Awkward teaching situation

I sure can relate to that issue having taught jewelry making before.
I would state the case as you did to us…it is a very personal issue
having someone copy something you made and is your own. (Imitation is
a great learning tool, many painting students have copied the masters
to learn how to replicate the look the artist achieved.) There are
many good learning books on jewelry making where the teacher teaches
a technique without giving away his/her designs. Design is a craft in
its own right. When I first taught, I spent an entire lesson, much to
the dismay of my students, on design. What is the point of spending
money on materials and time in the crafting if your design is not
attractive, or workable. When a craftsperson sells their work, the
patron is buying the materials AND the design. I would not let them
copy one of my pieces if it was that personal. In a year or two you
might feel differently towards your piece.

Good luck.
Mary Frances Dunker

I see two scenarios in your dilemna. One is that the students are
playing a nasty little trick on you because they know that you are
hung up on this ring. Or, they really like your ring and have decided
to pay homage to your creativity. In this latter instance you should
be flattered, but if it is the former instance you might ask yourself
why it is that they want to goad you. Personally I can’t see why it
should make any difference…after all, copying is a form of
flettery and everyone does it, sooner or later !

Ron Mills, Mills Gem Co. Los Osos, Ca.

They decided that they wanted to make an exact copy of one of my
pieces - exact - same stone, same size, same design down to every
stamped detail - an exact copy 

Catherine, don’t let them do it. Insist that they must use their own
creativity. If they want to make something similar to your ring, OK,
but it cannot be identical. Let them know that they will be surprised
and pleased by the results. Have them sketch or describe their
proposals – maybe it could be an interesting class discussion. As
you mentioned, jewelrymaking is not just techniques. It does involve
designing, which requires a lot of work, too. I always push my
students to make variations on things I’ve shown them. The results
are always fascinating. No two pieces are ever the same.

All the best,
Judy Bjorkman

Hi Catherine,

This certainly sounds like an interesting dilemma. There is, of
course, a long history of “copying” an established artist as a method
of learning. Student painters would reproduce the works of masters as
a way to gain technical skill and experience. This was an established
procedure.

But the point was education and not a back handed way to obtain a
great piece of art for the living room-- at a fraction of the
cost…

As a teacher, I believe that it is your responsibility to educate
your students on the ethics of reproducing others’ work and steering
clear of the appearance of such impropriety. This could actually be a
great opportunity to address these issues.

Perhaps you could begin a discussion by asking the class why they
selected this project. They may-- as someone has already said-- be
pulling your chain and teasing you. Or they may be genuinely
interested in how you went about the process.

In any case, I personally would be uncomfortable with students
copying my work. I take pains to point out, when I teach, the ethical
pitfalls of copying and the very real damage that it can do to one’s
reputation and personal sense of design.

You could break your design down into its various elements and allow
students to use these as points of departure, building their own
pieces using your ring as a reference point. They’ll learn much more
in the end.

To paraphrase others who have responded to you-- Imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery.

Take care, Andy Cooperman

This has been a great thread!!! and such a variety of answers.

At CIJT we have a project driven course, we teach methods and skills
on our selected and skill specific projects to allow the student to
learn techniques instead of having to sit much of the day in class,
trying to decide what to make. We tell them this, they need to
ability before attempting some thing which requires skills they have
not yet developed.

That is a student, they need to learn before they can do and in this
case, it could be a very disappointing situation if they tried to
copy something that they did not have the ability to copy in skillful
and experienced work.

A teacher is one who creates the desire in their students to learn
from them.

To see the exceptional result of a concave band on one of their
first days is so thrilling. It is like a masterpiece. Yes they did
it, but it was a project that was assigned to them.

We teach to do and as they do and see and study the work of many
before them and others in class in Module IV, the “Design a line”
module, and they truly are inspired to work on their own ideas. And
they share…

Professor Eva Ananiewicz’ answer of encouragement and inspiration is
one that she practices. " Since, the purpose of taking a class is to
learn to think for yourself" And when that happens, they learn how to
do their own thing.

Eva is our Distance Education Director of the MasterValuer Jewelry
Appraisal course and her students love her. She never sends out a
paper with “just grades” She encourages and inspires and teaches
every moment of her time with them… Thanks Eva…And

the answer by Lisa,

When you accept the job of being a teacher, you give it all away…
joyfully…

Fun post, and for those of you who would like more about
how we do things here at the California Insitute of Jewelry
Training. log on www.jewelrytraining.com

Regards, D

Hello Catherine,

I think there may be a way out of this. Since they love your ring,
and it would not be good for you if they copied it, you as the
teacher can tell them that you are very pleased and complimented they
want to copy your ring, but feel they can do better. Steer them away
from copying your ring and expose to them what they really want, the
TECHNIQUES.

Tell them to take all of the techiques you used in your ring, and
apply them to a design of their own in a collaborative effort. And
you might want to encourage them by saying that you know they can
design something even better than your ring with these techniques and
all this creative energy at their fingers.

In short, challenge them to go beyond where you went with your ring.

That might spark some movement away from copying your piece.

Paula

Whoa… stop with the responses! LOL Crazy as it seems, this
"really" wasn’t a copying issue as much as it was I felt the piece
was my pride and joy and it hasn’t been out in the world long enough
to “reproduce.” I just finished it a couple weeks ago. And yes, I
also see this as a great compliment to the piece - I definitely see
that.

It also was a piece that I may go on and build a line from too, so
that may have subconsciously been part of it. I would be more than
happy to have pulled out some other pieces and used them as
templates. My concern was more along the lines of how to approach the
situation and handle it in a way that was professional, didn’t come
across as being snide or someone not wanting to share.

Had I been completely “anti-copy,” I would not have bothered to post
this question to the forum and would have just responded with “NO
COPYING” to the class. However, that’s not how I feel and I was
looking for some insight from the forum, which I have received - tons
of it actually! It has been interesting reading the different
responses.

If you don’t want your students to copy that particular ring, you
are under no obligation to let them do it. Just speak up and tell
them you created it to be one-of-a-kind, and you want it to stay that
way. You, as the teacher, have the final voice as to what goes on in
your class. If you can’t bring yourself to do that, how about a bit
of deception: Come to class with whatever materials you have to set
up, then start digging around frantically looking for the ring. Ask
if anyone has seen it. Be devastated. It seems to have disappeared.
Exercise whatever dramatic ability you have. Then tell them that in
the absence of the ring, they’ll have to dream up something else to
create. That lets you off the hook and compels them to use their own
imaginations.

(Of course you should be flattered that your creation was so admired
that everyone wanted to duplicate it…but then they’d probably go
home and say they made it…not that they copied it from an
original.)

Dee

Hi Lisa - As far as taking the “moolah” and running - that’s the
furthest from what I did. I’m not planning on making teaching my
business, as I much prefer to design and fabricate my own jewelry.
But I thought it would be fun to teach some of the things that I have
learned so far to those that would like to learn. I had a class
outline and was upfront about what would be taught and what pieces
would be made. I shared all my tips, tricks, experiences and even
went much further in the teaching than was originally planned in the
outline. It definitely wasn’t a “take the moolah” and run situation.
In fact, I taught and extra two hours longer each day because the
class was having a great time and I wanted them to be able to
complete the projects they were working on.

I had a great time - and I know my students had a great time as they
were so happy to learn what I was showing them. It worked out great
in the end.

I should have been more clear in my first email - but the ring
involved much more detailed techniques and time. Everything that was
told would be taught in the workshop was taught - and then some.
Moving on the the ring would actually have taken another workshop in
itself - and that was discussed and it was decided that it wouldn’t
be something that could be taught in a day. So we moved on to other
designs and they came up with great things.

I’m a little put off that it’s assumed that this was a “take the
moolah” and run situation because I definitely taught a lot more than
was originally planned out - as well as going two hours over each day
so they could finish up their projects and have something to take
home that night and look at. :slight_smile:

Catherine

When I took the jewelry course at Kulicke-Starck School in NYC, back
in the 1970’s, we all learned from the same piece which we all
copied. The class used the model piece just to learn the many skills
inherent in the work. These were Renaissance techniques which were
tried and true and very valuable. It seems absurd to copy an
original art work in any field ( a Monet by any other name?!!). And
just to finish this with a story that happened to me: While showing
some of my unfinished pieces to some students, one piece must have
caught the eye of someone in the class. A few months later when in
the NYC subway, I saw my piece as earrings on a fellow rider.
Surprise-surprise… I now call my still unfinished piece “subway
rose”. Be very careful…

Isn't the whole point of learning new techniques to be able to
take those techniques and incorporate them using their own design
ideas? 

Catherine, you’ve received a lot of good advice, but I’m in the camp
that says don’t let them copy your ring. If it has certain design
elements they like and want to try, tell them they can do it, but it
can’t be a ring. Tell them to make sketches of what they would like
to do, and you’ll help them by discussing how they can do that
within their skill sets. Or you can partner them or use a class
discussion group where they all brainstorm on each individual’s
ideas. A big part of doing jewelry is designing, and they shouldn’t
be afraid to put their own ideas forward. Only they can have the
unique interpretation of the materials and skills they have available
to them. They will amaze themselves and be justifiably proud of their
accomplishment.

Personally I can't see why it should make any difference....after
all, copying is a form of flettery and everyone does it, sooner or
later ! 

Wow! No, everyone does NOT do it sooner or later!

Yes, everyone uses ideas and inspirations that they pick up from
other people’s work, but most of us (I like to think) refrain from
direct copying. Besides, as I have commented many times, if someone
else already does/did it, why bother? I’m sure I speak for a great
many of us on this forum when I say, if it were only about the
money, I’d have been a plumber! (I say plumber because, no matter
how broke you may be, when the sewer backs up, you pay the plumber.)

I have to wonder, also, what kind of mind comes to the notion that
the students are “goading” their teacher-- pretending to want to
copy the ring because she is “hung up” on it. This kind of
conspiracy theory bespeaks a certain level of deviousness and
paranoia.

Noel

Dear Catherine,

Don’t let the students make a copy of your work! What does that
teach them? It will teach them that the ideas of others are not
important intellectual property.

Teach them that they should be respecting your design, not stealing
it! It is not a matter of sharing. Your job is to teach them to work
their own creative process!

You have to encourage them to be developing their own designs while
sharing your knowledge of technique.

I would always put out a dozen or more books with each class (had a
few books stolen too!)

to get the students thinking of lots of ideas. But I always made it
clear that what they where to produce in my class was to be their own
ideas.

I was always very hesitant to even show my work to any of my
classes, (5 years at Art Institute of Seattle and 3 years at Univ. of
Washington) because the first time I did I got a lot of bad
knock-offs of my designs coming back at me from those students in the
class who thought that by mimicking the professor they would somehow
flatter me into giving them a good grade.

Even here at Art Jewelry we have only 13 percent of our readership
confessing to actual copying of projects in the magazine. If you want
use my line go ahead, tell your students straight-up “copy my work
and you’ll fail the class, BUT more importantly you’ll be failing
yourselves.”

Nanz Aalund
Associate Editor / Art Jewelry magazine
21027 Crossroads Circle / Waukesha WI 53187-1612
262.796.8776 ext.228

I just remembered something funny that happened 10 or so years ago.
I was at a holiday party at the school here in Seattle where I was
teaching, up at the “bar” waiting for my drink when a student, who I
had taught before, came up, introduced her husband and then seized my
ring finger (and ring) brought it before the eyes of her husband and
declared that “this is my teacher for next class and I’m going to
learn how to make this ring”.

I was taken aback and made it–politely-- clear that I, indeed, was
going to be her teacher but that learning how to make my work was not
on the syllabus…

People have funny expectations and innate senses of what is
appropriate or even right and wrong.

Andy Cooperman

Just tell your students exactly what you told us here. They should
be able to imagine the situation you are in now and how akward that
would feel if everybody copies your ring. You can also tell them that
you are dissappointed that they are not able to create something of
their own, instead they want to copy a piece of yours. My motto is
always an old German saying: “You can get your appetite everywhere,
but you should eat at home”. Inspiration is good, copying is a NoNo!

Good luck,
Edith
Edith Schneider Jewelry
P.O.Box 52001
Palo Alto, CA 94303
www.edithschneider.com

There is something wrong with this group of students.

That all of them would want to make the same ring? I can’t imagine
getting even a minimum number of people together who all want to
learn metalsmithing and having all of them want to make the same
thing.

I didn’t have time to read all these comments I hope no one has
suggested this yet. I can think of two options for activities you
can do to show the students how you feel rather than telling them.

  1. ask if any of the students would like to volunteer their
    favourite peice from the year to be the peice that will be copied. if
    no one offers then they will understand how you feel slightly
    violated. If someone offers, let the class copy theirs, if the class
    doesn’t want to, tell them to come up with a new design.

  2. Tell the class they may copy your peice for practice, since
    copying something exactely has helped me in the past with art to
    improve technique. However tell them they may only produce a copy if
    they dissassemble it as well during the class. Im no sure what kind
    of work you do, but hopefully they can dissasemble it without ruining
    the materials for future work.

good luck, now you know letting students do “anything” is not the
best idea :slight_smile: we can always come up with something unsuitable :wink:

This is a very interesting discussion. I do teach on occasion and
have trained many model makers,mold makers, casters etc… in my day.

My Suggestion is this… If you do not want the item copied in
class, then don’t use it as an example for teaching purposes.
Students learn technique and processes easiest by first copying, then
mastering technique. The test for mastering a technique is to make an
original piece using the techniques you have taught as a teacher.

So, does it not make sense to have class room examples of what you
want the student to do and have them accomplish the designs you have
chosen first…Then, they master the process by producing their own
design to show their proficiency.

If the design being taught is complex, this becomes even more
important for the students future capabilities.

As a professional model maker, We ( as a profession) or, I ( as a
model maker) have to take a customers hand drawn design or computer
art and make this design directly in metal or carve the original in
wax… and it has to be as accurate as possible so it can be
reproduced in production or as a one -off original. Jewelers have the
same challenge put to them in good stores all the time.

In any case, it is neccessary to learn the technique of copying a
design /style from a teacher. Eventually, you are going to have a
customer approach you with their original drawing and say… I want
you to make this for me… Thats when you are going to find out
that it is not easy to create someone elses design for them and make
it precisely as they want it.

I would suggest that during the teaching process, the teacher make
it understood that copying other peoples designs for the purpose of
selling them on your own is not ethical and is frowned upon by others
in the field.

This is only my opinion so, use what you wish from these thoughts.

Daniel Grandi Racecar Jewelry Co. Inc.
We do model making, casting and finishing in many types of gold, silver,
pure silver, deox sterling, brass, bronze and pewter.
Tel: 401-461-7803

I agree-If you are uncomfortable with their copying (or trying to
copy_) your ring, then don’t do it and don’t feel that you shouldn’t
feel that way. Thank them for the compliment, and gently explain that
the purpose of the last lesson was to give them the freedom and
pleasure of creating something of their own design.

Sandra

Hey Catherine,

Glad you enjoyed teaching your class. I am sure your students enjoyed
it too as they obviously admired your work. Perhaps I was unclear on
what you meant when you stated that:

My issue isn't so much about "copying" as it is that the ring is
really my pride and joy piece and I feel like I'm "handing it over"
by having it used as a template for a group of students. 

No offence, but I found that statement insulting to and disdainful of
your students, as though you perceived them as beneath you because
they were, “a group of students”. Hopefully, you didn’t mean it to
come out that way. That’s why I jokingly wrote what I did instead of
addressing your comment directly.

We all spend extra time when we teach. Paid or unpaid, its the nature
of the beast. I guess the trick is not to feel resentful that is part
of the unwritten curriculum. Not so easy. You then noted that you
don’t wish to teach how you design, and somehow, never did mention
the problem with the technique being too difficult that you speak of
now. You wrote:

And I don't think I'm ready to do that with this piece - I just
cherish this piece and am so pleased with how it turned out. I
just love the ring. I don't mind teaching my techniques and what
I've learned, but feel kind of funny also giving away my designing
- if that makes sense. 

I felt that you weren’t “giving away”, your designing, you were being
paid specifically to teach “your designing”. I assume that is why the
school hired you, instead of someone else. They liked your particular
design style. If they didn’t think that you were going to teach your
particular design style, it is probable that they would not have
hired you. You then repeated the same comment:

I guess it's the fact that I really like the uniqueness of the ring
and I feel kind of funny about it being copied by a group of
students

What I wrote was meant to be tongue in cheek. I made the comment
about how much you can give v/s How much you have to give…ie:
willingly and generously giving of your time and expertise, instead
of feeling put upon because more things were expected of you than
you had planned on. My note was only supposed to make you think just
a little bit about the perception of how you were putting this out to
us. I see that it accomplished that to some extent.

We were all beginners once. I am certainly still happily learning.

Best wishes,

Lisa

PS: I wrote the most recent note to the list about keeping secrets
before I got your letter.