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.

2/28/11

Skye.

Thanks, guys, for the well-wishes and ideas. I did follow the idea of using the history of Scotties via wikipedia. Honestly I just though, what could possibly be interesting about Scotties? But of course, anything's history turns out to seem sort of romantic and mysterious in some way.
You may or may not have noticed but I've dropped the prices of quite a few items around the store. If you've been waiting for a sale, now's the time.
And richelle, I couldn't agree more. I shouldn't have waited. I've had tons of muscle loss which I feel every time I work the pliers, cutters, open a jar, pick up something mildly heavy, etc. I'm hoping to regain the muscle after the procedure. And I've had fat loss, so the insides of my wrists are so scary to look at - like I've had hemorrhaging or something else gross. Hopefully I'll be able to fatten my wrists as well...??? Meanwhile the only thing keeping me sane is the activity feed. So off I go.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Ha ha, I've tried various ways to fatten my skinny little 4 inch wrists for years. I don't think you can without fattening the body proportionately. Anyway, I wish you success with your procedure, and hope it means you can spend all the time you wish creating new pieces. Not being able to make jewelry for you must be like that story about the man who amasses an enormous collection of books and then breaks his glasses.; 2/28/11, 7:17 PM
stregata said...: Have you had any luck on moving the surgery date?; 3/1/11, 1:43 AM
richelle said...: I had really weird issues with the muscle and tissue too. I could do this thing where I made a really tight fist and flexed my wrist and--I don't even know how to describe what it looked like. It was a deformity. Think of Popeye's biceps only in hell. I did shiatsu and hardcore bodywork for a decade prior, so I had all this insane muscle compensation mixed with the weakened bands. One piece of advice--if you have to wait for your surgery and your pain is extreme, ask about getting cortisone injections. It was a *huge* relief while it lasted.; 3/1/11, 4:32 AM
kirra springs said...: hi Marina - just letting you know that I blogged about your beautiful hippocampus necklace here: http://artisanjewellerysite.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-that-got-away.html

all the best with your poor hands! xx kirra; 3/4/11, 6:43 PM