For those asking why I don't sell star ceilings anymore, this was why...

For years my work has been copied by other sellers on Etsy (my canopies, my star ceilings, even my murals) but also the last five years my star ceilings were copied and sold by the thousands in Walmart, Aliexpress, Ebay and more. Photos of designs are stolen from my site, printed in China and then sold in $10-20 packages as cheap knock offs, then resellers sell hundreds of thousands.

My first star ceiling: 

The Chinese copied star ceiling:

I know this happens to many artists, it's the crushing and heartbreaking side of being a successful artist. I'd like to say they can never beat the original or win, but they do. This particular star ceiling never sold again after it was copied. Others stopped selling not long after they were copied. 

Copyright laws don't protect anyone on the internet. Ebay, for example, will not even remove the listings, because the art thieves have photoshopped my images to look a little different. 

There seems to be no way for artists to protect their copyright at all anymore. 

I knew an Australian artist on Etsy called Shovava who makes beautiful winged scarves. I have one and it's beautiful, it's one of the very few things I have bought on Etsy and trusted it was authentically made. Years ago I was so happy when I heard Shovava had taken Alibaba to court over stealing her designs and won. The cost must have been extremely high. She didn't win the war though, her designs are still being stolen and sold on Aliexpress and are all over other sales channels. 

My art work is of a way higher quality than the cheap printed decals in every way. But for $20 people really don't care. Buyers usually decide on price if they see two listings that look the same. Products of course can be copied and are all the time but when it is the actual art that is not ok.

I stay ahead of art thieves by constantly changing and innovating but there gets to be a limit for how much I can realistically compete with an easily copied product like star ceilings. (This is why I planned a move to original art for years.) So I mostly ignore this stuff for my own sanity and try to stay focused on creating new work, but it massively affects our businesses and our lives. Whether Stella Murals as it has been, will survive many more years is uncertain even though the copies of the products I designed and painted are selling like crazy everywhere. It's a very surreal thing to watch. 

Art theft can be extremely emotionally draining and the only part of my job that I still hate. I get a bit nervous around the times I release new stuff. Not only are artists on a roller coaster because of making art in general is hard I guess but this is added anxiety. Anyway years ago it was so much fun at the beginning to create completely new products, it was a great feeling to be the first. 

10 years ago when I realised other sellers were coping my paintings it was a lot harder to deal with. Now, it's still not pleasant but the bad feeling doesn't last long because that energy is very quickly channeled into planning something stronger or a way to overcome the problem faster. Every time they do it, I have a quick meltdown then get stronger. Artist life is a roller coaster.  

So that's why I've moved to making art a little differently lately with Shadowlux Art. Yup, it's time to level up with the art but it would have been nice to sell star ceilings sometimes so I can afford to buy all the new art materials I need for Shadowlux Art. Having said that I'll be bringing back one star ceiling for a limited time soon, it will be the moving Moon package with other decals as well. So many of you have asked for this one, I'd like to make it again. Maybe the last time!