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.

3/27/10

Dry Spell Ends, New Goodies

I was recently down b/c I wasn't selling for a good week or so. In fact, it's what prompted my first sale, complete with its own sale section.

Sale. The Reabsorption of Milk Teeth. Assemblage Brooch.

Though I did sell one or two things from it, when the dry spell ended, of course it wasn't the sale items, but rather the expensive-ish items that sold.

The smallest sacred thing.

Ain't that always the way?

Throw Down the Gauntlet. Embellished Glovelette.

Basically, I started renewing a LOT, and I think that's what did it.
ANYWHOO- here's some new things I just listed.

Flowering Sugar Drops

Clogging Buccaneers

Sign of the Pilgrim

HorseHair. Bone and Hair for the Ear.

That's my hair in that raccoon bone, yo. I wanted the bones to be long bezels for hair. But then I had no hair. So I reached back to where, in the back of your skull, the hair is darkest. I reached in where I hoped it wouldn't show, and cut it at the very root, to get a longish piece. Then I did it 9 more times b/c I had a lot of these bones. Still not sure what to do w/the rest of these hair and bone oddities. maybe they'd hang well below some of the circular elements in my haul.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Congrats on the sales! So many wonderful new goodies - I'm always partial to the bones & teeth, but everything is awesome!; 3/28/10, 5:04 AM
fanciful devices said...: Oh, I like bones and teeth, too. Now too many sales in that, though. Fancy blingy things always get better sales, I think.; 3/28/10, 10:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Ha - so true. Still, I'm compelled to expand my bony section & I love to see your new additions!; 3/30/10, 5:48 AM