Admire Someone's Unique Design, But Don't Want To Copy

[Northmount]

Tom, this is twice recently we've typed basically the same thing at the same time - get off my schedule!!

There's an old saying ... Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ!

I'd have to say we have great minds.

Hard to change schedule, we're in the same timezone, and not that far apart.

Tom

Edited February 8, 2013 by northmount

[Cyberthrasher]

There's an old saying ... Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ!

I'd have to say we have great minds.

Hard to change schedule, we're in the same timezone, and not that far apart.

Tom

My wife may go for the alternative

[spooky]

Yeah, almost everything i see there is still just an off-the-shelf stamp from Tandy or other manufacturers that they painted whatever color they liked. If you did the exact same stamp layout with the exact same colors, then I'd say you have a copying issue, but they don't have any claim on coloring the standard stamps available. In fact, I'm not really impressed with their use of the stamps. Go for it, get crazy, extend the pattern (especially the stamps that were designed to be used as a pattern and not a single impression), make it your own!! . If you're afraid of copying their use of conchos, don't be, since they're using the standard placement of those as well.

Tom, this is twice recently we've typed basically the same thing at the same time - get off my schedule!!

It's the layout and metallic colouring of the stamps that I like. The conchos aren't a problem, as I have seen them a fair bit.

To help me learn, may I ask why you are uni,pressed by their use of the stamps?

[Cyberthrasher]

Like I mentioned, a lot of them are stamps that were designed to be used in a repetitive nature and they just stamped them once, moved to the next third of the collar, stamped again, etc.... Now, a couple of them look good, but for the most part it just looks like they could have done so much more. On top of that, some of the ones that are of a subject that moves are repeated across the collar in a straight line. I think I remember a dragon fly on one for instance. That shouldn't be perfectly centered across the board, it should be turned and spun sporadically around. That one in particular would look really nice with some decorative swivel cuts showing movement, kind of like a wind trail behind it. The human eye doesn't like seeing things in a perfect symmetrical straight line all the time. Where we see curves, we don't want them lined up (like the hearts). If we see a subject that moves, it shouldn't look like the old caveman to human progression. We want to see lines that flow and mimic nature. If it's just a straight line all the time, it looks too sterile.

All of this is completely my artistic interpretation and completely up for experimentation. I'm just saying to trust your eyes. If something just seems "off", then figure out why. A lot of what I'm saying is discussed when researching the "Hogarth line of beauty". Do a google search and you'll see lots of information. Very critical stuff when it comes to human perception. Here's a wiki link to get you started

http://en.wikipedia....lysis_of_Beauty

basically, he found that EVERYTHING humans interpret as beautiful follows a specific pattern, and everything beautiful in nature has a specific curve to it, which is what's been named the Hogarth Line of Beauty. It's the gentle sloping lazy S curve that we see all over in leather, pinstriping, classical art, victorian and baroque art, horses, deer, even my MOTORCYCLE!!! (as I'm staring at a picture of it on my desktop) . Test it out and look for things in every day life that you're attracted to and see if you can find that lazy s curve in it's form. You'll be amazed. Ok, that's enough of the art lesson for tonight - I'm getting to the tired rambling portion.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Cyberthrasher

[St8LineGunsmith]

I wonder how many people are making and selling " Pancake holsters" after seeing one by the originator?... Hmmmm.

[TheCleverLeather]

I think you are worrying over nothing. If it was a tooled design that they came up with, then I would ask permission first. From the looks of it....they used stamps from the Tandy store. I have used the same designs/stamps on wrist bracelets and collars. The only difference between mine and theirs is that they painted the design. Anyone with a creative mind can do that, why not you too?.

[Destrier]

A month or two ago I thought I had this brilliant idea to fill a niche market, as I hadn't seen anything like what I had in mind. After getting to know more leathercrafters and poking around various web sites, I see it's all been done before. I'm going to go ahead anyway though because I'm not going to copy anyone's specific designs, and this is what I have a passion for. As a friend/mentor once told me, everyone has their own specific style. Make things your own - that's what I'm going to do!