On claiming someone else’s work as your own

I have no intention to actually write this down, but i would like to be able to recollect this memory as something that is good enough to start a conversation among friends :)

A week ago, one of my friends mentioned this on a chat with me. Asking if I knew a certain facebook account, she sent me a link and I looked at it.

I immediately said no, before actually reacting to the content of the page. I noticed two of my works posted there :) And yes, with my half-body shot (:D During my maiden days!!! WAY WAY BACK!) and shrug it off at first but the thought that someone actually claimed my work keeps nagging at the back of my mind. I consulted some friends about this and most of them wants me to talk to the administrator of the page but I said, let it be, since it would not really mean so much to me, lest she actually claim that she made those. If she is just using them as reference for something she can custom-made for other people then I might ask how much would it cost her to make me one, as I am having difficulty recreating these myself.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Original source of images can be found here and here.

But lo and behold :) another friend sent a private message to the page administrator asking if the blouse from the image was actually made by her and she replied yes! :) I cannot help but laugh when my friend related to me how she reacted ๐Ÿ˜€ and that is what i want to share as a good conversation starter:

Private message

Private message

Private message part 2

Private message part 2

Private message part 3

Private message part 3

๐Ÿ˜€ If i have it my way, i would have asked her to ask the price and make an order ๐Ÿ˜€ but i guess, being my friend, she cannot help but be a bit harsh and rude at the same time :)

so my suggestion to people who will claim someone else’s work as your own. Be careful. :) Social media is a powerful tool nowadays.

I do not wish anyone to claim my work as theirs. I, too have a hard time buying crocheted articles or even handicrafts as anyone among my circle would always claim that i made them. So it would do me less harm if i say “No, i just bought it, or found on the net” straight forward than someone being able to claim it otherwise.

I also find it difficult to post any other works online on my own page or my website because they also think that I make those things, so i always put in the tagline that it’s a work of a friend or something like that, because it is a shame for an artist’s pride to be shamed about your work and also be praised for a work that was not yours.

Yes, I do pride myself as a wannabe artist, that is why i uphold an artist pride. Lesson to other people, if you have pride, please be wary on claiming other people’s work as your own.. Specially if you are a wannabe/self-proclaimed artist as I am, because your pride is the only thing you have.