fanciful devices: Sneak Peek

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.

8/21/10

Sneak Peek

These earrings have antique tibetan yak bone beads. They are exquisite. Of course, you can't see that because these pictures were taken at night in artificial light.

Which is why I call them sneak peeks. Crappy peeks doesn't have the same ring.

This is what was missing from my custom piece- some fabric to bulk up a section of the strand part. You know, the part that's not the focal? Whaddaya call that?

I'm kinda pleased!

This one was a PAIN! I'm a mess when it comes to color. I tried to channel Lorelei Eurto. Meh. The whistle works, though. It's musical qualities make up for what it lacks in amazing strandage....

Here's a clasp for the necklace below.

The top of the focal is a ring sent to me by Sparrow which I flattened.

I had to redo the entire top of the crystal. I took a chunk of soldered copper off trying to force it into hanging straight. I was hours on this.

Here's an unexpected combination: dark teal and copper against dark neutrals of bronze/brown/black. And I mean unexpected for me. Seeing that develop was a nice surprise.

And the focal is actually maroon. Maybe I have to sneak into colors from the extremes of dark and light. Take the tentative steps out of either totality. It is a fantastic shape, seen head-on, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to show more.

Oh, and I got some good posting ideas: the idea of 'paracosms' and the theory of the 'multiverse'! Ohh, mysterious....

2 comments:

Spirited Earth said...: i'm laughing over this post..i have a little bit of color phobia. sneaking up on color with darker jewel tones is a great idea..then one day..POW we will be using electric rainbow colors..
haha ...nah; 8/22/10, 7:55 AM
fanciful devices said...: lol! we'll be all about the 80s fluorescents...; 8/22/10, 7:55 PM