fanciful devices: Overcast with a chance of earrings

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.

9/25/10

Overcast with a chance of earrings

It's too dark to take list-worthy photos, but I wanted to show off some earrings I recently made. Well, these are from today:

I still had some of that dark grungy quartz I soldered so I was able to put these together. The hardest part was finding wire thin enough for the iolite heishi. Though you can barely notice it on this photo.

Some Mary and Jesuses. The cab/stone square links are some of what I did with these I showed you and the fabric is from Sparrow.

OK, but more interesting, a foray into some new designs:

The tops are from missficklemedia, among the tons of stuff she sent. I'm not going to make it into a special project for her b/c I'm wanting to develop this rustic cut-tin look for myself... or something. Hard to get going on projects I know I won't be able to share for a while...

Anywhoo, there are earposts glued to the circular top elements, then the bottom spears are from an old tin box. Yup. That's about it, but its very different for me. They actually turned out rather 80s looking, hu? They're much more striking in real life...

Also, I did a repair that I'm super proud of. Something broke here:

See it? No? Look closer:

Closer:

There! My first wire rivet! Just as much of a pain in the ass as I thought it would be. Though maybe my 1st try shouldn't have been on a already sold piece. Of course, I always rather something break on my watch than after the buyer's received it, horrors. That's why I'm very rough w/my pieces. But I think it looks almost good as new, so... bon voyage wacky girls...

Gotta go back to my cobbling. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend, even if it is grey and yucky out.