http://www.youtube.com/polymerclaytv

You can also play catch up and watch some of the Tuesday Shmoozeday replays you missed, they are all on our Craftylink channel at this link

http://www.youtube.com/craftylink

Here’s the awesome book we discussed- get yours now, because very soon we will be hosting a create-a-long with prizes and fun!

On today’s episode of Polymer Clay TV we share some of the new products from Polyform the makers of Sculpey and Premo clay. They have some awesome new accessories to use for the Mokume Gane technique, for stamping and adding texture to polymer clay. So many cool things to create with. Enjoy!

If you Join the Group, you can chat live during the show and we will answer your questions…. otherwise, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and you will get new shows on Tuesdays!

Here are some polymer clay strips made with the Makins decorative edge scissors and a transfer we did of a butterfly using Magic Transfer Paper. We prefer these scissors over the ones made specifically for paper but you can definitely use those as well. Experiment with different edges for different looks, the sky is the limit!

The facts:

she DID copy the DVDs without our knowledge,

she DID change the cover art and copyright notice on the DVDs she is copying,

she IS selling them at retreats and classes, without compensating us our contractual share of the profits

customers buying these counterfeit DVDs are contacting US for customer service when they don’t work

We decided to contact retreats, guilds, and other polymer clay forums where she teaches, to ask them to not allow her to sell these bootleg DVDs

Our reason for sharing this story with you is to stop Lynne Ann from continuing her illegal activities and so that the other unaware customers  do not support her illegal activities any further. Thanks so much for your support and for taking the time to read this.

In 2007, we went to the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Trade Show. We went to find polymer clay artists to interview for our show. We met Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg for the first time while attending the event. She was one of Kira’s polymer clay idols, so we asked her for an interview. The video is on our youtube page.

We later saw each other at another event and hashed out plans to film a DVD with her. Lynne Ann was interested in our offer, and we signed a contract together to produce the first DVDs- how to create veneers using her canes and techniques, and a four flowers from one cane class, featuring her special and well-known flower caning. Our logic was this- Lynne’s classes are popular, but not everyone can travel to them, or afford to take a full-day workshop with a popular artist. So a DVD is a good hybrid product- more affordable, and no travel, and producing them with Lynne would be profitable for both our businesses.

We arranged for a filming date, and Lynne Ann flew to Florida with Tommie and her daughter. We arranged for them to stay free for a week at Kira’s parent’s luxurious south Florida home in a gated community, while they were away in NY, so they had the house all to themselves. We filmed for three days, they enjoyed Florida, and went home.

We then spent over 200 hours editing the videos, creating the cover art and communicating with the DVD replication company to get everything just right. Good quality ejector cases and appropriate shipping boxes had to be purchased, as well as online and print advertising to get the word out.

Next, Lynne Ann was scheduled to teach and she asked for some DVDs to take to the retreat because she did not have the money to be able to purchase more than a few copies, so we arranged to give them to her on consignment. We accommodated her each time she asked- giving her 25-40 DVDs each time, on time for her to go to the retreat, and with no money exchanged, on good faith that she would pay us our contractual share of the profits upon her return.

Lynne Ann had been working with Kabela Designs at the time, and had an idea to create a DVD based on her work with Kabela brass filigree. So we decided to film again, about a year after our first session. Again Lynne Ann flew to Florida with Tommie and her daughter. We arranged for a weekend retreat with the South Florida Polymer Clay Guild while she was there, so that she would be able to make money while she was in town.

The Bead & Button show was approaching and Lynne Ann requested copies of all of the DVDs to take to the show. We gave her 104 DVDs total, again on good faith that she would pay us our share upon her successful return.

We didn’t hear from her for nine months. She was unresponsive to phone calls, texts, and emails.

When she did contact us, it was to say that she would not be paying us, because she didn’t have all the money. We never saw a dime of money from those 104 DVD’s we consigned to her and that was several years ago. In Lynne Ann’s home state of Connecticut, the dollar value of the DVD’s she took and did not pay for amounts to a FELONY crime.

Then she stated that we were not pushing the sales of her DVDs enough. What she didn’t realize is that when she disappeared with the DVDs and didn’t return messages, we believed something had gone very wrong, and we felt very uncomfortable promoting a product made by her, because we felt that we were going to have a contractual and ethical dilemma with her when/if she did get back in touch.

We did not hear again from Lynne Ann for another 6 months, when she said she wanted a copy of her contract, and to “sever ties.”

Then about 2 months later, we received a message stating that she would like to copy the DVDs herself and keep 100% of the profits.

Kira replied that we would address her concerns via email, which we did. We also sent a Cease & Desist letter from our lawyer, because copying the DVDs herself would be a complete violation of our contract and copyright which state that the contents of the DVDs belong exclusively to Polymer Clay Productions, Inc., including worldwide distribution rights.

Lynne Ann did not respond to our email nor to our attorney, instead choosing to wait 2 months and send us a reply stating that she believed we had changed her contract and terms illegally. This never happened, and in fact we have signed copies of everything Lynne Ann ever agreed to, which is why our attorney felt we should send the Cease & Desist letter in the first place.

Lynne Ann habitually did not respond to any contact we tried as we attempted to resolve whatever issues she felt she had.

We have records regarding the sale of every product or DVD ever purchased on our website- we use PayPal, and if you use PayPal for business, you know that the reporting system is pretty good. We never did anything wrong, unethical, or non-contractual in our dealings with Lynne Ann. She was paid, per her contract, for sales of all DVDs sold through us- up until she disappeared after the Bead & Button show, taking around $5000 worth of our property and not paying us for it.

When that happened, we continued sales of the DVDs on our websites so we could recoup the loss. We have legal records to back the entire situation.

Fast-Forward to April 8, 2013. We received an email from a customer who had purchased Lynne Ann’s Four from One flower caning double disc set, and one of the DVDs wasn’t working at all and one only played for a few minutes. This person was not our customer – she had purchased the DVDs directly from Lynne Ann. She had tried unsuccessfully to contact Lynne to get a replacement, and out of frustration, she contacted us. We were surprised, because we were fairly certain that Lynne Ann was out of that DVD set. The customer sent us a photograph of the DVDs in question, and we discovered that Lynne Ann had scanned our original cover art and changed the copyright illegally adding her name to it. We now have the actual bootleg videos in our possession and can verify that they are illegal copies.

Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg, you should be ashamed of yourself. As artists, we all fight to retain the copyright to our work. It is a legal and ethical concern for all, and we fight for our rights every single day. In changing the copyright, illegally copying the DVDs and selling them yourself with no payment to Polymer Clay Productions, you have violated our contract, our copyright, and forever, our trust and belief in you as a friend and artist.

We have received no monetary payments for any illegal bootlegged DVDs Lynne has been selling at the various retreats and shows she has gone to in the last few years. We understand now why sales of the DVDS on our sites has been slow- because Lynne has removed us from the equation, and is selling illegal copies herself, which we receive absolutely NO compensation for. Lynne is selling copies that do not work properly and are inferior in quality with cheap dollar store cases. This is tarnishing our brand that we have worked for over 6 years to protect and nurture.

Most of all, we simply do not understand why she did this. We were always incredibly accommodating, rushing to fill her orders so she could take DVDs to shows where she could sell them, GIVING them to her FREE on good faith- which NO OTHER COMPANY DOES. We have always sided with the artist- trying to support other artists is our prime directive as we are artists ourselves.

She stole profits & property from us starting with the 104 DVDs.

We would have been more than happy to continue working with Lynne to sell more of her DVDs and to provide them to her, at cost, for sale at shows and retreats. Lack of communication and threats to sever ties illegally created a bad situation for us- how could we continue to strongly promote the product of someone who did that to us?

We have always had a strong policy of graciousness with other artists. When they do something to us, or say something about us, that we disagree with or that hurts our business or reputation, we have never said anything. We do not want the bad Karma of being vindictive or petty. We are sorry, but in this instance, the story needed to be told from our point of view. Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions about the origin of the DVDs YOU may have purchased, below is the copyright as it should read on your disc. If you have purchased an illegal bootleg DVD we suggest you contact Lynne Ann for a full refund as we have not received 1 single penny for any of the DVD’s she illegally reproduced and added her name to as copyright owner. We ask that you do not support her any further by purchasing copies of her bootlegged DVD’s.

The original correct DVD’s should read the following:

This is a legal copy with original cover art:

We have looked at this as a learning experience, an unpleasant one nonetheless, unfortunately there are unscrupulous people in the world, so please learn from our experience and always make sure to cover yourself with complete documentation of any business transactions that you deal with as we have done in this case.

We are sad that it has come to this, we feel totally violated, hurt and taken advantage of. Our reason for sharing this story with you is to stop Lynne Ann from continuing her illegal activities and so that the other unaware customers  do not support her illegal activities any further. Thanks so much for your support and for taking the time to read this.

So have you wondered where you can go to start creating with polymer clay. Ilysa & Kira share their tips and tricks for where to get the best deals on all the brands of polymer clay including Premo, Sculpey, Fimo, Kato, Cernit.

We are so excited that we can hardly contain ourselves. You know Ilysa and I are super-sharers, always wanting to show off the new things we figure out to do with our polymer clay. But we can’t share these things with you yet, you’ll just have to get your hands on a copy of our NEW Polymer Clay Art Jewelry BOOK and see for yourself!