fanciful devices: Sunday's Makings.

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.

9/26/10

Sunday's Makings.

Rongorongo.

The Lost Legion.

It takes a whole day to take pictures, edit and list. And that is even considering that I found a bunch of interesting stories for the descriptions last night.

The God You Sought.

I am Blood and Bone. I am Blood and Bone. Victorian and Tribal Glass Leaf Dangles.

Xenoglossia. Applique Pearl and Rhinestone Dangles.

Xenoglossia.

Though it's not so easy when you remember you made a bunch of goofy things like these. These remind me of things I used to make in my earlier work. Earlier for me being, like, a year and a half ago. So I priced them lower.
The Tarim Mummies. The Tarim Mummies. Applique and Rhinestone Dangles.

The Tarim Mummies. Applique and Rhinestone Dangles.

The Carnac Stones. Oxidized Metals and Soldered Quartz.

The Carnac Stones.
The First Freak Show. Mustard Tribal Fusion for the Ear.

The First Freak Show.
Sacred Geometry. Rustic Tin Spears.

Sacred Geometry.
So since the last 2 here are totally 80s meets rust, I priced them pretty low, too. Low-ish. Lower than if they hadn't come out looking so 80s meets rust. Maybe I should take them down and make the spears shorter...
I just got the coolest convo from shessoweird, the customer who send me stuff. Let me share a certain paragraph with y'all:
"I had to work again yesterday at the boutique. I wore my newest creation 'Synesthetic Perceptions'. I was working the register again and it was the last crazy day of the anniversary sale. It was a madhouse. We only had one register opened so everyone had to see me and thus my necklace. I cannot tell you how many comments I got!! Everyone loved it, wanted to know where I got it, who made it, what was the significance of the tiny utensils, nail etc etc. Many comments about how interesting to see the combination of things and that the artist that would do that was very ingenuis! There was one lady who is maybe the top buying customer--she might spend $5,000 per month--and she LOVED it. Talk about getting tired of making the same thing over and over. I think there were maybe 100 requests for the necklace. Several people wanted to buy it right off me."

4 comments:

Spirited Earth said...: looks like you've been very busy..
love your work..
i had to laugh at the little bottle of cabochard perfume in your photo,
it's an obscure perfume..but it's been my preference for decades.; 9/26/10, 10:55 PM
stregata said...: I just love the little leaves on Blood and Bone!
And I don't think the silly earrings are silly - they are just less dark than your other work.; 9/26/10, 11:13 PM
*Debi* said...: What an awesome convo! When I grow up, I want to be fanciful devices. :D; 9/27/10, 12:04 AM
fanciful devices said...: AW! you guys rock!
1- you know this perfume? wow.
2- thanks for making me feel less silly
3-i'm gonna have to quote you to my mom.; 9/27/10, 12:54 PM