Yes, thanks. I took a looksee...wow! What a wonderful level of expertise and art to work toward! Yes, it probably is a good idea to add watermarks to photographs, and I already lower the photographs for web use, but I doubt it would prevent use of one's designs without permission. Sigh. Still, I think I'll probably go on sharing mine. It's just part of the fun for me. nevertheless, I think I'll be a bit more cautious about just how I do it.

Thanks, Rita, for the name and link when my memory failed me. Good that we can finish each others thoughts! What a group of quilters we have.

a great way to make photos non-nickable/not-worth-being-nicked is to put a watermark copyright into the pictures - as seen in many websites and blogs - would be great if we could have that option here - i.e. when we upload high-resolution pictures have the option to add a watermark, as many TQS'rs clearly do not have the programs or the know-how to add a watermark into their pictures before uploading

One way of reducing the usefulness of your photos to others who want to 'nick' them from the web, is to reduce the number of pixels in the picture, then they look fine on the screen but are dreadful once you start trying to blow them up for detail. Just another suggestion. But yes, if it is on the web, it is in public.

Sewdreamy wrote:
Would that have been Mariya Waters? She did a quilt called Renaissance Revival and posted a blog as she went. Here's a link.

http://www.mariyawaters.com/MakingRR5.htm

Betty Jo I can't give you advice as I know nothing about exhibiting but I have enjoyed reading your blogs and seeing your work in progress. I guess as a rule of thumb anybody who is worried about copyright should keep their work under wraps until the official viewing.

Being able to share and have the input from others makes my quilts a good deal better -- besides being lots of fun!

SuperJudy wrote: Yikes! I think that takes a lot of fun out of the creation of quilts...not sharing along the way.

Can't remember who the instructor was, but she said that members of her home guild did not even bring their in-progress works to small group meetings so as
to be able to say the work was entirely their own. It sounded like there had been problems with accusations of copying ideas.

magnus wrote: A nice point. Still, see my comment above about being private on the web. It just isn't. But we are a wonderful community of like minded interests.

Lorchen wrote:

Lorchen, in my humble opinion, if it's on the Internet it is never even approaching "private"...one might as well stand on the roof with a megaphone and lights.But I see your point. I am sorry about the quilter who loses potential sales. That is just plain frustrating.

pamo65 wrote: Gee, I'd like to know who that was so I could go look at her website.

This is a very interesting discussion to me as I work on developing my new full time fabric arts business. As far as copying my work from my photos...I think my particular type of quilting would be difficult to do that way, though perhaps not impossible, though I think I would even have a hard time reproducing exact or even near copies of my own work like my knight quilt, for instance. I do see some fabulous and beautiful quilts, however, that nevertheless could be copied from good photos if one were skilled in the techniques (rather like "good" forgers of paintings can copy them to the point it takes an expert to tell the difference). But if the quilter is so skilled, why copy someone else's?!!!

In the future, though, I am planning to develop some quilts with patterns and even printable digitized items and in-the-hoop applique/embroidery to go with the patterns. That might be a little less difficult to copy from pictures. It's a good thing to think about in advance of this.

I still rather think I'll share my struggles with crafting my art quilts with photos. One of the things I want to do, with my website and blog is develop interest in my quilts as art--perhaps for eventual sale--and in my techniques to share with others.

I really agree that it is a shame we have to be so careful about this. It's a lot more fun to share and I love to see other people's work too here at home in front of my computer with my shoes off. To me, it doesn't spoil it to see it on the Internet or in a magazine if I at last see it in person. There's so much more to see in person.

Also note that many of us have posted photos of our TQS quilts in progress and many have since won awards after they were posted here - I suppose we are a "private" source on the web?
Jeanine

You have to be every so careful here. Some shows have different categories that have different sponsors, and so the rules can be different, even within the same show.

Betty Jo, one way around it would be to either have a 'private' blog, so that only invited people can access it, or to start your own Yahoo Group (pick the non-listed, and private options) and only share with those you can trust not to copy pictures and spread across cyber space.

Personally, I think it's a shame that we have to be so careful these days, because various types of copying are so easy, and spreading something world-wide can be done in minutes. I remember talking to a quilter who produces commercial patterns. She thinks that she loses 70% or more of potential sales because of copying and illegal sharing via the internet, and her designs (very distinctive appliqué) have also turned up with minor changes commercially for sale. It's always such a shame that a handful of 'crooks' can spoil it for the rest of us.