Let's Match Our Wings to Our Blue Mood

Here it is, my first post-election fairy wing drop to be listed Monday, Nov. 18 at 7pm PDT.
I haven't used the Ultraviolet iridescent film in a while, so I thought I'd use it with these painted 'Blue Dream' Aynia fairy wings to reflect the mood after this election season. Although I knew there was a chance we’d get Trump again, I really hoped we wouldn’t, I thought we’d be celebrating the election of our first woman president right now. I have criticisms but she would’ve been massively better than the orange menace.
Anyway, I've made these in purple & green before, this time they're in varying shades of indigo, blue & teal with the violet of the film shining through. I’ll eventually post a video showing off all the angles. They will be $490 plus shipping.

Large iridescent blue & purple painted fairy wings with pointed tips & antennae, with silver veins, worn on a dress form, front view.

The Ellette wings are in Dark Crystal, which I've learned is now a limited color from the vendor so get them while you can. It's one of my favorite film colors & I'm so sad about this news. I hope to find it elsewhere but I'm not sure if I can. The veins are silver chrome, and they will be $258 plus shipping.

Large fairy wings similar in shape to wasp wings, are iridescent violet / blue with silver veins, front view

The Fauna wings are in Opal with gold veins, and will be $295 plus shipping.

Large blue / green transparent iridescent fairy wings with downward curved tips, antennae & appendages, gold veins, worn on a dress form, front view

Another material that's being discontinued, is the wider 24" bolts of the clear vinyl I use to laminate my wings with. I'm not sure if there's a suitable replacement, so once my current bolt is gone that may be it for giant size wings unless the panels are elongated & narrow. If you ever really wanted giant wings now is the time and I still have that listing open on the flash sale page for the made-to-order Pansy / Gwen wings.

That's all for now.
Here's a link to the flash sale page and remember the new wings won't show up until the start time tomorrow, Monday 11/18 at 7pm PST:
https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales

If you’d like to support me further, get early notification of upcoming wings & other benefits, you can subscribe to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/faeryangela

Autumn & Winter Colored Fairy Wings Ready to Ship

I’m having a very small ready-to-ship wing drop tomorrow, Sunday Nov. 3 at 8pm PST!

Let’s start with these Ellette wings painted in warm colors.

Wasp-shaped iridescent fairy wings in warm orange & rust colors with touches of blue, purple and pink, worn on a dress form, front view

I've painted the Ellette fairy wings in a Pumpkin Spice palette, orange & rust colors with accents of blue, purple & a bit of pink, laminated onto the Diamond Fire film with gold veining. I don't look good in these colors but I do love to look at them! They’re reminding me a bit of Bambi’s spotted coat, I think they’d be perfect for a faun satyr fae look. They will be $480 plus shipping.

Next, are the Aynia wings in cool colors.

Iridescent fairy wings with pointed tips & antennae, painted with auroras & stars in pinks, purples & blues, with silver veins, front view

The Aynia wings are painted in the Twilight Aurora palette in pinks, purples & blues with light bands of auroras accented with green and all the colors that flash from that brilliant Diamond Fire film. Stars are scattered throughout the wings, and the veins are silver.
I originally painted these for a customer's special order, but they chose a different variation and much lighter colors. I decided these needed to be brought to life too.
They will be will be $490 plus shipping.
A reminder that all of my wings are digitally hand painted by me using a stylus in Photoshop and / or Painter, and they all now have an additional layer of vinyl. That means, there’s the iridescent film layer plus the printed vinyl layer, a clear vinyl over that, and then a vinyl layer that sandwiches the veins in between.

Finally, there are the Ellette wings in Rose Gold with silver veins.

Wasp-shaped fairy wings in iridescent rose gold with silver veins, worn on a dress form, front view

These will be $255 plus shipping.

That’s it!
These will be listing tomorrow, Nov. 3 at 8pm PST on my Flash Sale page here: https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales

Remember they won’t show up until the start time.

If you’d like to support me further, consider subscribing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/faeryangela

Ready to Ship Fairy Wings Flash Sale Monday, Oct. 21 at 8pm PDT

If you have any last minute Halloween fairy wing needs, I’m here for you! You can choose Express shipping to get them by this weekend in the US.
First up are these painted Fayette wings in Mulled Wine with gold veins.

Large elongated iridescent fairy wings with burgundy, orange and blue accents & gold veins, 3 panels each side, worn on a dress form, front view

They will be $590 plus shipping. I made these in this colorway only once before for the model who was in my water lily fairy shoot collab with Artistic Captures Photography, except hers included the additional vinyl vein layer. Since that extra detail brings the price of them up to $800 and customers have been tightening their budgets, I'd rather offer a more affordable set than have them sit around.

Another new addition to tomorrow's flash sale are these Fauna fairy wings painted in purples, blues, black and a touch of red, laminated onto Opal film, that I'm calling Wicked Berry.

I made these for a special order and thought I'd make another set to offer all of you since they have a Halloween-y vibe. They will be $490.

Iridescent fairy wings with antennae in purples, blues, and black with red accent and silver veins, front view

I'll also have a repeat set of Aphrodite wings in Rose Gold with silver veins, and Aurora with gold veins.

I had hoped to have more but, turns out I didn't have enough wings made previously with gold or silver veins in film colors that are still available, and there's no way I'd have time to make many more that I'd need to photograph, color correct and watermark in time. Those will have to wait for the next sale.

Here's a link to the Flash Sale page if you need it: https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales

If you’d like to support me further and get early access to sale info & digital content, you can subscribe to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/faeryangela

Are You Ready For Halloween?

October has arrived, and so has another ready-to-ship flash sale!
This Saturday, Oct. 5 at 11am PDT, I’ll have a set of these Ellette wings in the Water Lily colorway with gold veins. I love this color palette too much to stop.

Previously I'd only made these as an extra large size. The other difference is that I'm back to using the old gold powder coating whereas the extra large wings had a different gold I was trying out that wasn't quite as shiny.
The painted vinyl layer has been laminated onto the clear Diamond Fire film, which to my eye makes them look like the sun setting on a water lily pond when you can see both front and back of the wings. They will be $490 plus shipping.

Next are the Cosette wings from the Pixish Collection, in Autumn Night film with silver chrome veins.

Front view of a dress form wearing a white & green corset and large oil slick colored iridescent fairy wings with antennae on top, 3 panels each side, upper panels come to a point, bottom panels have tails, spikey, detailed silver veins

These are an imperfect set, the left upper panel has a an area along the bottom part that is missing the additional clear vinyl layer, which is only visible as a very faint diagonal edge or line. The closeup shows what I'm talking about.
It was too hot, which makes me wilt, and I messed up & placed that panel on the part of the film that didn't have the clear vinyl covering it. The silver vinyl veins are also slightly wider than the metal veins in some areas of the upper panels. But, I'd rather discount them than do them all over and waste all that material so they'll be marked down to $510 from $570.

I'll have a set of Aphrodite wings in Opal with gold veins, Fauna in Blush with gold veins, Titania in Ultraviolet with gold veins, and one or two others that I'll have to update you about in the next day or two.

I have also discounted my fairy wing overlays even further in my Patreon Shop to only $3 each - and remember, the Extra Fancy $4 tier will get ALL of the overlay packs with a subscription! This is available to customers in the EU as well, which I couldn't offer on my site anymore due to the VAT and paperwork that would require.
If you’d like to subscribe, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/faeryangela

Remember, the listings won't show until the start time this Saturday, Oct. 5 at 11am PDT at this link:
https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales

I also want to say my thoughts are with everyone affected by the devastating hurricane & floods in the south east. Here in California, we just reached 1 million acres burned this year due to wildfires and I hate to think of what new hell climate change will throw us next.

I'm also still struggling to go on about my life as if all is normal, while Israel invades yet another country, killing even more civilians, and our administration keeps sending them more weapons to do it with. The knowledge that the country I live in is funding all this death makes it really hard to keep producing pretty things and being creative, it feels so upside-down but it's also how I pay rent so I'm trying.
Take care of yourselves and each other <3

Silver Veined Fayette 'Water Lily' Fairy Wings & More, Ready to Ship

I'm having a very small sale this Saturday, Sept 21 at 11 am Pacific Daylight Time and these Fayette fairy wings in the Water Lily colorway will be available ready-to-ship, this time with silver veins.

Large 'Fayette' large iridescent blue and green fairy wings with 3 panels on each side, pink dots near the upper panel tips, & silver veins, worn on a dress form, front view

I'm having a batch of wing frames powder coated in gold, but there was a delay in the shipment of the powder so this will be a smaller sale than I originally intended and I'll have some gold veined wings in the next one.
I’ll have a repeat set of the Nightshade wings in Blush, and a repeat set of the painted Fayette wings in Poison Plum with black veins. I was trying to squeeze in another set of wings, Cosette with silver veins, but not sure I’ll have them done in time, I may have to wait for the next sale to list them.

Screenshot of my Patreon Shop showing listings for 6 fairy wing overlays priced at $3.99 except for the Luna Moth which is at $3

Fairy Wing Overlays
I've also added all my digital overlays to my Patreon shop!
Now anyone can purchase them without a monthly subscription here: https://www.patreon.com/faeryangela/shop

People living in the EU can now purchase them again, since Patreon is handling all the taxes for me, which was the reason I had to pull them from my website. I simply don't have the spoons to fill out tax forms for overseas purchases of products under $10.

I've also discounted them, AND, if you're subscribed to the $4 Extra Fancy tier or higher you will actually get ALL of the overlay sets. How's that for a good deal?
I know Etsy and other marketplaces are over saturated now with AI generated overlays being sold for dirt cheap, but you can rest assured these are all my original designs and made from my photos and graphics.

My wing overlays also come with various poses unlike the AI generated ones you might see, which are almost always going to be flat front view wings. But models are photographed (or painted) from many different angles and you'll need wings at various angles to look realistic.
One thing that drives me nuts about generated images - which is also a pretty good tell that it's generated - is having a fairy turned to the side but their wings are completely flat & not following their body position.

Make sure to read the Terms of Use included with the overlays, this is important! 
It's a restricted license, so there will be some things you need to do, and some things you must not do with them. The Terms of Use is inside the folder with the overlays, make sure you keep them together in case you need to refer back to it.

I also had made a mistake in the Terms of Use for the oldest overlays sold on my website the last few years, they did not get updated with the new copy that was included with the Clarion and Luna Moth overlays specifying credit required in caption text and other details. This info was in all the listings descriptions, but should have been in the text file included with purchase. I’ve updated them all and if you’d purchased overlays in the past you should have gotten an email with an updated link by now. Check your spam folders if you haven’t seen it yet.

I’ll eventually discount the overlays on my website as well since I can’t compete with the pricing of all those AI overlays, but in the meantime feel free to spread the word and share my Patreon Shop link with friends in need of digital wings.

Remember, the sale won't start and the listings won't show up until tomorrow, Saturday Sept. 21 at 11 am PDT here: https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales

Thank you for all your support, and have a fairy-tastic weekend!

Rhinestones, Hair Combs & Copycats

Another day, another infringement. Well, several of them actually. It really is never-ending y'all.

Fairy Wing Hair Combs from Hey Ricochet
A friend of mine came across these fairy wing hair combs on Instagram and recognized the design as my Titania fairy wings, which I created in 2007.

Fairy Wing Hair Combs page from the Hey Ricochet website showing a price of $28 with color options Pink, Lavender & Yellow. Described as responsibly made in China from cellulose acetate

Often when I catch people using my photos of this design or copying it, they argue how "I see that design everywhere, it's been around forever!" , or "it's all over Pinterest" as if that makes it okay, and my favorite, "you don't own all fairy wings!"
But you see, it's 'been around forever' because I made it that long ago and it was popular enough to go viral, but almost always without credit to me.

You can still see my old listing on my old website saved in the Internet Archive here, date and all.

They did remove 2 small veins, however, that doesn't make it okay either. There's this mythical magic percentage that people think they can change in a work that protects them legally, but it is a myth.

Substantial similarity is what a court would look for, and there is obvious substantial similarity here. Yes there's small differences, which may make it a derivative, but the copyright owner has the exclusive right to create derivatives of their work and any use by others would require a license or royalties.

I started small, as I usually do, and first sent a Cease & Desist to them directly on 8/26/24, asking for the listing and social media posts containing the infringing content to be removed within 48 hours.

Screenshot of emailed response from Hey Ricochet Inc. stating "We are working with counsel on a response to the claims put forth in the previously mentioned email and will respond in a reasonable time. " signed Andrea Stein and Cayce Matteoli

On August 29 I got a response saying "We are working with counsel on a response to the claims put forth in the previously mentioned email and will respond in a reasonable time. "
Yet they left all the content up and are still promoting it.

I then reported it to Shopify for removal, after which Hey Ricochet sent a counter notice even though Shopify still had not removed it by then, which means they're refusing to stop selling them.

That meant I had to escalate to legal action, and I filed a CCB claim, & sent a copy of that claim to Shopify.
Look, consequences!
There's the fairy wing hair comb listing on Hey Ricochet's site with a 'Page not found' 404 error.

Screenshot showing Hey Ricochet web listing for fairy wing combs with 404 'Page not found' error

I'm also waiting on Instagram to remove the posts.

But in Shopify's new removal notice they repeated that the other party may file a counter notice, which would allow Shopify to put the content back up after 10-14 days - even though Hey Ricochet had already filed a counter notice.
And they said they can't verify that the document of my filing would satisfy section 512(g)(2)(c) requirement of a court order to prevent the content from being re-listed.

I asked the CCB about this and their response was:
"If your claim is alleging infringement of material that you identified in a takedown notice to Shopify, and if you notified Shopify notice of the CCB proceeding before it restored that material, then the claim meets the requirements of section 512(g)(2)(c).  If that is the case, then it should suffice if you send Shopify a copy of the claim, and tell Shopify that section 1504(c)(1) of the Copyright Act provides that CCB infringement claims qualify under section 512(g)(2)(c)."

I forwarded that email to them. So let's keep that info handy in case any other platforms try to deny your CCB claim is sufficient!

They are also still selling these hair combs wholesale though, which I didn’t realize they were doing on a different website, Faire.

Screenshot of Hey Ricochet's wholesale listing for the fairy wing hair combs on Faire.com

If they’re selling wholesale, they must have produced quite a lot of them. I’ve also sent a removal notice to Faire and waiting for them to take action.

Hey Ricochet could have worked with me to come to some kind of agreement, instead of ending up with a dead web page when people look for these fairy hair combs they've been pumping up and apparently doing a big photo shoot to promote.
The CCB claim can be seen here: https://dockets.ccb.gov/claim/view/9644

Rhinestone iron-on from Heat Transfer Warehouse
I wish I could say that's the only infringement I've been dealing with, but there's another company that's been profiting off of my Teasel fairy wing design for a few years now.
I discovered that Heat Transfer Warehouse had been selling a rhinestone iron-on of my Teasel fairy wings design. Now, I'd been running into these rhinestone copies for a while now and every once in a while had to report them. Maybe this was the source?
I first sent a Cease & Desist letter on July 30th, which they ignored completely.

So I went ahead and reported the listing to their host, Big Cartel, who sent them a warning that it would be removed if they don't remove it themselves. They fortunately did remove it, but, I may go ahead and file a CCB claim because they've been making a profit off of my design and, continued to sell it after I sent the C&D. I think I should be getting at least a portion of those sales, they should have licensed the design from me if they wanted to use it.
Here's the rhinestone design with the actual photo of my Teasel wings that it looks like it was traced from overlayed on top with a transparency adjustment.

Image with fairy wing pattern in white dots representing rhinestones, with my original Teasel photo overlayed on it showing a match

This matches far too well to be a coincidence IMO. Even the wing in the foreground appears to be traced. Some changes were made to the bottom panels, which are simply copies of the upper panels in my original design, so again this is still substantially similar and a derivative.

I took a screenshot of the page while it was active, and according to the Internet Archive that page has been active since Sept. 2020. How many have been sold? How much should I have been paid in royalties?

Screenshot of Heat Transfer Warehouse's fairy wings rhinestone transfer listing while active

Since they removed the page themselves, they didn't end up with that embarrassing 'page not found' situation.

Copycat wing makers on Etsy from Ukraine
These next copycats have been more frustrating to deal with. Even though Etsy took them down when I reported them, one of them filed a counter notice, but since they're in Ukraine I can't sue and I can't even file a Misrepresentation Claim with the CCB because they only deal with entities in the US.

On July 16 I found 3 wing listings on Etsy that were copies of my Kira wings design by seller ReddoStore. Here's a screenshot of the listing for the purple wings:

Screenshot from ReddoStore's Etsy listing for purple fairy wings that copy the Kira fairy wings design, showing a woman wearing them from the back, sitting on a chair sideways

They were selling these in a few colors.  The design doesn't even really have any changes, it's absolutely copied. Here's a photo of me with those wings edited in - I made the overlays from photos of the actual wings.
Photo taken by Jordan Price.

Photo of a white woman with dark hair wearing giant purple Kira fairy wings, dark green corset, rainbow skirt and horned headdress

Near the end of August I discovered those same exact wings, but from a different seller who was also in Ukraine, OlenaOlenaStore.

Screenshot of listing from Etsy seller OlenaOlenaStore for purple wings that copy the Kira design, showing photo of a blond woman wearing them, back view

Same back brace & everything! I reported those too, and Etsy took them down. So far, no counter notice, but that doesn't mean they won't send one eventually. Unlike the time limit copyright owners have to send the service provider a court order to prevent the posts from going back up after the counter notice is sent, they don't have a time limit so they could very well send one at any time.

I don't think that's a fair system, that I have to show them proof of my design, but all the infringers have to do is sign a notice saying they have good faith belief that they didn't infringe.

I've had a lot of trouble with wing makers in Ukraine for some reason, these two aren't the only ones!

I've had to report infringements from this account, who still has posts up that copy my Kira design but Instagram won't remove the posts. Here she's using mini Kira wing copies without the veins to put onto a crown: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cuq-6O3ow-I/

And advertising it on Etsy: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuxS3P4IZ2v/

Another thing I noticed is they have the same back brace as ReddoStore & OlenaOlenaStore, you have to look closely at their photos because the butterfly is being worn on the inside against their backs so it's not as immediately noticeable.

Photo from EywaDeco's website showing woman with back turned wearing transparent pink cicada fairy wings

 Here's a better pic, you can see the butterfly behind the wings here

photo of dark haired woman wearing ReddoStore copy of Kira wings in dark pink, viewed from the back

I'm not sure if there's someone selling the back braces or if they're all buying wings pre-made and reselling, but it sure seems like reselling if 2 different unrelated sellers are selling the exact same product and that breaks Etsy's rules! I tried telling them this, but they don't seem to care. I tried reporting them for violating Etsy's rule about reselling pre-made products but nothing has changed.

I've even had to report TheWingsUA (their Instagram handle), aka WingsAndFlowerDesign on Etsy, for making wings using my Titania wings photo.

Screenshot of infringing fairy wings Etsy listing from WingsAndFlowerDesign, showing mannequin from the back, wings are printed with my edited Titania wings photo

That particular photo got used a LOT, and has also been made into temporary tattoos, all without permission or any money paid to me of course. Below is the original photo of mine that this version came from.

Photo of my light green iridescent Titania fairy wings with brown veins, shot from the side, with FancyFairy.com watermark

That particular photo got used a LOT, and has also been made into temporary tattoos, all without permission or any money paid to me of course. Below is the original photo of mine that this version came from.

Image from DeviantArt user MLauNeim or MaryNeim showing Titania wings photo edited to be purple, offered as clip art, titled 'Wings Butterfly'

She's unfortunately not in the US either, I forget now where she resides but I couldn't really do anything except report her posts.

But this WingsAndFlowerDesign company has been getting really popular with Americans because they're priced so cheap. Some of their designs are really pretty but... are they really their designs or are they stolen too?
Some seem like they might be made with AI, which, I'd rather have them do that than copy my photos or designs. But there's other wings in their shop that look very familiar to me, designs that have been around elsewhere and they may be using images or clip art they find online. And if most of what I see from someone is either copied from another artist, a nature design, or AI, that tells me they are lacking in design skills so they have to use designs that are already made.
They also seem very similar to the CrystalWingsUA Etsy store.

Thankfully they at least didn't send a counter notice... not yet anyway.

But another thing I never got from any of these companies?
An apology. An "I'm so sorry I used your design". 

There are many many more overseas copies than I can fit in here, but I'm working on getting them removed somehow.
In a couple weeks I have a virtual meeting with Senior Counsel for Enforcement from the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to discuss the copyright issues that myself and so many other artists & designers are struggling with, especially with foreign sellers!

I'm not sure what will come of this, if it will lead to any actual changes, but I will update you here if it does!

Moth Berries and Dark Crystals

I’m having a ready-to-ship fairy wing flash sale Tuesday 9/3/24 at 6pm PDT, plus made-to-order Giant Pansy Gwen wings!

Large wine & purple iridescent fairy wings with downward curved tips, antennae and appendages, worn on a dress form

I will have one set of the above Fauna fairy wings in the ‘Moth Berry’ color scheme with burgundy wine, magenta, purple and dark brown accents laminated onto the clear Diamond Fire film, with black veins. They will be $490 plus shipping.

Large purple & blue iridescent fairy wings with elongated slightly downward curved tips on upper panels, and small tail that swoops up from bottom panels, worn on a dress form

I’ll also have a set of the classic Titania fairy wings in Dark Crystal with black veins as shown above. Those will be $195 plus shipping.

If I have enough vinyl on hand I'm planning on also offering a repeat set of the Fayette wings in Water Lily, which were worn fabulously by this customer whose photo he kindly allowed me to share on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Wq1dRxrXQ/?img_index=1

And maybe a set of Nightshade wings with silver veins if possible but I'm not positive those will make it.

I have also now discounted the ready-to-ship Giant Pansy Gwen wings to $549, and also added a listing for those giant Pansy Gwen wings made-to-order, available now!
https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/products/made-to-order-giant-pansy-gwen-iridescent-convertible-fairy-wings-your-color-choice

Remember, the wings listings won't show up until that date at the start time at this link:
https://fancy-fairy-wings-things.myshopify.com/collections/flash-sales