fanciful devices: Busy Bee

A Stone Is Nobody's

A man ambushed a stone. Caught it.
Made it a prisoner.
Put it in a dark room and stood guard over it for the rest of his life.

His mother asked why.

He said, because it's held captive, because it is captured.

Look, the stone is asleep, she said, it does not know whether it's in a garden or not. Eternity and the stone
are mother and daughter; it is you who are getting old. The stone is only sleeping.

But I caught it, mother, it is mine by conquest, he said.

A stone is nobody's, not even its own. It is you who are conquered; you are minding the prisoner, which is yourself,
because you are afraid to go out, she said.

Yes yes, I am afraid, because you have never loved me, he said.

Which is true, because you have always been to me as the stone is to you, she said.

Russell Edson

FAQs

1. Are you a Southeast Asian dancing girl from the 1800s?

No, sorry to disappoint. My avatar and banner images are from an ancient book I found in the depths of my grandmother's cabinets. More on that here.

2. How do you make everything look so old?

First, you need a good oxidizer to brush on every bit of metal you can reach. I'll tell you all about it here.

Then there's this wax. I first mentioned it here. You'll have to scroll down a lot.

3. How can you be so productive?

I'm insanely obsessed and I have no offspring. I do nothing else- I don't have a day job, I don't clean my house or cook, I spend all day in pjs, often completely abandoning personal hygiene... I only interact with other humans when I walk my dog. And I like people! But I prefer dogs.

And I'm sloppy- but I make that sloppiness work for me.

4. Any tips you'd like to share?

No! Except for these 16 posts about techniques and this one about how to find your aesthetic.

5. Would you be offended if I took some inspiration from your designs?

Well, I'd be happier if you outright copied them.

No really, imitation is how we learn. I have enough ideas to go around. And even if I don't- please. No one's going to do this obsessively enough to threaten my business. (Probably.) I learned by copying others and I've seen others copy me as a step toward developing their own voice. So feel free. (I'd love if you tossed me a link in my comments, so I can feel like a proud momma.)

6. What do you look like?

Why, what have you heard? Really? Wow.

3/21/10

Busy Bee

Finally got my fine wire for my fancy earrings w/the tiny medals and such from Uruguay.

Look! Real gold!

Paired w/old rhinestones I found a huge bucket of at the school I teach. Weird score, but I had to get the bezels, though.

These treasures were all hidden away, forgotten in the back of grandma's drawers or in little old baggies the street sellers never took out because who'd want such things? ME!

The tiny one's on a silver spoon!

By sheer coincidence, when I got back from my trip, 2 packages of particularly fancy beads had arrived, from etsy sellers, of course.

The rondelles I already had.

The pyrite chunks and cubes, the white glass bell caps, the coin pearls, all waiting to be made into something pretty.

These are so sweet and tiny, I can barely stand it.

And I bent and re-bent and sanded and hammered all that sterling sliver and gold-filled wire until everything dangled just right. Not as easy as re-shaping factory-made ear wires. But I discovered the joys of dead-soft silver, which hardens up w/just a few hammer bangs.

The white tiger eye barrel's I actually got in Uruguay crazy cheap at a most unexpected Chinese import bead store. That's also where I got the faux amber barrel closures for this guy. Funny, I had just bout the exact same beads, slightly bigger, through etsy.

The wire was so inexpensive (for being fine) from this seller from Australia! Even w/the $5 shipping it was a great deal.

Now my tummy's been rumbling for I don't know how long, and though I'm itching to read sparrow's convo she just sent, I gotta eat. This is how I stay so skinny, since folks ask me sometimes, I just am so much more obsessed w/making jewelry from old bits than with my own bodily needs. So my advice for those who want a bit less chunk on 'em is to become obsessed w/something.