fanciful devices: crap peeks

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.

12/11/10

crap peeks

Ok, tomorrow I'll take decent pictures.

Maybe. They say it's gonna be so bad they're warning folks to stay indoors.

By which I mean, there might not be any light, because of snowstorms, like today.

And thus, the crappy pictures.

See how it all comes back to the beginning? It's like the circle of life, really.

Oh, and these aren't quite done yet, either. Just saying.

And these directly above were a request to go w/a necklace.

I've noticed that many, many of these purchases I'm getting are by men. Which means they're Christmas presents for women. Thus the request for the matching earrings. I don't think women worry about matching earrings to something as complicated as:

Coagulatio. Victorian Tribal Assemblage.

Right? Aw, by pretty colorful necklace! You were one of my favorites!

Also, since I love getting questions in my (wonderful, encouraging, life-affirming) comments- Spirited Earth, here's the meaning of 'flying by the seat of your pants':

Before aircraft had instruments, pilots had to rely on their innate sense of balance to detect changes in movements of the plane, transferred to his body by the contact with the seat. This explains why there was an early change from the Wright Flyer's prone pilot position.

I didn't know that either. Anything else?

Oh, and my last pictures are of my baby chowing down on his own, personal, edible Christmas card he received in the mail today.

That's my in-laws for you! Imna send them some of these pictures and they're gonna love them, cuz they're crazy about Bingo. That's his name-o.

5 comments:

stregata said...: Well, I hope it doesn't get as bad as they are saying - but I can hear you on the light issue. Seems it has been ages since we had any real light here - nothing but snow, then rain, then snow, then rain - you get the idea - yuck. I loved the story about how you thought snow was like clouds, btw.
Your earrings are amazing. And if men want to gift matching earrings - why stop them?; 12/12/10, 12:09 AM
Spirited Earth said...: love your dog,soo cute.
i'm laughing..now we know the answer..i do fly by the seat of my pants often..
you go guys..girls get double the jewelry.yeah!; 12/12/10, 7:01 AM
Spirited Earth said...: oh..i forgot..my friend(older)matches everything in her outfits. head to toe.i often give her a bracelet or necklace she never fails to wonder if she has earrings to match..i never even think about that..haha..guess we better get on our jewelry selling game and make earrings that will work with mulitple designs. ;-); 12/12/10, 7:08 AM
~Debi said...: Lovely, lovely, lovely earrings.

I've never heard of those edible cards for doggies. Where did they find it? My Mysti would love one! (even though she's not a dog, she's a chihuahua...errr a furry child); 12/12/10, 8:57 PM
fanciful devices said...: lol. i call them 'doggie placebos', debi. and yes, spirited, i thought about it and matchy-matchy is an older type of thing. 50s/60s? stregata- any tips for photos in low light?; 12/12/10, 9:13 PM