fanciful devices

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.

12/29/10

So I tried to take some pictures.

The light was icky and the pictures turned out awful.

So I just used them as fodder for my photoshop practice.

It's growing dark at 4:00 so I never have time to take enough pictures.

But that also has something to do with how I'm not fully up til after noon.

Plus, I think there's solder dust in the wood grains in these two. There's all these little flecks on the pictures. I went and blurred them out one by one, but that doesn't look quite right either. Sometimes I think it's dishonest when I do that.

Imna try rubbing or washing them out or something, then try again tomorrow.

These, by the way, are antique glass buttons with broken shafts. And the little ones in the corners were a pain.

But I feel like I'm in a necklace/cord/bead rut lately and I have to try something new.

I got me some bottles of black patina from Sculpt Nouveau, which Spirited Earth recommended. I wasn't sure which type to get, cuz there were so many types, so I got a 'Universal Patina' and a 'Dye Oxide' and the company was kind enough to throw in a free bottle of 'Patina Stain'! And I swear they are all 3 the exact same thing!

Also, I thought patina would be similar to Novacan, and I was so totally wrong. It's more like stinky gritty paint that actually sticks to metal, any kind. Or anything else anywhere nearby. And I got the sealant all over everything, what a mess. Not as easy as I brashly assumed. I'm very overconfident when it comes to these things. (But then things other folks see no problem with- making appointments for things, car ownership, anything to do with money, befriending my cellphone, children- make my stomach clench. So I'll just let myself be overconfident with little things.) More educational fiddling and mucking about in my immediate future.

5 comments:

Spirited Earth said...: Hey...
don't blame that mess on me. :-0; 12/29/10, 9:40 PM
stregata said...: Maybe you need to try the patinas on different metals to see the difference?
Love the crisscross on the chandelier crystal - just love it. And your heart milagro is wonderful.; 12/30/10, 1:13 AM
richelle said...: LOVE the deep blackness of the bottommost piece. Is it difficult to keep the patina 'paint' off the jewels and non-metal materials or does it just go for the metal like a regular chemical patina? Coincidentally, I just ordered some Novocan black solder patina with an amazon card I got for christmas to use with a solder iron I haven't used yet. I've never soldered outside of a fully equipped art department, so I've no idea what to expect...; 12/30/10, 2:34 AM
Chelsea (TangoPig) said...: Ooh, I love how the checkerboardy piece came out! Belated Merry Christmas.; 12/30/10, 1:33 PM
~Debi said...: Sounds like you are keeping my hours now. I have been doing a little better and going to bed around 2-3 am. But, it is easy to slip and not go to bed till 4,5 or 6am. Great stuffs ya makin' there :); 12/30/10, 1:48 PM