fanciful devices: Icky

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.

10/17/10

Icky

Managed to sleep 'til 5 am, be awake 'til 8, then sleep 'til 2 pm. Feel like caca.

I snuck back into the studio to make myself feel better. But then I wanted to take some pictures to share and they're so crap, I swung back to caca.

I got me some photoshop elements so that my pictures couls be reasonably good, but there seems to be a lot of ps elements issues. Like the fact that I have a PowerPC processor instead of an Intel one (?). Which makes more recent versions unusable. So I bought version 6.

But man, hearing all the complaints on the reviews stressed me out. I don't know the things they're talking about and don't wanna spend entire days getting the run-around on the automated phone system while trying to get help.

Plus I had one of those horrible stress dreams where you're back in school, can't find your locker or locker combination, forgot your schedule and can't remember how to find it. Plus it may be finals and you've just realized you were signed up for several classes you've forgotten to ever attend.

Ugh, I can't get the colors right on these! It's totally the automatic focus washing them out. They I over-saturate to compensate and it's a mess. ugh, ugh, ugh.

On another tangent- this piece is now available for general purchase as it is no longer on reserve:

A tiny tiny grain of sand in the sky. Beach bits and Turkoman Necklace.

A tiny tiny grain of sand in the sky.
Note- It sold already! MAN that was fast. Oh happy yay. Despite caca-tude and possible low-grade fever with flu-like aches. Happy yay with cacatude!

8 comments:

Spirited Earth said...: i will have to remember caca-tude
very funny..your photos are not icky by the way ..; 10/17/10, 10:54 PM
stregata said...: I wouldn't read the reviews on a software until I really run into a problem. Those forums just make you want to throw the software out.
But the photos look fine to me. Were you using a flash?
BTW, thanks for stopping by - I so appreciate it!; 10/17/10, 11:27 PM
Malin de Koning said...: Sorry, but I've just been laughing out loud about that nightmare of yours. Even told my husband about it. That thing about the finals and the classes you had totally forgotten to attend. I know such dreams. And in your dream you are panicing, thinking how you could get out of your trouble, and at the same time wondering how you could forget your classes for a whole year. I don't know why, but I find it hilarious. Thank you so much for that laugh!

I think your photos are great and you know I loooove your jewellery. Such an inspiration. But personally I don't think the surface of that plastic grey-metallicy manequin goes with your style at all. Also it creates unattractive glares which I find disturb the overall impression. Could you perhaps make something with the surface. Paint it, decoupage it or something else so it would work better in your photos. It should have a matte surface really, to avoid the glares.

All my best,
Malin; 10/18/10, 5:12 AM
fanciful devices said...: yes, i think you have a point about the mannequin. i thought it was ok, since i only show it as the final picture, to show how an item hangs. But her boobs are so huge and perky it really interferes with the hang....
ugh, another purchase coming up...
(also- doesnt everyone have those dreams about school at some point?); 10/18/10, 6:27 AM
Malin de Koning said...: I don't mind her boobs. I don't think you need to buy a new one. How about some decoupaging with paper of the same style as you use for your backgrounds. Just an idea. It would create a nice family feeling to all your photos, or maybe just some rather plain but beautiful paper in a colour that could go for skin colour. I think you might have to do some sanding of the surface first, just to roughen it up. I would like a manekin myself - I also want to do some sanding on some big plastic boobs ... Or do I really? You will have to tell me all about it if you do it.

About the dream, yes that's maybe why it is so funny, coz we all have them. They are just such crazy and over the top stressful creations of our minds.

All my best,
Malin; 10/18/10, 8:28 AM
Pretty Things said...: OMG. I'm so glad I discovered your blog! Your work is amazing!; 10/18/10, 9:33 AM
fanciful devices said...: i put a hoody on her, backwards, and it just might work... it's made of very thin fabric.; 10/18/10, 5:20 PM
Chelsea (TangoPig) said...: We did ours by papier-mache-ing two rolls of toilet paper around the shoulders and bust of a similar mannequin. Shockingly, it worked.

It's so good to hear that someone else has those exact dreams. I'm about to graduate from college and I still have dreams that I skipped six months of middle school classes and am going to have to repeat everything since then.; 10/19/10, 12:22 PM