The Limits, Written Down

A permanent, irreversible object made from an inadequate brief is a bad outcome that nobody can fix afterwards. So there are commissions we turn down, and we would rather explain the list openly than handle each one as an awkward conversation.

The list exists because a permanent object made from an inadequate brief cannot be corrected. Every item on it is something we could technically do and something that would produce an object somebody would eventually be disappointed by, which is a worse outcome than declining the work.

Color. A heavily marked dog, a color-morph reptile or a brightly colored parrot loses exactly the thing that made it visually distinctive, and there is no finishing technique that recovers it in a single-color metal.

We raise it early rather than late, because it is far better absorbed as a limitation before commissioning than discovered when the box is opened.

1. 01Say no early, before anybody has paid.
2. 02Explain the reason rather than just declining.
3. 03Suggest an alternative approach where one exists.
4. 04Refund at any point before casting begins.

The one that disappoints people most is color. A heavily marked dog, a color-morph reptile or a bright parrot loses the thing that made it visually distinctive, and it is much better to know that now than to open the box and feel it.

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