Picture-stealing thieves are rearing their ugly heads yet again.....I just got email from a few people regarding a new violation and also one I already knew about. 

This website, http://www.studiosoft.it/, has several of my bead sets pictured on their order page - strangely enough labelled "Italian Fine Jewelry" and "Murano Glass Jewelry".  Once you click on those pics, you get a page full of beads made in China.  Hmmmmmm.  At any rate, they stole 5 of my images.  Several other images there look familiar to me - possibly other lampwork artists'?

I also have an update on this website, www.ctekloflower.ru, which has no less than a dozen of my images on several of their pages, and also images belonging to several other prominent lampworkers.  A very nice lady from Russia emailed me to let me know she spent money there and was scammed. I reported that website a few months ago to Interpol, as well as several other agencies and have had no resolution whatsoever. Makes one feel just a tad helpless.

Apparently, even watermarking images isn't helping these days.  This website, http://www.pizazzglassstudio.com/index.aspx, has stolen several images from lampworkers (this time I wasn't one of them, but I recognize the images that were stolen), and those images had the watermarks and copyrights snipped right out of them before being put up on this person's site, and being credited incorrectly.  The nerve of some people.  This is a US website, so at least the copyright owners have some recourse. 

So, beaders and beadmakers alike, be careful who you're buying from.  Do your homework to make sure you aren't being scammed. And keep a watchful eye, lest your hard work appear on someone else's site.