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One of A Kind
Dec. 7th, 2007 08:04 amI have recently been in a rather heated discussion with some other crafty people about what is "One of A Kind" and what is a "Limited Edition". This came out of the work that someone was doing with a commercial push mold and some paint. They were creating the same base image but painting it a little different each time and selling them as OOAK (One of a Kind). My contention, along with a number of other people, was that since they were using the same commercial push mold for each piece, it was the paint job that made each unique so limited series (if they even do that) would probably be a better way of putting it. Of course we are big meanies for even suggesting that each piece is not totally unique.
I have been seeing this a lot on E-Bay recently too. There is an individual that has been making copies of objects from a Movie I like. I have one of their pieces and they do a good job. My complaint, not on my piece I knew it was going to be one of many, is that they put stuff up on E-Bay declaring it OOAK and that this is your only chance to own this replica from said beloved movie. Except it is not. It is a OOAK until they make another that looks exactly like the previous one which of course becomes the new OOAK. Slightly different paint job aside. Also I can tell by the pictures that they have created molds for these things rather than "each one being individually hand made" which is technically true since you do have to pour the resin for each one by hand. I think their definition of hand-made and mine are rather two different things. Again I would say limited edition, if that, and they better hope that their sales record of the amount of money they have made per year off of the objects makes it to the desk of anyone who had a stake in the film. Especially the artist who designed the stuff they are so faithfully copying.
This debate about what is OOAK and what is not comes up in the doll world all the time. Especially when you hit the magic world of repaints of manufactured dolls. That can turn into one heck of a catfight.
For me OOAK is just that. It can't be reproduced. It is unto itself a unique object. There might be another that would look like it along the same lines but there are no molds to get the same shape. You either recreate as close as you can by hand or you go for another form. I would never declare my patterned puppets as OOAK because I have a pattern and can pretty much recreate what I did previously with the pattern. My fabric choices may be different but overall it is about the same as its fellow puppet.
But then that's me and your mileage may vary.
I am grateful for the OOAK objects I own.
I have been seeing this a lot on E-Bay recently too. There is an individual that has been making copies of objects from a Movie I like. I have one of their pieces and they do a good job. My complaint, not on my piece I knew it was going to be one of many, is that they put stuff up on E-Bay declaring it OOAK and that this is your only chance to own this replica from said beloved movie. Except it is not. It is a OOAK until they make another that looks exactly like the previous one which of course becomes the new OOAK. Slightly different paint job aside. Also I can tell by the pictures that they have created molds for these things rather than "each one being individually hand made" which is technically true since you do have to pour the resin for each one by hand. I think their definition of hand-made and mine are rather two different things. Again I would say limited edition, if that, and they better hope that their sales record of the amount of money they have made per year off of the objects makes it to the desk of anyone who had a stake in the film. Especially the artist who designed the stuff they are so faithfully copying.
This debate about what is OOAK and what is not comes up in the doll world all the time. Especially when you hit the magic world of repaints of manufactured dolls. That can turn into one heck of a catfight.
For me OOAK is just that. It can't be reproduced. It is unto itself a unique object. There might be another that would look like it along the same lines but there are no molds to get the same shape. You either recreate as close as you can by hand or you go for another form. I would never declare my patterned puppets as OOAK because I have a pattern and can pretty much recreate what I did previously with the pattern. My fabric choices may be different but overall it is about the same as its fellow puppet.
But then that's me and your mileage may vary.
I am grateful for the OOAK objects I own.
