fanciful devices: Favorites

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.

5/28/10

Favorites

Here are some recent favorites. Starting with the best of all:

I find that the best ideas are always surprising in their simplicity. This necklace by Grace and Greta blows me away. It could have been executed very tackily but it's perfect. I just realized it reminds me of that show on HGTV where the lady comes up w/a color wheel made up of different things the home owners like so they won't be intimidated by color. (Although it never makes any sense to me since she doesn't account for hue and tone and the wall color never looks like the color they picked to me....) I'm resisting buying it b/c I have something in my brain that keeps me from spending money on anything other than food and rent... I'm an immigrant raised by old Socialists, by the way. But it's way affordable. Underpriced, in fact. The one cream bead w/the holes, looks like bone, that one kills me. Breaks my heart somehow... If only I went anywhere to show it off...

I'd even like it more with even chunkier, larger rocks...

(Looking for something with bigger chunks lead me to discover this:

And this:

from a shop that's all about lovely rainbows.)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, favorites.

This necklace by Laurel's Bench is made of petrified wood. I love how it's capped off. Again, the best ideas surprise you with their simplicity. But they have something that clicks in you right away. And you go- why didn't I think of that? Now I'm gonna want to copy that! But I'll be trying with regular branches and my solder gun instead of these refined materials, cuz I always think 'how can I do that but quick and dirty?' and it'll take me forever and end up all crappy...

I love well executed asymmetrical earrings. Not often seen. These by azsolla are a divine. I also love those that flip or reverse the weight... the large or heavy element on top in one earring, on the bottom in the other. Or the reversing of color in the same way (though the best aren't that obvious). Love it, never occurs to me when I'm making stuff. It should. It's so inspiring, creative and energizing to the eye somehow.

Here's two gorgeous examples of that among many from Mia Montgomery:

I also never hear photos but this little thing stole my heart.

This necklace by Deryn Mentlock is dreamy:

The piece of bone above the medal actually looks like scrimshaw. Maybe it is. Y'all know I'm all about mixing "ethnic" with antique. Drool! I wish all my items were as, I don't know, valuable? antique? unique? as her elements. Maybe I mean that if every bit you use to make a thing is in itself clearly already quite a thing, your final thing will really be something! Yeah!

And finally, back on the rainbow brights:

This is from a shop called Over the Top, and boy is it!

She has several necklaces which use big bright fishing lures as the focals.

As so:

6 comments:

Deryn Mentock said...: Ah....my piece has done it's job! That "bone" in the focal is actually faux bone (created by Robert Dancik)that I carved and colored. Yay that you thought it was scrimshaw! I think you would love this material..."quick and dirty" Thank you for including my piece in this wonderful review!; 5/28/10, 9:34 AM
Unknown said...: you found some real treasures. the first one is so simple, so perfect, you're right, why DIDN'T I thnk of that? I'm thinking the scrimshaw piece is some of that 'faux bone' you buy & shape,drill,ink?thanks for a colourful post; 5/28/10, 9:35 AM
fanciful devices said...: Faux bone! of course! (good catch Boot-C!)
I think that's the prettiest use I've seen of that material yet. A simple but unusual shape... some antique brass stamping footage... man! You know how when you see something in your own sort of "milieu" done so well, you get jealous? Like a burning, consuming envy? Yeah, me neither.; 5/28/10, 1:52 PM
Unknown said...: I have faux bone on the miond, I just got the book that features it a lot & the note from a voodoo cafe had a series of video clips w/ it being worked. & envy? I no not of this envy y ou mention.....; 5/28/10, 8:35 PM
OvertheTop said...: What a gorgeous blog, and lovely choices. Thank you for featuring my fishies and button bracelet. I love the ephemera here - what a treat for the eyes!; 5/31/10, 7:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you for including our piece and making it your #1 pick. But mostly thank you for deciding to Buy It and give us awesome feedback!!! Your blog is great and we love your other picks as well. Thanks Again

~Grace and Greta; 6/6/10, 7:35 PM