Baker Gets Burned

So, I am usually sleeping by now but tonight I am fueled with a little different insight into what I do and why I do it.  Baking is my passion, I love to dream and create new works of edible art that bring smiles and aw to their consumers faces. But, it saddens me to find out that my artwork has been taken from me {it's rightful owner} without request or permission granted first.  Going through school it was ingrained in me about piracy when writing literary papers.  CITE,...CITE ...CITE.  I just expected that all other people out there too would be as honest as me.

Today, for some reason a conversation I had with an acquaintance surfaced in my mind about an incident she found herself faced with.  Her artwork was being plagiarized and pawned off as somebody Else's, no credit given and no permission to use it asked.  It baffled me to try and wrap my head around what people were thinking, and tried to place myself in her shoes. What would I do if it were me?

Today, I found out.  IT ROYALLY SUCKED!  I felt anger, sadness, stupidity...It made me question everything I do, and whether or not to persevere and continue to pursue my passion of baking in general, but more specifically decorative cookie making.  It was a gamble, I posted some of my cookies...and they got into the wrong hands.  It was the hands that followed that made me sad though. There didn't appear to be any questions asked as to where the image came from, I just happened to locate it myself in a google search. And now I wonder how many more cases like this are there.

I have put up a guard surrounding my personal creations, with limited visibility to a community I believe will truly respect my cookies as my personal property and will use them as inspiration and inspiration only.  They will not reproduce them for resale to make a quick buck, and they will certainly consider asking permission first to use a design before proceeding to bake them. And they will always give credit where credit is due.

So, if you are a flickr fan of my stream and you can no longer access some of my images it is for this reason.  I have left available some of the items that are visible here on my blog.  I apologize for this inconvenience but I believe deeply in my heart it is what I need to do to help protect my livelihood and passion.

Thank-you for your understanding. I hope you will continue to read my posts and be inspired by what I have to offer to you.

{PS. this cupcake cookie image is copyright protected and is the property of yours truly}