ArtistCeleste

I am agree with most of the consensus. There are certain things that are abundant that it would be difficult to make your own. Bottle openers, hooks, rebar knives, viking style knives, kitchen knives, roses. . . I was at a gift show and had made a bunch of rebar bottle openers. They sold very well and a young woman asked me if I sold on Etsy. I told her not yet, but I was about to open a shop. She then told me in a rude, accusatory manner that there was a rebar bottle openers that looked exactly like mine. It made me think post about posting my own. Mine were darker, straighter, twisted and shorter. I decided there was no reason not to sell them. It is difficult to vary the design for such a simple item. If someone copied my design for my wine rack, which was created using a jig, has 7 rivets each, a unique design for the neck catch. . . you get the idea. It's much easier to vary your own design to create something unique. If you copied it, I would think that you weren't just creating A wine rack, you would be creating MY wine rack. I would consider you unethical. Plus it doesn't take much creativity to vary it enough to make it your own.

Thanks DSW. That's exactly what I was looking for. Right now I'm talking about doing one small railing project and hope for more in the future. It seems that if I want to get bigger gigs, it would be important to get my C-23.

I do live in California. And I am sure many people are in business here without a contractor's license. I am wondering about opinions on obtaining such things, rather than the actual requirements.

Hello, I came from an art school background and became involved with blacksmithing as a way to make sculpture. Increasingly I have been looking further and further into treating my artwork as a business. I get commissions every now and again, and have increasingly been getting requests for larger things, such as railing. I'm am now thinking about preparing for the future and wonder what licensing and certifications I should obtain. I currently have a seller's permit listed under a business name. This allows me to do my taxes separately, use a resale license, attend fairs, and that sort of thing. At this point in time I have not registered my business name because the only advantage I can find is that I can open a bank account in the name of the business. It appears that right now it's not legally required anyway. I have years of experience, but have just now decided to go for my certifications. I was also looking into licensing for doing in home contracts. For California there is something called a C-23 Ornamental Metal Work License. It requires that you have 4 years of experience performing/supervising construction work. I have never been a construction worker and don't if my work in a smithy qualifies. There are also written tests involved and a lot of construction schools to prepare you for said tests. I plan to work for myself as a small business. Do I need this license? Is it advisable to get one? How many of you have these sort of licenses? Is your small business registered? Do you have insurance for yourself under your business, or do you use your own personal insurance?

I incorporated mine into a still life sculpture.