An earlier thread made me think more about this.

About a year ago, thumbing through a wooworking magazine, I ran across a
picture of a table (coffee table type). It was one of those by-line type
reports - a single picture and a couple of paragraphs of description of the
table and the builder. It had a link to the builder's web-site where he
displayed a few more items - these are all very 'art' type tables etc. -
oneof a kind type to be displayed at art shows around the country.

I really loved the looks of the table and tore the page out where it layed
around on my clipboard till a couple of months ago, when i made up my own
scaled sketch of the same basic table, same idea, different woods, but
basically the same , or as close as I could guess the dimensions from a
single picture at a distance.

I'm finishing it up now. Huge amount of very tedious work, but I think it's
going to be quite beautiful.

Should I feel guilty about copying his design ? Certainly I would offer
credit to him/his website to anyone who comments on it. I'm not going to
profit from it (excl enjoyment, learning experience) monetarily in any way.

I'd have to say no to anyone who might ask me to build one for them for hire
(or free!).

Would you feel complimented, or irritated, if one your works was in a
magazine and someone sent you a picture of a close copy of it, telling you
that they thought it was so beautiful that they just had to build one ?

Just thinking about it - too late to change my mind about building it.
Thoughts ?

jim bailey