2 questions: 1 about copyright and 1 about blog design

[Jenn in Mo]

Okay, I am trying to set up a blog to share homeschooling stuff (notebooking pages, organizational tools, etc) and have decided that this is what I want it to look like:
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l256/Bluepickle_1/wildwood.jpg

However, there is a little copyright symbol on that picture and I can't trace whether or not it is *still* copyrighted. I know there is a before/after date that might make it allowable. If not, how to I go about getting permission? The artist is deceased.

2nd - does anyone know how to set this up? Feel like walking me through it? Pretty pretty pretty please? I'm not totally blog illiterate and I think I could follow basic instructions without you having to get too technical or invest too much of your time. And....um, I'll throw in some of Amy's soap?

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I can't answer any of your questions, but I love your blog design. Charming. Lovely. Refreshing.

Aren't I loads of help. :)

[BarbaraL in OK]

Jenn, email me about the setup -- unless someone else has already offered.

The copyright question requires you to do a bit of research, and I avoid copyrighted images so I don't know the answers, sorry.

[GothicGyrl]

As far as I know, the wind in the willows is without copyright any longer. I do know that most people, today, won't complain so long as you are not making money off of it, claiming it as your own and you give them the credit.

That is, put somewhere on the blog "Image and quote are property of Author, of The Wind in the Willows" or something similar.

Something **that** old, most people won't bicker about.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

However, there is a little copyright symbol on that picture and I can't trace whether or not it is *still* copyrighted. I know there is a before/after date that might make it allowable. If not, how to I go about getting permission? The artist is deceased.

The quotation you should have no problem with, especially if you credit it as being from Kenneth Grahame out of The Wind in the Willows. You aren't trying to reproduce the entire work. The copyright of a text generally allows for excerpts.

However, I think the illustration you show is one drawn by E. H. Shepard (who illustrated Winnie The Pooh). These illustrations were published in 1931. This probably means that the illustrations are still copyrighted.

Can you get away with using the illustration? Probably. If you don't make any money from the blog and it never becomes widely enough read to bother the copyright holder. I would probably not decorate every aspect of the blog with a different W in the W illustration. That might make it look like you are trying to benefit from the illustrations.

Just my $0.02. For what it is worth.

[Jenn in Mo]

Thank you all for the feedback! :)