered with clothing, certainly - but it was all loose and light. Certainly no tights, cardis, or thermal undies!

Folks, if you see some old lady wearing a white acrylic cardi and American Tan tights sweltering in the heat, don't just think 'poor soul'. Be as rude as you like and TELL them to take off than hideous cardi, remove those dead fish tights, roll down the pointless girdle, wad up the thermal vest, rip off the fugly headscarf and drink some cold water even if they don't think they are thirsty - and STAY ALIVE! It's probably easier for me to be rude in this way, as I'm an old woman myself.

If worse comes to worse and she's your granny, and you just can't bring yourself to be rude like that, maybe you could tell her instead that she won't 'feel the benefit' of her thermal undies when the heatwave ends - as it will, all too soon. 

Tahe care and keep cool!

Blogging, selling, self-promotion ...

... it's difficult to really know what to write.

Here's one of the fabrics I mentioned in my last post - one of the fabrics I bought just because I like to look at it and to feel its texture. 

silver-grey pure silk- a photo cannot do it justice

It's a silver-grey pure silk - almost, but not quite, of taffeta crispness - with charcoal-grey silk embroidery. I'm very, very tempted to buy more to make a Victorian dress. Not that I have anywhere I could wear such a thing, but I would make it my business to find somewhere, once I had my lovely outfit!

Now that was easy to write.

Being English, I find it immensely difficult to blow my own trumpet. Self-promotion seems, somehow, very wrong. I know I'm supposed to be proud of what I do well - I am - and not afraid to say so - that's the hard bit. It's boasting. 

I know that making lovely things is my job, but marketing them is an important part of my job, too. After all, if I want to carry on making things I love, I need to sell some of the things I've made. I've read the books and visited the websites; I know what I should be doing - according to the marketing gurus, anyway - but I just can't. More, I won't. I don't see why I should do anything which really creeps me out. I loathe and despise the 'hard sell'. I very deliberately turn my back on pushy salespeople and walk away from them while they're still talking. If they persist after that, I can get very unpleasant indeed, should I need to. 

SO, maybe that explains to you why I've been finding it a bit awkward and uncomfortable even to blog about what I've been making.

It strikes me that it would be all too easy to write an endless advert - and what's the point of that, other than to annoy people?

What I'd like to do is natter on about some of the things I've made, offer a few simple tutorials and know that a few people read my blog because they find it vaguely interesting. What do you think?

Summer at last!

Isn't it simply lovely to have sun? Let's hope we get a lot more of it! Sunshine makes so many aspects of life easier and more pleasant - laundry being one of them.

Washability is important for almost all my products. 

So in the recent good weather, I've spent time washing fabrics I'd bought earlier in the year, and hanging them out to dry in the sunshine - I won't sell anything that can't be washed (except for things like lavender bags and wheaty warmers, of course, but even they get their base fabrics washed before making-up, to remove any fillers or finishes) and the best way to ensure there'll be no disasters in the laundry area is to do-it-myself first. 

Then I can tell prospective customers with total confidence 'Yes, it'll wash' and I know that any future shrinkage or colour loss has been minimised, too. Who wants to buy, for example, an apron that they can't just fling in the wash, hang out on the line and then run an iron over? No-one, that's who!

Pretty blues

Cars, stars, boats.

I love how my fabrics look on the line!

Cat print and herbs

I'm very, very lucky where I live in some of the loveliest countryside in England, yet  a bus-ride or two will transport me to several fabric-lover's heavens where I have no problems getting gorgeous, quality cottons - and other fabrics - at breathtakingly reasonable prices. 

Piggies and a farm

Retro florals

So I can make these pretty aprons - they bring colour to my garden before the flowers start to bloom - and lots of other lovely, lovely things!

Pinnies on the line

I have to ask - is there anyone else who buys fabric just to look at? I understand being reluctant to cut into beautiful  fabric - especially when it's expensive -  for fear of making a mistake, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just buying it because you love it - like you might buy a picture for the wall, I suppose.

Here's one I bought with no intention of making anything at all from it. I have another one which I love to just look at, and one I like to stroke, which I'll post next time.

How could anyone not love this?

Fair success at the Market

You never can tell when you'll sell.

My village is a busy little place in the summer. It's busy in the winter, too, but it's a less-open, less public sort of busy-ness.

Spring Bank Holiday weekend marks the beginning of our outdoor, summer 'busy-ness'. We have a Village Market, at which I was persuaded, against my better judgement (or so I thought at the time) to have a stall - only £5 for village residents, so I looked upon it as my contribution to the village amenity fund. I nearly couldn't be bothered to go, but the organiser knocked on my door the night before to check up on me, and threatened to come round at 8 in the morning, too, so I had to ...

I knew I wouldn't do well, as anyone and everyone local is welcome at the market - car booters, charities, businesses, organisations - as long as they're within a certain geographical area they're welcome to sell whatever they want. The Avon Ladies of every surrounding village were present - an entire tribe of them! - and a pickle manufacturer who rents a production unit up the road was there, as was the Farmhouse Jam lady who really does work from her farmhouse. Not much call for hand-made domesticalia at premium prices, I thought.

So I'd made nothing special or new; as I've done very few fairs so far this year I merely dug out some unsold stock - half-a dozen cushions, half a dozen aprons, half a dozen strings of floral bunting, half a dozen strings of 'boy bunting' (pirates, cars and Manchester United - two of each) and two corset-clad dummies, one large and one small, whose main purpose is display and the attraction of customers from afar, not for selling. I'd not even been to the bank for a float, either, so I hurriedly altered all my prices to multiples of 5 - which made the cushions and aprons expensive and the bunting cheap. I really wasn't bothered, though. Why should I be? I just knew I wasn't going to sell anything much at all.

I trundled my trolley all of 100m down the road - and was passed by a swerving tractor, driven by a farming acquaintance whose eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw how my dummies were clad! - to the market, and found myself placed between the pickle man and a retro jewellery maker, opposite the nursery school's nearly-new soft toy stall, Help the Heroes and the Allotment Society.

Everything literally pegged-down on a windy day

Within three hours, standing there in the cold wind, I'd sold all the cushions, five out of the six aprons, all the boys bunting and half of the floral bunting. I also took orders for two more cushions (to match a pair already bought) and two more strings of boy's bunting. The dummies had to be put away under the table, as the wind was so strong it blew them right off. It wasn't a venue for corsets anyway, but let's be honest, there aren't that many outdoor venues which are!

There were plenty of buyers, including lots of British Asians - probably from the neighbouring East Lancashire towns - and the Allotment Society was doing a roaring trade with the Asian ladies buying boxes of bedding plants.  Here in this rural neck of the woods we are a surprisingly homogeneous bunch of white Anglo-Saxons and Celts, and see very few people from ethnic minorities, except for our bus drivers and my best friend Elena who is black South African and visits at least once a week,  so the Allotment Society members - every last one of them over the age of 85 it seems - looked a bit flustered as they were surrounded by billowing saris and dupattas, vying with the flowers for colour.

It wasn't supposed to rain until 2pm or so, but the first spots started coming down an hour earlier.  Ten minutes later, it was fairly pelting down, but by then I'd packed up everything but my table and was sheltering under the pickle man's gazebo. The pickle man very cruelly (to his son) and very kindly (to me) sent his son to unscrew and fold my table, and a few minutes later, the rain having lessened a little, I trundled up the road, far less burdened than when I'd trundled down it earlier in the day.

Warning - a rant!

Guess what? 

Copyright and design right are not the same!

 Whoda thunk it eh?

For my sins, I'm a regular contributor to a certain UK-based crafts forum.
There are endless, often-ridiculous discussions and questions about copyright, design right and other forms of IP.  Some aspects of IP law are, to say the least, fluid, as it is a growing and fast-flowing area of law. However, some aspects of it are stable, have remained stable and will remain stable. Copyright is automatic, free and lasts for many years in all forms of publication or broadcast. Design Right is also automatic and free, but doesn't last for as long. No one can protect a mere idea or concept, and to gain protection, a 'work' must have a high degree of originality. 

It is really not at all difficult to understand the four basic types of protection available for what is known as Intellectual Property, and the types of work to which they apply. However, some people seem to have brains made of barium concrete ...

A recent example started with a member who was genuinely ignorant of such matters, and concerned because someone had accused her of 'breaching copyright' - apparently some of the member's designs were similar to those of the accuser's. The design being referred to was a wooden plaque which is commercially available and is decorated with commercially-available transfers and stylised, generic designs. 

It was perfectly clear that the accuser did not know what s/he was talking about, as s/he was referring to 'copyright' and not 'design right', although in relation to the plaque, not to any wording or illustration thereon.

A brief discussion ensued; links to the plaques were provided. Some sensible and pertinent advice was given, together with a brief explanation of the different types of IP, and links to authoritative sites were posted . The member who originally posed the question was reassured that she was not, in fact, in breach of anything at all. 

Then the odd-bods started coming out of the woodwork with their bizarre  claims about IP law in the UK, and even opinions based on foreign laws  from far-off lands. 

It's an indication of intellectual laziness and lack of curiosity about the world which I fear affects all too many people. It also demonstrates a profound and disturbing arrogance when people prefer to disseminate their misguided opinions as if they were fact, despite being provided with clear and indisputable evidence to the contrary.

My cat has more common-sense than that. No wonder I prefer my cat to a great many people ...

End of rant!

Absence and catch-up

I've been away. Nowhere  exotic - just away from my blog, I didn't have internet access for a few weeks - that's what happens sometimes when you live in the sticks - so I got out of the habit of blogging (not that I've ever really got into it). 

Well, I'm back, and I need to sum up the relevance of the two preceding posts about IP to UK crafters.

First of all, the good news – you have a considerable degree of free and automatic protection for your work, be it 2D or 3D, as long as it is original. Copyright and design right both come into play automatically and work in your favour.

HOWEVER, the emphasis is, quite rightly, on originality.

You do not have protection for your work from either copyright or design right if it is not original, and design right offers no protection for a 3-d article which is 'commonplace, everyday or ordinary'.

If an item is 'commonplace, everyday or ordinary' it cannot, by definition, be original.

In other words, you'd better be very sure indeed of your having something really original and 'different' before you try to stop other people making something similar – whether from a pattern you've published or not. Anyway, isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Much better-informed minds than mine have debated at length in courts of law, and elsewhere, as to whether the use of a pattern -without specific permission to do so - for the production of items for sale is permissible or not. Consensus seems to be that it might be, or it might not be. Helpful, no?

There are  endless debates on t'internet regarding 'originality'. It is perfectly acceptable – indeed common practice and considered polite – to acknowledge that inspiration from a designer or a specific design has been the foundation of your design. 

So, some people ask, if they change an existing pattern so the finished item is not the same, how much do they have to change for it to be considered 'original' and hence 'their own work' ?

If someone (you?) is capable of changing a pattern or plan sufficiently that it results in a different design, you are surely capable of making your own pattern or template after looking at the design you like instead of blatantly copying!

As ever, I am not a lawyer nor do I pretend to be one. If you have queries, contact a suitably qualified person and/or do your own research. I am in the UK and my posts can only be considered relevant only to the law in England and Wales.

A Crafter's Guide to Intellectual Property part 2

Continuing from the last post, which covered copyright and design.

Patents

A patent protects a new invention – either a product or a process – which has some use. As well as being both new and useful, the product or process must be original to the extent that it must contain an inventive step which is not obvious, even to a person with knowledge and experience in the subject with which the invention deals or is involved.

There is also a range of inventions which cannot be patented, from mathematical or scientific theories, to breeds of animals and anything 'against public policy or morality' – the full list is available here on the IPO's website. 

The application process for a patent can be lengthy, costly and time-consuming. Fees to the IPO range from £230 upwards and patent lawyers are among the highest paid in a high paid profession.

Trademarks

A trademark (often referred to as a brand) is a distinctive sign which distinguishes your goods and services from those of your competitors. It can be words, logos or a combination of both. 

There are strict rules about what is and what is not considered an acceptable trademark – some of the rules are obvious, some not so obvious. 

The IPO has all the information – see here  and here. 

The only way to register your trade mark is to apply to the Intellectual Property Office, and to renew the registration periodically. An application for trademark registration starts at £170.

The above information is relevant to the UK only. I am not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to be one on the internet. If you need legal advice, ask a lawyer. If you want to know more about IP, read the wealth of information on ipo.gov.uk