I Just Don’t Get It... But It Makes Me Want To Cry!

Thank goodness for eagle -eyed stitchers... but it is also so hard to open e-mail and find out that something of mine has been posted to a Russian site again. I spent the day working on both Milk Maritime projects, meeting with my client this afternoon after a very late night last night building the files. She really liked the “look” for these pieces and while we do need to make a few changes, I can basically get the English version squared away tomorrow so that then I can do a “save as” and start working on the French versions. Since New Brunswick is Canada’s only Bilingual province (Quebec is Unilingual French), we have to have both versions for the school system when these newsletters go out. Since I had my thoughts on cows all day, I had no idea that half a world away, someone in Sweden was sharing one of my patterns on a Russian site for any and all who visit there.

I just don’t get it.... Do people really not see it as stealing? Do they think that I have unlimited funds to draw on or that my salary is similar to a famous author or recording artist?? To put a pattern down on a scanner, break it down into electronic sections and to post it (on a site or in a group) is basically to slap the designer who spent all those hours designing it in the face. It is to rip something to shreds in front of their face and make them wonder why they took the time to share that unique vision and inspiration with the world.

Even as I spoke with someone today in the bank lineup, trying to explain what it is that I do... I thought “most people just don’t understand.” When it comes right down to it, I take an idea and nail it down onto paper. I happen to create an image with thread instead of paint, and then make detailed instructions so that other people can have the fun of watching the same image grow beneath their needles... or take my suggestions and have fun creating something that is not only partly mine, but something uniquely their own. So WHY should something I work to create then spend my money to produce as a pattern, carry inventories of in my self-store and pay printing bills for be so EASY for them to STEAL?????

I’ve had such fun releasing my latest designs in Nashville and running around with a sword... but tonight, as I think about how I may have to spend money on legal fees instead of a trip to see my brother this summer overseas... I wonder if I won’t be moving back into illustration more when Bethany starts school in the fall. At least then, if a project gets “shared” without my consent, it will be the publisher taking on the battles instead of me putting our family’s money on the line!!!