[Russ Ellis]

[Russ Ellis]

[Aaron Schnatterly]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Aaron;

I understand how you feel about the " micromanagement thing " but I think that can vary from project to project:

Sometimes I know exactly what I want so I do get into very specific details that might not leave as much room for creativity than with other projects.

These kind of projects are mostly MY creativity at work and I then have to find someone to make what I imagined. ( Not every maker will want to work this way and that is fine as he can just pass on it. )

Now, being a "pest " i.e. Client from hell who keeps changing his mind at all the wrong times and continuously ! Oh, and is never satisfied with what you do

Hopefully I leave room for input by the maker and will be o.k. with changes based on good technical reasons. ( Or better ideas ! )

There should be lots of room for discussion before any actual work is done, after work is started the " micromanagement should completely STOP unless the maker is asking me to make a specific choice that wasn't anticipated.

As in my previous post, if I want a custom piece made because I like that makers' work, I'm specifically going for what he does best! I might just ask if he has anything available and just buy it: I guess technically this is the 100% opposite of micromanagement.

I guess it ALL depends on good communication BOTH ways and compatible personalities: If you end up hating the job and wish you had never said yes to the commission or the client can't get any replies to his questions it can be a very negative experience. (BEST to say NO if you don't like the project or the attitude of the possible client. )

[Nathan Robinson]

I guess I'm the exact opposite of you, Jean.

At best, I'll approach a custom maker and tell him a few different antiques that interest me. More often, the maker already has a rough idea of the things that catch my eye and we get into a dialog about a type of item that I might like to have made. From there, the maker will generally get back to me with a few suggestions on things he wants to make. If one of these things grabs me, I'll give him the go-ahead, and then I'm done. Perhaps along the way, I'll be asked my preference for a feature or finish here or there, but frankly, I'd rather just leave it up to them to do their magic. I've found that this process yields the best product because the maker used his own passion in the making of the item and is more often than not fueled to put far more into the process than he normally would. Passion goes a long way.

I've gone the other route in the past, but have found on more than one occasion that the item was lacking in one way or another because the maker really wasn't jazzed about making it. It was just labor for money, and the end-product demonstrated that fact by being blatantly uninspired.

Mileage varies, of course. This was just an account of my experience.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Nathan;

I agree that your approach has a lot of merit and is the best approach to getting the best from a top maker artist and being pleasantly surprised by his creativity: AS in " I would never have thought of that, and that is beautiful !

With swords I have only commissioned a couple of swords. ( Tom Maringer in the early 1980's ) I gave him a very detailed outline of blade and guard but he improved the whole thing considerably when it came to figuring out the 3D bevels etc...

What I didn't know about in those days were the subtleties of weight distribution and distal taper ( No or little distal taper. )
Now I think, Tom, later became aware of these things and admitted in a Knives " 96" edition Annual, DBI books that he fell into the trap of thinking that a sword was just a bigger knife and used very thick blade stock and little distal taper in his early work.

If I was to have the same design done today the blade and guard would be much lighter because the state of the art has improved. ( But I would leave figuring out those technical aspects completely up to the maker. )

Oh, with knives, I had a long standing relationship with a local maker, who made dozens of knives for me based on a drawings and one or two phone calls, I would also buy his own stuff from him when he went to our local craft shows.
With him, the amount of direction could vary from a lot to almost none.

With my current commission with A & A I do have something very specific in mind but will leave the details up to Craig.

I also have a matchlock in the process of being discussed where the maker is very good but very allergic to ANY micromanagement: I'm waiting for him getting back to me to make the project official. I sent him my ideas, he sent me back Picts of some of his work. After a lot of back and forth I changed my design a great deal and apart from a few things I would like to have I will just let him make what he wants. Now with this maker " pestering him " is not going to work. So at this point it's all up to him to confirm the acceptance of the project.

He does his work in batches and may not get back to me for months: Could seem a little strange but the person who referred me to him recommended not bugging him.

Hope this longwinded post is of some general use understanding that every commission can be very different.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Oh, the concept graphic of the Archebuse I mentioned. ( Tried to edit it in the previous post but it wouldn't work ? going to resize and try again. ) ( Worked ! )

[Ryan Brault]

Jake powning has made some amazing pattern-welded blades in viking style, i sugest you talk to him,[url]http://www.powning.com/jake/home/j_homepg.shtml [/url]