Exactly was is handmade?

Jewelry Discussion
41 
As a beader, the way I understand FTC is that unless I am
incorporating gemstones into my work, they do not apply to me.

If you’re stringing plastic beads and using base metal clasps the
FTC rulings don’t apply to a beader. The following makes it clear
that otherwise, a “beader” is not exempt from the FTC rulings:

(quote) A7 23.0 Scope and application. (a) These guides apply to
jewelry industry products, which include, but are not limited to,
the following: gemstones and their laboratory-created and
imitation substitutes; natural and cultured pearls and their
imitations; (end quote)

Although now that I have typed that, even plastic beads would be
covered if they were made to be “imitation substitutes” of a natural
stone. Gah! I hate legalese when it makes my brain hurt.

Dorothy

42 
If you want to impress your customer, impress them with good
design and quality workmanship.

Exactly!!!

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

43 
I'm thinking the person is trying to say that Wannaree Tanner has
computers do her work, so it can't be considered "hand made." Not
sure if the person is disparaging Wannaree, or as some more
traditional jewelry makers still do just disparaging on working
with metal clay as a whole.

I didn’t mean that, I just didn’t get the point of using a CAM
system for metal clay, when you could have used wax as the media
instead.

Using metal clay is far more expensive than getting a wax cast.

That’s the point I didn’t get.

Regard Charles A.

44 
But I honestly don't think that makes it any more - or less (for
those who hate metal clay) "hand made" jewelry than that by someone
who carves a wax and casts it.

Casting is not hand made either, it has nothing to do with hate or
like it is a very specific language in the guides:

Note to paragraph (a): As used herein, "raw materials" include bulk
sheet, strip, wire, and similar items that have not been cut,
shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or
blanks."

Hand made is wrought fabricated jewelry

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

45 
Wannaree does use a Silhouette Cameo machine to cut out some of her
intricate her bezel wire, but I think that's no different than
someone hand fabricating a piece using decorative, pre-cut gallery
wire for a bezel.

No, that is machine made not hand made. It is simple, machine cuts
it out then it is machine made.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

46 
 Handmade is as the word implies..hand made. So casting is not hand
 made and thus cannot be considered so.

Used a sling caster lately? CIA

47 
 For Americans, the FTC guidelines are being revised this year.

I would suggest that we continue the discussion after the revision.
CIA

48 
Hope that sets the record straight.

Wish it did :frowning:

Because of 23.3’s wording, it can be used to describe non-automatic
casting methods.

“Hand-made” is a term that is very tricky to define, as we have
found from our discussions.

Where it becomes solid is where the definition is proven in a court
of law, and sets a legal precedence.

Does anyone know of any cases, for misuse of the term handmade, with
outcomes? What would be really defining is if the court ruling went
against an American Indian that makes silver jewellery using
non-automated rustic sand casting techniques.

Leonid earlier mentioned the intent of the law, unfortunately a
statement of intent is lacking for section 23.3. My take on it would
be to stop the misuse of labeling “hand-made” on pieces made from
automata, or other automated machinery.

Viking jewellers used casting to make pieces of jewelery centuries
ago, zero automated processes, “hand made” or not?. Across the sea
the Anglo Saxons were making pieces of jewellery “hand wrought”
definitely, but also “hand made”.

Is there a confusion with the terms “hand wrought” and “hand made”.
I see the two as being totally different terms.

Regards Charles A.

49 
I have a retail store. In 22 years I have never said to a customer
that my work or the work of the 10 artists i carry was handmade.

Richard’s was the only posting I’ve read on this thread. It just
makes me chuckle a bit… Read his post, take it as gospel,
don’t get yourself all worked up about labeling things, do good
work, live long and prosper.

50 
Leonid earlier mentioned the intent of the law, unfortunately a
statement of intent is lacking for section 23.3. My take on it
would be to stop the misuse of labeling "hand-made" on pieces made
from automata, or other automated machinery.

“Intent of the law” has a very specific meaning in law. When a judge
speaks of intent of the law, he/she refers to minutes recorded during
debate, when law or regulation was passed. That is how intent of the
law is determined. It is not derived from statute itself.

Leonid Surpin

51 
Used a sling caster lately? CIA

All castings no matter what technique is used to make the casting are
a reproduction of the original. It may be a destructive or
nondestructive reproduction but it is definitely a reproduction. For
this reason castings are not handmade they are always a
second-generation of the original at best. That original item may
have been handmade but of course that’s not a requirement. This has
nothing to do with whether or not the work is good or bad it is not
a value judgment on the work is just very simply not handmade in the
FTC definition if it is cast.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

52 
 Handmade is as the word implies..hand made. So casting is not hand
 made and thus cannot be considered so. 

Used a sling caster lately? CIA

Seems that those who do, know, those who don’t, don’t know.
Centrifugal casting by hand or machine is casting, not fabricating.

Past discussions clarified that carving the wax was the handmade
part. The casting of the wax was/is not considered handmade.

Pour an ingot, roll out or forge the metal, you are using your han
ds and tools controlled by your hands to change the shape of the
metal. Unless you are hammering the ingot with the sling caster, if
you are using casting equipment, the metal is not under the control
of your hand. You are formi ng the metal by pouring metal into a
mold, the flask.

Casting produces a product that is in the form you will use. Casting
ingots produces the material that will be formed by hand processes.

Charles, if you made knives, forging knife blades is handmade. If
you knew someone buying a stamped out knife blade and putting handles
on it and calling it handmade, what would you think?

Two groups. Those that understand and try to explain to those that
don’t, and those that don’t understand and seem to act as a support
group to help each other remain ignorant.

Juxtapose this, our FTC laws compared to how European trained goldsm
iths would refer to their work. Inherent in the training is the
correct concepts of which processes are considered handmade, and E
uropean goldsmiths would not have this discussion.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

53 
I would suggest that we continue the discussion after the
revision.

The Handmade criteria are not one of the items under discussion in
this review.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

54 
"Intent of the law" has a very specific meaning in law. When a
judge speaks of intent of the law, he/she refers to minutes
recorded during debate, when law or regulation was passed. That is
how intent of the law is determined. It is not derived from statute
itself.

Has “hand-made” been tested in a court of law? In respect to our
industry, I’d be interested in how the case/s went.

Details would be appreciated.

Regards Charles A.

55 
All castings no matter what technique is used to make the casting
are a reproduction of the original. It may be a destructive or
nondestructive reproduction but it is definitely a reproduction.

Thank you, that make sense. :slight_smile: CIA

56 
Seems that those who do, know, those who don't, don't know.
Centrifugal casting by hand or machine is casting, not
fabricating.

Thanks for the insult :smiley:

My concern was the wording of sections 23.3 being too open. However
James provided a better explanation, and filled in the missing link.
I was just missing that one point.

I’m in total agreement thanks to him.

Charles, if you made knives, forging knife blades is handmade. If
you knew someone buying a stamped out knife blade and putting
handles on it and calling it handmade, what would you think?

Well, funny you should mention that. I forge knives, swords, and
other blades, I get the bevels close, then I tidy up the bevels with
a motorised belt, sometimes I use a sen or a B.A. file.

The finishing I do on my blades, I just use an up-scaled polishing
lathe. I pretty much finish the job like any jeweller would… with
a machine.

Other people buy stamped out knife “blanks”. The knife blank is
shaped with a bench grinder or belt, by hand. Some makers make their
own blanks, and grind to shape.

If one of these makers put “hand made” on their blade, I couldn’t
dispute it, if they were subject to section 23.3.

I’ll even go a step further. Some makers don’t even make their own
blades, they buy a pre-made blade, they just make the grip.

Two groups. Those that understand and try to explain to those that
don't, and those that don't understand and seem to act as a
support group to help each other remain ignorant.

If the group that “understands”, fails in the explanation, they
perpetuate the ignorance.

No one, bar James Binnon, said anything but “casting isn’t hand
fabrication” (or “/Centrifugal casting by hand or machine is
casting, not fabricating/”), without giving any further explanation.

Because of James’ concise explanation, not only can I support his
view, but I can pass on correct validated I can give a
reason, not a statement.

He also explained without the insult.

Regards Charles A.

57

Hi, There are many handmade objects for sale. For example, handmade
sweaters don’t usually use handspun yarn, but the sweater is knit or
crocheted by hand and not machine. Another example would be handmade
toys. The material used is usually bought and then rendered by hand
into a toy.Some synonyms include: hand assembled, hand crafted, hand
constructed, created, fashioned, fabricated, and custom-made.I don’t
use any of these terms. I just say that I make my own “stuff.”

Keep shining, D

58 
Casting is not hand made either, it has nothing to do with hate or
like it is a very specific language in the guides: 

Note to paragraph (a): As used herein, "raw materials" include
bulk sheet, strip, wire, and similar items that have not been cut,
shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or
blanks." 

Hand made is wrought fabricated jewelry

Sorry, James, but there’s nothing in the guidelines, as quoted
above, that precludes a casting being labeled as “handmade”. The word
“include” doesn’t mean “nothing that isn’t listed hereafter is
allowed.” Just because they didn’t mention casting grain in this list
of acceptable raw materials doesn’t mean it’s not a raw material. If
it hasn’t been cut, shaped or formed into jewelry parts by some sort
of automatic machinery (and sheet, for example, has gone through a
lot of that), it would comfortably fit onto the list. The language of
this regulation is trying to be more inclusive, and preclude
challenges from people who roll their own sheet or draw their own
wire against those who don’t… But casting grain or ingot has had
less done to it, and would clearly be classified as a raw material.
There seems to be a contingent of people here who want to believe
that these regulations forbid jewelry which used casting as a
technique in its manufacture from being labeled as “handmade”, but
it’s just not in there.

Where they do have a more valid argument is in the case of multiple
castings from the same mold. Since the regulation requires that:

the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials
and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor
and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control
and vary the construction, shape, design, and finish of each part
of each individual product.

an edition of jewelry items in which the maker can’t make each
individual piece different from another would probably not qualify
as handmade. But if a jeweler carves an individual wax model, invests
it, burns it out, casts it, then finishes and polishes it by hand, he
or she is in control of each step of the process, can vary things at
will, and the product would certainly qualify as hand-made. Note that
the regulations don’t prohibit any particular tools or techniques,
they just specify that whatever tools are used be capable of manual
control.

Andrew Werby

59 
I didn't mean that, I just didn't get the point of using a CAM
system for metal clay, when you could have used wax as the media
instead. Using metal clay is far more expensive than getting a wax
cast. That's the point I didn't get.

She only uses the machine to cut out her decorative bezel wire (using
her design) for a stone, but most of the piece will be from
hand-carved metal clay, so casting a wax for just bezel wire would be
a lot of extra work. And I guess she wants use her own design and not
a plain bezel wire or pre-cut gallery wire. Her pieces are in general
ones that use the advantages of what metal clay is good for: one of a
kind, sculptural-type pieces. She just likes metal clay as her
medium, instead of casting, as do I. I really like how metal clay
carves. I come from the studio art world where I’ve used regular clay
for years, and I like it better than wax. But some people like wax
better, so casting would be better for them. I have some designs that
can be completely accomplished with metal clay only, but I also have
some designs that are better accomplished by mixing metal clay and
fabrication. And I personally like using bezel wire and sheet for
certain parts (around stones) instead of metal clay where the
shrinkage would be a pain in the butt. People just use what
techniques they like to accomplish the designs they want. But all
techniques and mediums have their limitations, so mixing them
probably works best.

El

60 
All castings no matter what technique is used to make the casting
are a reproduction of the original. It may be a destructive or
nondestructive reproduction but it is definitely a reproduction.

Jim, it seems to me there may be at least one type of exception to
that generally true statement, though it likely doesn’t then qualify
items for the handmade label. I’m thinking of a case where the mold
into which a piece is cast, is made by means where there was no
actual original. There are several such methods. One can carve
designs into Tufa, or cuttlefish, or stone, to make a mold, either
open faced or closed, into which metal can be poured. The design
never existed as any sort of original other than the idea in the
makers head, and the mold can clearly be called hand made. Puring
the metal might be considered merely the final stage of the same
creation process, rather than a reproductive process. The casting is
the first generation. Another example is in the CAD/RP methods where
3D printing technology is used to directly print a mold. Again, the
only original exists only in the computer file and the artists mind,
not in actual 3 dimensional space until metal is poured. This example
is far from the definition of handmade, with computers doing much of
the work, but it is nevertheless an example where a casting can be
the first generaion iteration of a design…

thoughts?

peter