Merbellas Thread

[Kait]

That's really so sad...

Agreed...Every time I see things like this happen I lose a little bit more faith in humanity

[Luna Dreamtide]

Agreed...Every time I see things like this happen I lose a little bit more faith in humanity

Or mermanity..... Sorry I saw it and had too

[Little_Orca]

Whale, whale, whale... I sea what you did there. Couldn't kelp it, huh? Dolphinately couldn't kelp yourself. We all just betta get used to the aquapuns. <3

[Felicia]

Whale, whale, whale... I sea what you did there. Couldn't kelp it, huh? Dolphinately couldn't kelp yourself. We all just betta get used to the aquapuns. <3

seriously just turned my day from "fuck all of this shit" to you just made my day lol

[Little_Orca]

Haha! I got more, I just need the right times to use them.

[Luna Dreamtide]

Whale, whale, whale... I sea what you did there. Couldn't kelp it, huh? Dolphinately couldn't kelp yourself. We all just betta get used to the aquapuns. <3

[Kait]

Lol this is perfect!! Yes yes my mistake


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[HamptonsMermaid]

Think of any top designer in fashion and they all have rip offs! H&M is even a fully legal business that regularly copies runway designs to and sells them for way less. It's just part of the industry, so at this point she can just take it as a compliment. I'm sure some artists (not tail makers, but the ones making jewelry like pictured) just google "real mermaid" and they see all the best tail makers's photos and so they use those images when designing their work. I don't think everyone realizes that these tails are such unique works of art that are so closely linked to the original artist, and that certain fluke designs are "signature." I know I didn't really think about it much before I really started learning about mermaiding and Tailmaking.

What Raven should do is take a hint from this artist and start selling her own miniatures and jewelry. I'm sure for every customer who orders one of her tails, there are hundreds of customers who can't afford a tail but who would pay for something small that makes them think of their dream tail. People want to support her art but only so many people can buy tails. PearlieMae sells her key chain tails and Theobromine sells her mini sea creatures. Even in crowd funding, the majority of money pledged to successful campaigns is from small items under $20.

[AniaR]

She does do that. Lol. * has a miniature*

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[Ariel-Starfish]

She does do that. Lol. * has a miniature*

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Yes, but she only makes them as gifts. I got one with my Ariel top. 💜

When I placed my order on my current tail, I asked for a tail necklace in the same design as my tail, but Raven told me it was only an *extra* as gift.

[AniaR]

yeah same with the head dresses and jewelry usually. Raven just doesnt have time to do much else other than tails. If people want more items, it means longer waits for tails. However several times a year she does sell a bunch of premade items.

[PearlieMae]

There simply isn't enough time in the day to make all the things!!! Especially with commissions waiting to be made. I feel for Raven, she's so talented and absolutely the paramount of tailmakers! Unfortunately, tails are technically seen as 'articles of clothing' (there's been this discussion elsewhere, before) and are subject to copyright laws pertaining to fashion. Not a lot you can do about people making other things based on your creations, either, like the tail necklaces that are obvious copies. If the tails were considered 'characters', you might have a better chance of stopping the rip-offs (i.e. Disney issues licenses for toy manufacturers to design and market their characters for production, in return for a share of the profits, and will come after you hard with an army of lawyers to stop you if you aren't properly licensed. You can't even legally perform as a Disney character without possibly incurring the wrath of the Disney legal department, so all you red-headed, green-tailed Ariels keep an eye out for Cease and Desist notices!).

People rip off Raven's designs ALL. THE. TIME. I swear, it's practically industry standard for people to rip off her designs for tops, accessories, tails, paint designs, ect. She never says anything, even when it's super obvious and people are blatantly copying her. She doesn't want to deal with it. Any time she's tried to call someone out on it in the past, it just blew up in her face and caused her tons of stress. She just wants to make her art! So instead of getting upset and calling people out, she moves on. She is always pushing herself to make something better, and be more innovative. It's frustrating to watch that every time she does, people keep doing it anyways. But she just keeps topping herself, she's unstoppable! It's a wonder to see for sure

It's really annoying when this happens to anyone, not just Raven. Especially when it's paraded in front of everyone like 'Look what I made!' when everyone knows it 'Look what I copied!'

[Hydra1337]

It's definitely a sad but true fact tail makers (even artists in general) put up with.

[PearlieMae]

Everything original gets copied if it has any worth.

[HamptonsMermaid]

I guess one helpful thing would be if the copycat jewelry artist would at least put Raven/Finfolk's name/link (and a not officially endorsed by disclaimer) with the items inspired by them. Then at least it's funneling some traffic to the original artist.

But in the end it seems that demand for Raven's art is so high, that little knick knack knock offs, and even knock off tails, have hardly any effect on business. It sounds like she's taking it very well, and has learned it's not worth it to stress about and go after these people. All the better for her! Who wants to constantly be entangled in copyright lawsuits?! That stuff suuuucks and it's a total creativity buzz kill for artists. Artists need to keep their heads in the clouds with the rainbows!

[PearlieMae]

I guess one helpful thing would be if the copycat jewelry artist would at least put Raven/Finfolk's name/link (and a not officially endorsed by disclaimer) with the items inspired by them. Then at least it's funneling some traffic to the original artist.

But in the end it seems that demand for Raven's art is so high, that little knick knack knock offs, and even knock off tails, have hardly any effect on business. It sounds like she's taking it very well, and has learned it's not worth it to stress about and go after these people. All the better for her! Who wants to constantly be entangled in copyright lawsuits?! That stuff suuuucks and it's a total creativity buzz kill for artists. Artists need to keep their heads in the clouds with the rainbows!

And lawyers/litigation are very expensive and time consuming.

It's been my experience that most artists keep their heads in dark, scary places...hardly any rainbows at all, unless they are ironic.

[Ariel-Starfish]

*swims to the shore* 'I hit the 500 days mark! " *does a backflip and dissapears in the water*

[Little_Orca]

WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE IS THE TAIL?!

Oh... sorry... I saw Ariel post and I got excited.

*Rubs the back of her neck sheepishly.*

I'm sure that doesn't happen to anyone else at all.

[Mer-Crazy]

Haha. I know. I get the same and then it's like nup and its just aww


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[Little_Orca]

Right?

WHAT DO WE WANT?!

TAILS!!!

WHEN DO WE WANT THEM?!

NOW! (But we can wait because we love Raven and respect her creative process and the time it takes to form the tails, we will just squawk like little hen-fish in the mean time.)