So, I have been selling hemp jewelry on Etsy for a couple of years now. It is my means of survival and I have finally been able to get to a point where I feel like I am working hard and sustaining myself. Whew!
http://www.psysub.etsy.com
I can admit that I am inspired by other peoples designs both on Etsy and in other places, but I do have one thing to say. I would never deliberately copy someone elses designs. Sure, I might see a color or style that I like, but as an artist it would both be ethically incorrect as well as artistically unchallenging to make something that was noticeably close to someones design.
So there is this guy, on Etsy, who also makes hemp jewelry. I am pretty sure at this point that he's being a little too "inspired" by my designs, if you get my drift. I was willing to blow it off to circumstance the first couple of times, but at this point its ridiculous and I am upset about it
I've noticed that just shortly after I post a design, like the next day... there it is! He has something super similar (not to mention, a lot of people don't make the type of hemp jewelry that I make in a lot of cases.) Let me show you some examples...

My rainbow peace sign bracelet. Yeah, we might see this style everywhere but never before with rainbow hemp before I made this.
The next day, what do I see?



My rasta hemp bracelet. This was the first rasta fishbone hemp bracelet on the internet.
The very next day, was posted this bracelet by the same user, and just .50 cheaper than mine...


These 2, I was willing to blow off; and did for quite some time. It might be kind of egotistical to say this but, I know my designs look better than his, so I didn't let it bother me. Needless to say many people have been inspired by my rasta fishbone hemp bracelet since, and that's fine... But then something happened to set me off...



My triple butterfly choker. I am one of the only people that combine hemp and pewter pendants. Also, keep in mind that I am the only person on the internet that makes gothic lace chokers out of hemp. Now, knowing this, see what he posted no less than 24 hours after I posted this design.



Don't get me wrong, I'm not super upset about it. But I do find it to be pretty rude. Sure, its going to happen, but that doesn't make it okay.

So now the intelligent question is, how do I start copywriting my designs?
In the world of cometitive fashion design and capitalism, I must defend!

There is a lot of things changing in the sub-culture genres today. I think I am starting to get older, and what I mean by this is that I am experiencing my first large culture shift.

What originally was only the "goth" scene in the 80s, inspired by pseudo-victorian emoitonally charged music, evolved and fused with harder electronic music in the 90s. (Although let it be known that my own father had an industrial club in the 80s, in which the death guild guys hung out and were inspired to make their "own club" with softer music) My personal experience of "goth" in the 90s, although many would argue that it wasn't genuine, was dark heavy metal and progressive eletro music. This was for me, and many people in their 20s, what goth meant. I really got into it for years. As of recent times, the goth scene is changing once again. The "steam punk" trend is bringing back many aspects of fashion that were preveilant in the 80s goth scene, and with it the slower of music. This is proving to be desirable for people who enjoyed the pre-industiral merged goth culture. Up until this point, I had been fighting to keep what I enjoyed about the scene available (and many other people who I know are also very sad about the change, its unfortunate that they don't express themselves) but I think I'm maturing and understanding it. Culture, and even sub-culture will change. If it wanted to change, let it change. If the majority of the goth scene wants more soft music, they can have it. Its sad that many people will enjoy it less, but change is inevitable.

I too feel that a lot of "scenes" lack a welcoming vibe. And even though I know the reason for this often have just cause, its a bit hard to feel socially unawkward in these situations. Many people who end up having rebellious tendencies have been abused and through hard times, and thats why many of them are standoffish and don't like to get close. However, its my belief that to provide an enviorment to which people who have been hurt can feel instantly accepted, embraced, and listened to about their life problems (when they are ready), would be an empowering experience of healing. Because don't we all go out because we want human interaction? Don't we go to clubs to find other people we can relate to? Everyone needs to talk about their problems, and although payed therapists can be great, the experience of healing is much more productive when it includes social growth and real life experience. I guess I just feel sometimes like the experience of being around friendly people has been lost, and replaced with the ideal of a "scene" in which everyone leaves their lives at home and lives in a dillusion of being connected to people just because they can dance in the same room with them or carry on shallow conversation. The purpose of a sub-culture genre to me and many others is to create a bubble inside which we can be ourselves and express ourselves both physically and verbally without feeling judged or ignored.

Now as for the rave scene. After enjoying progressive industrial it was easy for me to get into trance music in the late 90s/ early 2000s. This was another life changing culture for me. Being accepted by people I didn't even know and talking about deep emotional problems and life aspriations in a culture where most people run from the idea of intimacy was a really great thing to build my self confidence. Hell, it gave me hope about humanity. The tribal, shamanistic, becoming one with eachother and the planet through progressive tmusic was some of the best fun I've ever had, and its something that I think should be available to every growing adolescent, as it has been since the beginning of human culture, with beating drums around a fire. (only with our currently available tehcnology, we can obvoisely do a lot better than that) The recent change in the rave culture is the merge with the hip-hop culture. A lot of "dub-step" and other largely played versions of rave music are sounding more hip hop all the time. The problem is that many of the people who are into this music go to raves either to just to have sex, or often bringing with them their social phobias and mental baggage that bleed off onto everyone else (and often create violent situations) Thus bringing down the vibe. Being a Raver is supposed to be about bringing up the vibe, and having an open heart for everyone.

So my overall point with this is that in both the Goth and Rave scene something is missing, something sacred to me and many other transcendentally inspired indeviuals. The tribal feel. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the new style of "steam punk" or "dub-step" doesn't have any telent, I can see that a lot of people put a lot of effort into these things. What I'm saying is that I see a lot of people dancing to old music that they like because you have heard it over the years (like 80s and goth) or listening to music because it has a certain repetitive beat or sound that everyone can recognize (like a lot of rave music these days). There is a defined difference between dancing to music because of memory recognition pleasure and what I enjoy as a tribal music experience. A tribal music experience is when you hear seomthing for the first time, and you have never heard it before, and you LOVE it. Its great, It kicks ass. It fills your body with energy and you feel the rythum with the other people in the room, letting go of all inhibition. And when the next song is completely different, and still just as awesome. This is a sacred sharing and enjoying of music that I aim to preserve. Its time for a new, and yet older than time genre..... One that encompasses the much loved music that is being left out, because afterall, some of the best things about life are the little things that get over looked. Its time for a genre that welcomes life.

mood: bored tags: culture, goth, rave

I was recently looking up gothic chokers, and I found a pretty cool style. Its called "tatting lace". This must have been how they used to make lace back in the day before we had fabric making machines and whatnot. But come to find out when I look close, its less of a crochet pattern and more like macrame, which I already do with my hemp jewelry. Infact, its one of the same knots that I already know... So here's some stuff that one girl makes, who is exceptionally good at it, to a level I may never achieve, but I am going to see what I can come up with. Plus she sells her stuff for quite the amount of money so it might be lucritive for me.

These victorian inspired patterns were obvoisely some of the original inspirations for gothic style. It was then that people really started doing things to stand out fashion-wise, and the old fshioned ways of dressing plain and purposely trying to blend in were replaced, at least by the more eccentric types, intriquite, over dressed but fabulous styles. It bacame almost like people tried to show off all of their best at once, and the noblest were the most adorned. Who ho for our gothic foremothers!




 

I'll post some of my first attempts at this in the near future :-)

mood: rushed music: crappy radio at the laundrymat... blah! where's the elecro?

I think its awsome how some people have incorporated the biohazard/toxic symbols and colors into the cybergoth theme. I actually had an order from a girl in australia who wants a pair of handcuffs with yellow and black vertical stripes... check out the pic! she made that as a format for me. so i was unaware of the caution tape look being part of underground culture nowadays, but i think its something that is very original and interesting. In future times if things get crazy, there might be a lot of people walking around in strange suits and more of this type of style... so we might as well figure out a way to make it look good, right? i'm sure we'll be letting this be incorporated into our creations in the future, so I'll keep you updated... as well as posting pics when I'm done with the cuffs.

So I was searching ETSY for some of this type of fashion.. and here's a couple of my favs! (click to view Etsy item)



both of these girls actually have a lot of other cool stuff too, IMO.

and here's the pattern for the up and coming cuffs... I think its so cool that she made this on photoshop, that way I won't have to waste leather and rivets getting it right.

mood: content music: VNV Nation