I think what Bob is looking for is a little bit of some guy's personality, in the way the molded plate has it's foot retrimed by hand, or the lug edges thinned out. Just a bit of 'caring' there, and the more the better. You're going to laugh, but I think about stuff like, did the guy who made this, was he mean to his kids, did he kick his dog? No doubt a bit of extraneous element here that could drive you nuts, but buying a handmade item is also taking in a 'bit' of somebody. It bothers me slightly that Alberto and Faliero were feuding. Yeah I know, a fact of life. e-Richies dog looks happy, I like that.
Dennis Young
Have to get on the bike in Hotaka, Japan
>
> Perhaps one reason folks are reacting negatively to this revelation is the
> very fact that this manufacturer cultivated the "hand-made" aura for so long.
> When you do one thing and espouse another, it's going to get folks upset,
> especially insiders (like collectors and framebuilders).
>
> I made pottery for many years and worked exclusively at the wheel. Many
> production facilities turned to mold-made work in an effort to increase
> production and lower costs. Most potters I know had no problem with that as
> long as the mold-made work retained some degree of good design and integrity
> (by integrity, I mean a considerate use of the medium and a trueness to the
> foming method). So if a mold-made piece was well done and made honest and
> effective use of the mold making process, we had no problem admiring it. But
> when a mold made pot sought to imitate the "look and feel" of wheel-thrown
> pot, with it's unique fingermarks and inconsistencies, that's when we got
> angry. All mold-made work is not bad... molded work pretending to be
> something it's not is another matter...
>
> When you look at socketed dropouts by Henry James or Nagasawa, they have
> clean and unique looks that can be appreciated on their own terms and they
> never pretend to be something they are not... and they are undeniably
> beautiful. But lugs that are stamped out or mass-cut by the hundreds and
> then promoted as handmade, well, that just strikes me as maybe not outright
> dishonest but at least hollow and a little sad. However! ... if they take
> those stamped or mass-cut blanks and refine their surfaces and contours
> individually, that's another matter... the eye and hand has a chance to leave
> its mark, and all is forgiven.
>
> Bob Hovey
> Columbus, GA
> ------------------------------