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The Gaian Quilt
Questions on Quilt Commissions (no commissions, here's why)
I am terribly sorry, but I am not taking commissions. This project is currently only open to Gaia Staff and will take me years to complete. I have other, real-life commissions that I am responsible for as well. I cannot at this time make blocks for anyone else.

Actually....I probably won't make blocks for anyone but staff. See, we start getting into a few gray areas and problems here:

1)I am not the owner of the copyright, so I shouldn't sell my blocks for real money or goods of any sort.

Quote:

Buying or otherwise selling Gaian items/gold/property with real money is not allowed and is a bannable offense for all parties involved.

Basically, Gaian gold and donations to Gaia are the only ways to get Gaian items. All Gaian items are copyrighted to Gaia Interactive, and thus, you are not allowed to make profit out of them. To put it simply, they don't actually belong to you.


So I won't make blocks for money, period, even off site. But they are relatively expensive to make. Each block costs an average of $2.50 in raw supplies (actual cost is higher since I have to buy more fabric than what is actually used). I also have the cost of things I will need to finish the quilt once the blocks are complete, namely the batting, thread for quilting, fabric guard, starch, and the fabrics for the sashing, binding, and backing. It also takes me a lot of time to make one. A 'simple' block takes a minimum of 5 or 6 hours to complete from start to finish. A more complex block can take 8 hours or more.

So let's say I trade blocks for Gaia goods. Ok, fine. Dandy. How do we manage that? I'm trading a physical good made with art I don't own, for Gaia products. Um, might be iffy, don't you think? As an "artist" of sorts, I try not to step on the rights of others. What about an art trade? Well, it's not quite so much of a gray area, but we get into other problems.

2) What about the impracticality of sending these blocks? I mean, I have a Staff address, so it's not problem for me to send the pictures and CDs of the progress, and later the finished wall-quilt to them. But if I make blocks on commission, that means I need a physical address to send them to. I am NOT comfortable with this! I don't need a lot of flack from some parent upset because his/her child gave their address to a stranger. I could limit the age of the commissioning person to adults only (i.e. over 18!), but that's discrimination, and what's to prevent someone from lying about their age? Not to mention, I'm cautious about who has my address too.

Those are just two of the major issues involved. And that doesn't even touch on things like royalties, copyright laws, legal use, taxablity, and such.






User Comments: [1]
Teh Mog
Community Member





Sun Jun 28, 2009 @ 03:34pm


You make good points, what about teaching people how to do it themselves though?


User Comments: [1]
 
 
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