fanciful devices: I love Novacan

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.

12/28/10

I love Novacan

So I did a ton of soldering yesterday.

My torch decided to act up so I had to do it all by iron. So it came out messy, which means I had to file a ton, which is why it looks gritty instead of smooth in these pictures.

And why my home is coated in solder-dust grains. But really, the torch was making a sputtering sound and would only function in 2 modes: flame thrower and off.

So, I had to use so much solder for what I needed that it caused a lot of iron grunge, so I had to rub it on my sal amoniac, which creates tons of horrible chemical smoke.

Which in turn caused me to have to open the windows into the freezing cold winter.

But I was too focused to stop, so I ended up w/that exhausted feeling you get after spending all day freezing w/your muscles clenched against it.

Here's my bits right after getting painted with the Novacan. Still damp.

You can towel it off here, that works too. But I like to try to get it as oxidized as possible, so I tend to leave it on.

I'm thinking I shouldn't, though.

Cuz then when it dries on stuff, it leaves a white film.

Can you see it? Even after I wiped it down w/a paper towel, it's still in the crevices

Thing is with the messy solder situation I ended up with an unusual amount of crevices. I fiddled with it some more and I think it's good now.

I finally got tons of beads I'd ordered in the mail. Because I'm on my 'staycation', it seems like time is moving slowly, so mail seems to be taking forever. But I got some goodies and finished off the chain/cord/necklaces of the above. I think I might be stuck in a rut on how I connect wired beads for necklaces, but I donno....

It sure is nice to have time to blog during my process and not just when I'm done.

Hope you're all doing well and staying warm and that you had a nice Christmas if you do Christmas.

5 comments:

stregata said...: Amazing work, as always, Fanci. But I think you should make sure there is no more Novacan on the pieces - not so good to have on the skin. Think you need to rinse them...; 12/29/10, 1:37 AM
fanciful devices said...: oh, yeah, the stuff burns! I seal it with wax, though I'm trying a new sealer right now, just to see.; 12/29/10, 2:16 AM
Diana said...: Beautiful stuff and always inspiring--thanks for sharing--especially the complex piece with the central "checkerboard" motif--interesting to see appearances before and after patina.; 12/29/10, 5:22 AM
Beadbug said...: I love the look :); 12/29/10, 6:03 PM
Jennifer Valentine Morford said...: LOVE the wooden pieces....and, well, everything as always.
I'm a big fan.
Yup.
I am.
xox; 12/29/10, 11:04 PM