on not letting commissions be a bane of existence ...

I don't take commissions anymore. It's for the best. There's not enough time in the day for me to take care of children, home, pets, commissioned jobs and still do what I'd like to do. A friend of mine is a total machine behind her sewing machine; she sews as we chat on the phone, keeps an organized home and active family, takes on commissions and sews projects of her own to sell. Wow! I'd give hubby's left nut for that energy! (Hell, he might even let me have it removed - just that one anyway - so more would get done around the house!)

When commissions were part of how my little doll-design business went it seemed that the same thing was being commissioned over and over and dreading that same project repeated stalled everything else that was in my mind to do. And goodness forbid you quote four weeks to complete an outfit and in that time make another just to sell in an online auction! "Where is my oufit? I paid already it should be in hand now!" Nevermind that I asked not to be paid until project was complete and two+ weeks are left in the allotted time. (Only had that happen once, not fun, and not someone another commission was accepted from.)

Maybe that fear of condemnation is what holds me back when I've taken on a commission ... combined with the boredom of doing the same thing over again ... or maybe not letting people tell me what to do is my only outlet for rebellion as a married, stay-at-home Mom. In which case, hubby may want to hold on to that left nut!

Venting about creative control ...

Have been looking at cottage rose decorated cotton fabrics lately. Mixed with stripes. And stripes of roses and swirled ribbons in lovely pale pinks and baby blues. Mmmmm ... pretty stuff. Love it, love it. Can make it look elegant yet casual ... for this unfussy country girl - that will always prefer pearls to diamonds and vintage to new - it's a style that I've always enjoyed. I remember as a little girl in the 1970's my Grandma Jean decorating her home in antique linens and old found items that she arranged with a grace that is rarely seen. I even used Grandma's lovely style in a doll room I set up, it needs some work, but you get the gist ...



But something irks me. This is a style that's been around for quite some time, it evokes almost a Victorian feel in it's prettiness, but has a worn and aged feel to it, you know the phrase that defines it. I won't make it searchable, so will type it as "$h@bby ch!c." From my online research it seems that a particular interior decorating magazine first used the term in the 1980's, but it was trademarked by someone else in 1989. I can find no reference to the two entities being attached at any time. But since it has been trademarked/copyrighted to one person and her company to use the phrase for something other than that company's products or books is now a violation of the trademark/copyright/whatever - seen people get their auctions yanked on "that big site" for having the two words of that phrase in it in order, even when it acurately describes the style of the item being sold.

Ya know, if other big name decorating mavens out there cornered a common concept, and protected it with a bevy of lawyers, they would be further vilified. Not lauded as an original. (I recognize I could be completely wrong, it could be that this designer was working for said magazine and was the first to coin the term in print. But I know that this decorating style is older than the 1980's - if not the catchy name for it. And I do believe that if the suggested connection was the case, a reference to her time with the magazine in question would have been cited.)

I will continue to cherish and utilize the frugality, soothing elegance and grace that my Grandmother showed me. I personally won't purchase items that carry a trademark that doesn't allow others to define their chosen style in a quickly understandable manner.