Refuse the custom that asks you to fake a technique

The message usually sounds flattering: something like this, but in a style you have never practiced. It is not an order yet. It is a request to pretend.

I ask for size, a deadline, and one reference before I quote. If the work would force a technique I do not use — a glaze I cannot fire, a stitch I do not sew — I say no and leave the door open for what I actually make.

On Doshe, buyers can tell when a listing is a costume. The shops that last are the ones that keep their hands inside their own craft. A refused custom is not a lost sale. It is the listing staying honest.