Taking the Pledge

A few weeks ago, a FB friend of mine, Sarah from Home Poured Creations, posted the following pledge to only create original products:

http://contemporaryhandmadealliance.blogspot.com/p/handmade-originality-pledge.html


I read the Pledge, and after mulling it over for a couple of weeks, have likewise taken the Pledge.

Why did it take me 2 weeks or so? Well, I didn't want to take it lightly, but also, it's not just a matter of saying "I won't copy".

Firstly, because, well......

I do.

When a customer writes and tells me their husband will only use (famous brand) soap and she really wants him to change to a natural alternative, can I make an organic soap that is the same shape, colour and smell, what do I do? I copy that product. I use my organic & natural ingredients and set out to make the best version of that soap.

Now, I haven't then gone on to launch a whole line of "famous brand" rip off soaps, but the bald truth is that I have copied that product.

Likewise, when someone emails me that they haven't been able to find goats milk & oatmeal soap, I think: I have oatmeal, I have goats milk, easy- and I'm away. Or if someone has used a certain scented product in the past but can't find it now, and ask if I can produce something in a similiar scent. The first thing I do, is contact my oil suppliers and see what I can get in that scent.

And when someone suggests I make a line of soap that's a natural alternative to Solvol- with exfolliant, using oils that strip grease, etc- my Bloke Soap was born. Now, Bloke Soap does not look, feel or smell like Solvol, but I am using their idea to create a product that I make, and sell.

Recently, when my cousin told me she's getting married and asked me to help make her invitations, place settings, table decorations, etc, the first thing I did was ask her her colours, then Googled weddings in those colours. Again, I'm not going to launch a whole wedding line, but I got a lot of inspiration of what other people have done. And, in this instance, I'm not doing it as "D2BN", but as her cousin, so she'll buy the materials, ingredients, etc, and I'll make them up for her without charging for my time, etc, as I would if I were doing them as D2BN. In all likelihood, I'll be doing more crafting than I will soaping, but the principal is the same.

Having said that, several weeks ago Sarah posted a picture of a soap she'd made, and the picture & description was so divine, I had to buy a slice.  And when it came, it was all she'd described- and more! When she had a free post offer a week or so later, I tried to buy some more but it had sold out. I'm not going to try and replicate that soap- I don't think I could, she's just too talented, and uses different methods than I do, and I'd feel uncomfortable doing so. If my Mum visited and liked the soap, I'd order some off Sarah (she assures me she'll make some more in a few months) and have her send it to Mum. If for some strange, unknown reason a customer wandered into my bathroom and asked me where I got the soap?? Hmmm, it's probably lucky I don't get too many customers wandering through my house, lol, but it's a conundrum.....

So- why do I think it's OK to copy one piece of work and not another? After all, we've all bought a "cheaper version" of an expensive brand. D2BN currently offers several Designer (type) fragrances for use in soaps, shower gels, bath salts, etc.

Well, firstly-famous brand versus someone I sort of know- we've never met, but we've become FB friends and I feel like I do know her a little bit. I don't know why I think it's ok to mimic a big corporation's product but not a fellow soapers, but somehow it is.

Also, it's just not cool to profit off someone else's creativity. I'm not going to troll other's soapers sites and see what I can rip off. I love what I do, love having a creative outlet amidst all the other things I do- and have to assume all those other sites are run by similiarly motivated people.

Also, in soaping, it can be really difficult not to copy. I make melt & pour soap, which means I buy a chunk of soap, melt it, mix various things into it, then pour it into a mould. In the M&P soap world, we're pretty much all using the same moulds (unless you're one of those amazingly talented people who can make your own molds from latex, which I'm not. I tried, but I sucked at it!).  Many of us use the same suppliers (even recommending them to each other), the same fragance oils, the same bits and pieces. Many of us even belong to the same crafting groups. When someone posts a picture of a soap using a mould I have, the chances are if I like what they've done, I'm probably going to do something similiar at some point in time. What am I going to- not glitter a buttefly soap's wings because I've seen someone else do it?

I've also walked through shops, markets, etc, and been inspired by someone's take on something, and thought "I could do that" or "I could use that". It may not even be bath product related- it may be the way they've used colours, or texture, in their product that I think I can use in something of mine. After all- all inspiration comes from somewhere, right??

So, yes, I have taken the Pledge.

I won't blatantly rip off anyone else's work and sell it as my own.

If I see something on someone's site that I make, or can make, for cheaper than that site is offering, I'm not going to message their customers and tell them to bring their business my way.

And, yes, if you want to know where that divine soap came from, go to Facebook and type in Hand Poured Creations. If you buy anything, tell her Cid sent you!