fanciful devices: Newish

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.

5/12/10

Newish

I took this down and shortened the length by a good 5 inches.

I also lowered the price by $9. The mannequin is too small for it... also, that vest doesn't compliment it... I guess something w/spaghetti string straps would work...

I also listed this fella:

A victorian slide transparency. I wish the image on the transparency had turned out darker, though. In the interest of full disclosure I added this picture to the listing:

to show how in certain light it seams to have a bit of liquid sealed between the slides. Oh well.

And I got pictures of the gloves:

I just don't know about this fix:

I think it's pretty neat, but will the buyer?

(Not neat as in tidy, you know.)

I'm working on another one:

Here the strip that enlarges it is clearly the decor, so I'm happy about that. As you can see, the color is very Sparrow inspired. I dyed vintage crochet, glove and bandage.

The image of the front is way blurry, oops. But look at those crazy copper studs! I'll probably tone them down w/oxidizing patina, probably my favorite thing in the world. I already gave them quite a bath in it to remove the silver plating. I have plating! So shiny and lifeless. But when it comes off, the base metal is really intense. Anyways, just a work in progress. While my hands slowly loose their power... sob.

1 comment:

Penelope said...: Holy CRAPSTICKS how did you get those studs to be copper? It sounds like you removed the plating and then put them in copper patina? I NEED TO KNOW. I have ideas for things that require bronze and copper coloured studs, but I can't find any. These are perfect- so ruined looking.; 5/16/10, 11:11 AM