ann wood

Nate has brought you flowers. He and his friends will be for sale here at 2PM EST today.

All the little birds in the photo will be available at 2 PM EST tomorrow. Since most of what I make is one of a kind or in tiny quantities I’ve had problems with over-selling which is frustrating for everybody. I’m having a new shop built that can accommodate one of a kind things and will hopefully make shop updates far less of a pain in the ass in general but it won’t be ready till mid December. For now I’ll be listing little birds ( and some other things) at etsy. You will need to register with etsy to make a purchase - it’s quick and easy - just a user name and password. I’ll still be accepting credit cards through Paypal ( no account necessary ). The cake toppers are still here and I’ll be adding a couple new bride and groom sets on Friday November 2nd at 2PM.

So new birds, tomorrow, Tuesday the 30th, at my etsy shop. I’ll start loading them at 2PM EST.

Here he is coming

and going.

And something I got at the flea market.

The lower half of a metal naked lady statue; it’s currently the best thing I ever got for a buck.

* shop update! Monday October 29th Tuesday October 30th- more info to come *

I’m working on a mini version of my owl. Part of the plan was to simplify him a little but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I’m making him from a quilt I got at the fleamarket here in Park Slope a couple weeks ago ( I’ve been getting tons of good stuff lately and will post more soon). The nice lady I bought the quilt from said it’s made from WW1 army blankets. It has a beautiful indigo edge that I’m using for his legs and wing linings and probably his beak. I love the colors of the quilt and the check pattern; it is all hand sewn and must have been an immense amount of work. I didn’t buy it with the intention of taking it apart and would not be ( I feel a little badly about doing it) but it has some issues that make it unusable as a quilt.

Thanks very much to everyone who commented and offered advise on the bird rip-off post. I’ll let you know what, if anything, happens and I’ll probably have a tiny bit more to say about the situation in a little while - if you visit here regularly you know that that’s pretty much the most I’ve had to say about anything ever and it kind of wore me out. There is also a lot going on in my terrarium and I’ll be sharing that as well as the date of the long overdue shop update that I am working furiously towards later this week.

It’s horribly awkward and distasteful to talk about and I hate doing it here - but in terms of recourse this is really all I’ve got.

My birds are being produced and sold in Australia. Not by me, without my permission and until a couple days ago, without my knowledge. There are minor differences in the details but it is unmistakably my pattern. This is one of the offenders.

I inquired with the parties responsible who shall remain unnamed for the moment ( I’m still thinking about that one and also want to give them every opportunity to correct the situation without any unnecessary discomfort or embarrassment). They deny copying and they claim the similarities are just a coincidence. In an email responding to my inquiry they offered a vague story of how they came up with their pattern. They also reported that they followed the links to my websites that I provided and acknowledged that upon seeing ( they inferred it was for the first time) my birds that they are ” exceptionally similar ” but maintained it is simply a coincidence.

I suppose technically that’s possible, but pretty unlikely - here’s why :

* In December of 2006 they purchased one of my birds at The Johnson Shop in New York.

* The pattern they are using does not deviate from the pattern of the bird they purchased at Johnson at all, not one iota, including my very particular method of making wings and a slightly different tail pattern than the one I use now. It’s not really a sensible way to make the tail and I only used it on a couple birds including the bird they purchased. Sure enough “their” pattern uses that tail.

* In their response to me they not only did not mention the purchase but inferred they had never seen my birds before.

* They copied my little name tags too.

So, coincidence? I don’t think so .

There are plenty of people out there making birds, making them well and in their own distinct way : abby glassenberg, stephanie barnes, tamar mogendorff, florence forrest, and lauri faggioni are a few I admire. None of their birds or patterns are exactly like mine or each others .

I did not seek these women out and I take no pleasure in embarrasing or discrediting them. This was brought to my attention by a number of emails I received letting me know my pattern was being used. I think these are talented and creative people who made a mistake, an error in judgment and they should make it right. I’ve looked at as much of their other work as I could find as well as photos they sent me -its lovely- really elegant and unique and I wish them lots of luck with it - but hands off my birds.