"Made from scratch?"

Question: Is this a new figure from scratch that you are working on?

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Answer: Yes, every facet of this figure is "made from scratch". However, did I personally make this entire figure "from scratch"? Of course not!

In one sense, every vent figure ever built has been "made from scratch". There's not a piece or part of the whole that did not begin first as an idea or inspiration that was given birth to reality through the dedicated research and design efforts of some person(s) somewhere. The only question is the number of hands through which all pieces passed to become the whole.

From another perspective, no figure is ever truly "made from scratch" by one individual. Rather, they are always a result of the efforts of a figure maker who has gathered, shaped, and assembed the raw materials and components produced by others to create his or her own unique finished piece.

Here's the true question: What percentage of time and work of the whole does one individual need to do personally to rightly claim "made from scratch" creative ownership? Who knows. There is no universally accepted standard or formula from which to measure. "Made from scratch" has been and always will be a highly subjective perspective.

And in the end, if one has to ask, does it really matter?