How about if everyone stops worrying about whether to call something
hand made and simply says: “This piece is designed and created by
(fill in your own name)”. It eliminates the whole issue.
Daniel R. Spirer, GG
Wow this is a good thing what IM reading but come on really you
don’t know what is and what is not hand made. I think we all do get
a cast piece and a hand made piece put them together and you can see
which is which. The one that dont look like the 1000 other is the
hand made. Now if i was a costomer I want the hand made one !
Jim,
revamp the wording on my web site, and any other promotional material, to reflect that castings are not, by FTC standards, handmade. .
I don’t think that it would be good to put a negative connotation on
your work in that manner. Consumers love the fact that we carve a
wax and then cast it! Why enter the FTC at all in your advertising.
All that litigatory rhetoric is only needed in a lawyer’s office, or
a court. No one’s coming after you with a complaint unless your doing
high volume and stealing designs. Just who is going to file a
complaint against anyone here that says they’re work is handmade. Yea
anyone can file a complaint with the ftc, but there’s a whole list of
commandments that have to be satisfied for a complaint to go to
court. Everyone is running themselves ragged trying to make a buck it
in this ever changing world in which we live in. No agency is
putting out bucks and time to screw companies utilizing limited
runs. Jeez, it’s handmade if you made it and designed it, whether you
solder stock jumprings on it, cast it in limited runs, use cut stones
etc. The “handmade” nuances are up for discussion here, and also are
our selling points, but customers care most about “original designs”
and obviously that you or your associates made the piece. starving
artist
Carl, I think that you made some excellent points here.
Let me first make one little thing explicit. I just want to say
this. I have no personal interest in this whatsoever. I am not
selling my work in the USA, so the regulations of the FTC do not
apply to me. I just happened to like this discussion.
To address your points. 1) I gave the ‘phenomenology’ of casting and
argued that everything is ‘manually controlled’. These lines are very
thin. For example, suppose that you burn out your wax models in an
oven which is computerized. You can go to bed, the program will run
the cycle for you. This is a point, although it would be ridiculous
to call casted piece A handmade because the oven was manually
controlled and to deny that casted piece B was handmade because the
oven was run by a program. So, instead, and here I agree with Jim
Binnion wholeheartedly, we would better concentrate on the intrinsic
quality of the work than on details which are not really relevant for
how the piece was made. However, your point is that the casting
process does not alter the design of the wax or the cavity. This is
true, but I do not think that this is a requirement. After all, when
you are polishing or when you are setting a stone, you do not alter
the design either. You only finish the piece. Point 2: “I think
(perhaps wrongly) you have subtly changed the subject. It seems your
defense of casting as a process yielding ‘handmade’ objects here
relies on the fact that the MATERIAL has changed therefore the
’reproduction’ is false and THEREFORE the object is handmade. Yet
much in modern life nowadays began in CAD/CAM software and only
existed as 1-2-3 types of file data before it was sent to a milling
machine to make a die for plastic injection. It is never 'reproduced’
but that does not make it ‘handmade’.”
These are good points. Indeed, my defense of casting as yielding
handmade objects goes as follows: if the wax model is carved by hand,
and if the casting is manually controlled, then I think that it is
fair to say that the final (one of a kind) piece is as much handmade
as a piece which is fabricated from sheet (and thus an ingot to start
with) is handmade. The argument against this is that a casted piece
cannot be considered handmade because it is a reproduction of a wax
model. In a way, this is true. No one would ever carve a wax if the
form of it could not be (adequately) materialized in metal later on.
But since there is as much reproduction in casting as there is
transformation, I think that it is incorrect to call it merely a
reproduction. I see the process as follows: I carve a wax (with my
hands); I burn the wax out (in a manually controlled way), I cast
the piece (idem); I work further on the metal result. I see this as a
technique, as a procedure which makes life easier for me.
- It’s obvious that we are talking about different things here. I
was referring to blanks of rings which Ferris (among others)
produces. You can buy these blanks and work further upon them, but
since the essentials of the design are already there and are not
handmade, I don’t think that the final result could be called
handmade. I don’t know who the people of the FTC are, but I think
that jewelers themselves should figure these things out and make
regulations which are fair to everyone.
Best, Will
A casting of metal by means of an original, non duplicated , hand
carved wax is a means of production - not reproduction.
Why ?
ONE OF A KIND =/= REPRODUCTION
ONE OF A KIND == ONE UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL PIECE.
ONE UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL HANDMADE PIECE
The wax model has, ideally, the same shape as the resulting, one of
a kind, production casting. ONE OF A KIND.
The wax and casting share only the same shape. The chemical
composition is entirely different .
Wax is not Metal No deception intended.
When that same model is duplicated many times in a mold, And is cast
many times Then it becomes a reproduction.
MANY OF A KIND == REPRODUCTION
REPRODUCTION =/= HAND MADE
I would like to thank the membership for clarifying my
understanding.
Viva la Dialogue
ROBB
For what its worth the FTC surfs the web looking at jewelry sites
for deceptive practices. You can read the FTC press releases about
this at
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/01/jewlsrf3.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/01/jewelrysurf.htm
It seems like they are mostly focusing on descriptions of diamonds
and gemstones but if you are on the web and advertising jewelry you
may have much more exposure to the regulators at the FTC than if you
are in a brick and mortar situation. They don’t even have to get out
of their chairs to look at your advertising if it is on the web. So
I am wiling to bet that those of us who are on the web will get much
greater scrutiny of our business than those who are not.
Jim
Daniel, the following is fairly vehement. Please don’t take it
personally, as it is not intended in that spirit.
The problem that I see with this is all of the clowns who represent
themselves as “designers” because they
1). Gave direction to third-world metalsmiths whom they pay by the
piece,
2). Gave direction to their own bench jewelers as to what general
designs/stones/cuts they would like to move
3). Own a business and figure they are entitled.
4). Picked out the beads on which they strung the slider which they
purchased from someone else.
I have encountered characters at shows and galleries far too many
times, who claim to be “designers” of what was obviously generic
Balinesian schlock. No way does “designer” = “handmade.” If you
didn’t get up close and personal with that metal with a torch,
hammer, pliers, etc, you should not claim an intimate relationship
with the end result.
I think that the FTC has a pretty good definition of “handmade,”
which they developed with the assistance of the metalsmithing
community. I also think that, based on an objective and common-sense
reading of the regulation, the FTC definition does not exlude
one-of-a-kind cast pieces. I am almost entirely certain that no
contributor to this thread, including myself. represents the FTC, so
if anyone, after the dead horse has been beaten thus far, still
harbors doubts, I suggest that they contact the FTC directly for a
statement as to whether the employment of the lost wax process in
all circumstances means that a one-of-a-kind piece is not
“handmade.”
And now, a disclaimer- I cut the vast majority of my own stones, and
do 100% of my own metalsmithing. I work by fabrication, with
fabrication, and do no lost wax casting. I have no vested interest
in advocating for the position that one-of-a-kind cast items are
handmade.
Lee Einer
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com
Howdy Robert, Will, others,
I feel the FTC and perhaps some consumers expect a sort of 'edge of
failure’-type of production exists with ‘handmade’ objects as well as
’on-the-fly’ artistic input opportunity. I hate to read between the
lines but it’s just a hunch. So I guess the idea of a ‘blank’ as some
unalterable object containing the artistic vision of someone other
than you (the artist in conversation with the buyer) is somehow
objectionable. I admit, I might have that same prejudice. But I think
I most value the combination of ideas that - 1. There is a single
artist (pair or very small team-united artistic approach?) AND - 2.
That the same artist or team are also the sole (or at least primary)
crafters of the object. Sure, there’s a lot of wiggle room there, as
I guess there is in the FTC guidelines, but the expectations of the
buyers are as varied as the opinions expressed during this discussion
(which I found very interesting - thanks guys) and that is why I
think the guidelines either are useless or need to be much more
extensive. Personally, I see little need for them. I do think a
person could purchase beads, findings and create and build a necklace
that is handmade. It’s your vision, the beads are your palette of
color, the silk and findings are the canvas. I think a unique wax
design, even if reproduced, which is cast, could still be handmade -
as much as sitting down and making identical earrings. Suppose Will
creates in wax a unique chain link, molds it, injects the mold 20
times, casts the links, and then assembles the necklace. Very unique
and very hands-on by the artist. I think selling the pattern to
Sholdt or Tiffany to have hundreds made takes the ‘originality’ out
of the finished piece - I wouldn’t call those ‘handmade’. If I buy
some silver tubing and start cutting slices off the end, throw them
in a disc finisher and sell them, well there is some 'hand crafted’
work done but almost no creativity - I wouldn’t call that 'handmade’
either. Still, there may be some consumers that expect you to mine
your own gold! Or generate your own electricity to anodize titanium!
Life is often too chaotic to be defined by Government. Carl 1 Lucky
Texan ’
Wow this is a good thing what IM reading but come on really you don't know what is and what is not hand made. I think we all do get a cast piece and a hand made piece put them together and you can see which is which. The one that dont look like the 1000 other is the hand made. Now if i was a costomer I want the hand made one !
Playing devil’s advocate here for a moment, but what if you had a
simple machine-made fabricated piece (if there was an automated
machine that punched/sawed out pieces of sheet and soldered them
together) next to a hand-carved, one of a kind casting? With only
those two pieces to go on and not knowing for sure that others of
that fabricated piece existed, would you really be able to tell
that the one-of-a-kind piece was really the lost-wax one instead of
the fabricated one? And anyhow, that won’t define ‘handmade’
either… 
I wanted to thank Mr. Denayer also, as I think I agree with his
e-mail best. The law is vague! I have a feeling it’s written that way
to accomodate new ways of doing things ‘by hand’ as well as new
materials (I can’t imagine that at the time of writing that law that
PMC was considered, as it’s definitely not listed in accepted
materials but surely counts as handmade when not shaped by a mold),
otherwise nobody would be able to do anything new and creative! 
–M. Osedo
http://www.studiocute.com
Cant say I would have to look at them but IM almost sure I could
tell. One of the nice things about hand made is that is not perfect.
When I go out to buy not often and I see a ring I look for a mistake
on it I guess it really up to the customers what is and what is not
hand made. Just so you know i work in a mss jewelry company and we
use casting but that don’t change my mind or your machine.
:o)