fanciful devices: What I did today.

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.

8/4/10

What I did today.

Sheesh I'm overwhelmed with my job-job right now but if I don't post everything I wanna post then I'm a mess. I have a bunch of treasuries I don't have time to post...
Whatev. I wanna show the results of my extreme oxidizing experiment.

These were the factory-bought toggles. The plating means little of it was substantial core metal, so they really didn't stand up very well.

These lost their loops, no big. Some are just barely hanging on to their loops and it won't hold up to any weight or pressure.

OK, these bits were the reason I bought the toggles since I always want to use a antique bit as a toggle but just need the bar. As you can see, several of them gave up the ghost. They just committed suicide, not wanting to continue in such a cruel world. Some I didn't even show, they were just bits.

Now the one on the right I've had forever. It was soooo boring, so I'm very happy. The one on the left was plated gold. I wanted it a little crustier...

I think this tiny hinge is my favorite. The bit in the background right side, I added in after the stuff had mostly neutralized, so nothing happened. I think I'll add it to the next batch. I think I'll do this to all my boring bits.

This was my favorite piece. I actually removed it much sooner b/c it was legitimately old. It's from Uruguay. But, since I'm a doof, I forgot to remove the bolt that held the ends together. When I went at it to remove the pin (I thought it would look neat hanging from the original holes) I broke it in 2 places. I'm trying to glue together the one part and drilled a hole through the other. We'll see.

RESERVED FOR SACRED CAKE/ The Why of Being Born. Entertaining Trinkets for Adornment.

My lovely buyer and etsy buddy, SacredCake (who is published in the current Somerset Life, no less) requested a pair of earrings to go with this:

Since the piece is really big, I thought simple little danglies would go well:

Just threw 'em together, charged ten bucks, hope she likes 'em.

2 comments:

Jennifer Valentine Morford said...: THE GASP HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD...when I scrolled down to see the earrings you made! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!
Thank you so much for the mention! I plan on talking about you when I get my jewelry....so be prepared to blush!
xoxoxo Love to you Fanci!; 8/4/10, 7:23 PM
fanciful devices said...: LOL!; 8/4/10, 9:12 PM