Although I have pursued various careers in my work years since the late 1960s, my "wandering" came to rest or was incorporated with digitizing embroidery designs. I have been digitizing since 1986, working first as a print and digitizing artist, then the in-house puncher for Write On Embroidery, Cannon Falls, MN, a business of 50 heads, using Melco equipment. In 1995 I purchased a Capital Automation design system and began a part-time custom design business, Moonlight Design, for embroiderers from my home. In 1997 I quit my in-house position as head designer/digitizer to pursue my business full-time. My services, which consist a great deal with proprietary works, are processed most often via the Internet. I built and maintain my own web site, and I am a contributing writer to Stitches Magazine. In pre-digitizing years, I was a reporter and ad artist for a weekly newspaper, and a freelance writer and photographer. All of these careers are confronted by situations that are protected by Intellectual Property Laws, so I have been required to seek knowledge of the laws and have followed the changes since the early 1970s.
COMMENTS:
Beginning this wonderful world of thread in my childhood years as an artist and a hand embroiderer, I've grown to love embroidery almost as much as I love to design and digitize it. Digitizing was a difficult process at the time I began, but it is experience that I don't regret and even look to as a great advantage. I see myself as one who holds "old secrets" that will never be discovered without that same type of self-instruction that no longer seems necessary due to high technology. And I also see others, who are new to the industry, misunderstanding the required skill and rules that must be followed to achieve a successful business. I feel it to be a responsibility to pass on this information in any way I can to those who may be too excited about today's "bells and whistles technology" to see the basics that a computer cannot reproduce. "Getting it right" from the bottom up, in my opinion, includes the drawing board and the creation of original designs. I have observed too many situations where people lose their businesses due to illegally copied designs, merely because they didn't know or understand the laws, which has led to my advocacy of spreading the word about copyrights and trademarks by sharing any knowledge I may have. Embroidery can be beautiful if proper basics are observed and can be most profitable when it is carried out with integrity.