fanciful devices: Newsy

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.

8/12/10

Newsy

A Canal is Torment. Garnet and Quartz Dangles.

The Wind of the Wing of Madness. Antique Assemblage Earrings.

Some earrings w/the soldered crystals. Also some fabric bits, which I hadn't done like this recently. Got inspired from looking at Sparrow's old shop. Such awesomeness. (note: the 1st pair already sold! Maybe I'll whip up another...)
Also I'm working on a custom piece for a lovely customer. I like custom requests that are super open-ended, and include phrases like, "make it look like your stuff." Not one with pictures of something attached that look nothing like anything I do and involve things like jewler's saws, which I don't use. I'm not crazy about the ones that link back to an elaborate sold necklace of mine asking for one just like it. I never have the parts! Vintage, get it? Earrings is not so bad. But sometimes I just feel like, I already made that, I know what it looks like when finished, so what's the point? But I do seem to keep getting requests for my winterbird earrings

Winterbird. Kyanite and Silver Earrings.

or some permutation thereof, and they're easy enough to make. I do like that someone likes my stuff enough to look at the sold section, so I can't complain. I guess it's just when they're a pain to make, as in my rose bud or pencil earrings.
Specimen 11. Rose Buds in Vial Earrings.

Specimen 11. Rose Buds in Vial Earrings.

Graphite Deposit Discovered. Bullet Casing and Pencil Stub Earrings.

Well, but the recent request was simply to make a necklace inspired by a poem about Anne Boleyn.

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, hélas, I may no more.

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore

Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,

Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I may spend his time in vain.

And graven with diamonds in letters plain

There is written, her fair neck round about:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

SIR THOMAS WYATT

It was explained to me that "Ceasar" in this case is King Henry the whatevereth, and that the line in Latin is from the Vulgate (latin bible). It means 'don't touch me, bee-ach!' But it's always translated as "touch me not" just to sound fancy. I thought it meant "you won't have me" but then- tangere...tangible... the lightbulb went off. After it was explained, that is. But the lovely hasapa, for whom I'm making it. Again, at first I was all, "Oh, no" b/c folks think that since I use these poems and things in my descriptions, I got the inspiration from the poem first, and it's never ever ever like that. But in this case, the details of the diamonds on the neck and the line in latin actually go my gears churning. And this is what I have so far.

It includes a round pewter piece from a lot I traded Hummingbirdeyes for a pair of earrings which I just got in the mail, like, 2 days ago. Oh happy makings!

1 comment:

Jennifer Valentine Morford said...: LOVE the new earrings.....just love them. Makes me wanna break out my soldering gun too....haven't had it out in awhile...
though I'm certain I couldn't make it look nearly as incredible as your stuff.; 8/13/10, 1:09 AM