fanciful devices: One more day!

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.

12/15/10

One more day!

Because I doubt anyone's coming to class on Friday. I managed to sneak in a little photographing/editing/posting time today, though. I finally found a "brush" or "filter" or "action" to give things the olde looke.

The Interplanetary Horror

Thank you SacredCake for finding it for me here.

The Heliopause.

Cuz instead of being a series of steps, it's just a picture of a viewfinder that you layer over your picture!

Dark Matter.

Here it is but less so.

Silver Bells and Cockle Shells

And more so.

Lullaby.

Compare with a non-vingified version:
Lullaby.

Give up the Ghost.

I'm pricing these a tad steep because of all the sales I've been inundated with of late. Poor me.

A Great Fall.

Tumbling After.

Here's a paragraph from a convo I got today from a buyer:
Also--I LOVE the earrings. I wore them to our friends' house for dinner the night I received them, and my friend commented on them so I took them off and she and I actually had the kind of conversation about them that two mothers might have while cradling, oh, I don't know--a newly hatched extinct bird from some other dimension, that was sadly but bravely dying because it wasn't meant for this world--something like that. The delicacy, the details, the belie-ing weight and substance/sturdiness; the impossiblity. I don't even know what to say. This is pathetic perhaps, but when I see the little edwardian-ornate details of the frame encased under the resin like that, I kind of want to cry. I love it. Thank you so much.
Richelle

Isn't that amazing?

6 comments:

richelle said...: Love the ttv--really fits. check out these at flickr--creative commons licensed!
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=ttv&w=604871%40N20&m=pool; 12/16/10, 12:05 AM
stregata said...: Thanks for sharing - I have been trying to figure out how to do this!
The comment IS amazing - and yet, not surprising. Your work is like that. I have to go drool over your pieces some more...; 12/16/10, 12:35 AM
Penelope said...: You're not steep! If anything your shop is too much of a bargain, considering all the work you do not only in construction but in alteration and prepping, then there's the actual hunting down of the pieces. You is cheap m'love.; 12/16/10, 12:50 AM
Lorelei Eurto said...: I am LOVING how these photos turned out! I'd love to learn how to do something like that. was it tricky??

Love your customer's comment, I can totally see how she would say those things!; 12/16/10, 4:59 AM
Spirited Earth said...: your photos are lovely..as well as your amazing pieces.; 12/16/10, 7:19 AM
~Debi said...: Congrats on the lovely pieces and all the wonderful sales! Your work is awesome and well appreciated. :); 12/17/10, 8:00 PM