fanciful devices: Makings

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.

3/29/11

Makings

So to quickly distract you from that last post...
I been spaztically making, running around like a chicken with ADD (I'm so funny).

Girls are done.

Very wrappedy hook, with a gold ring for the hoop it hooks into. Tres Victorian tribal!

In the works.

A cuff from an escutcheon sent by Opulent Oddities. 1st I had to hammer it flat for an hour. Tonight Mr. Husband will help get it smooth around.

A rainbow of fruit flavors. With jingle bells and shoe buttons and other charms along the chain that makes it adjustable.

And I'm experimenting with de-contrasting. I was always worried that things were blurry, so I was always making them extra contrast-y to look more defined. Now I realize less contrast gives more detail. Even a not-unpleasant haziness. I'll have to think on it.

Oh I even added some saints to the tiny heart locket in the rainbow piece. Folks never add pictures in their lockets, I think. At least not the tiny ones. Or do they? What do y'all think?

Here is this crazy mess. Tart tin, crystal quartz with pyrite in a rusty tin bezel-ish thing, half submerged in utee resin. The 'cord' is smokey quartz rondelles and a fine silver flat snake chain from Op.Od. And I know it's fine because it didn't react to the Novacan when I tried to oxidize it. At all. That means something is $pecial.

Here you can sorta see the image I added beneath.

HEre you can see the Victorian tribal elements, including an indian mirror button.

On the back is an African dude who is apparently living and walking on the earth. I need to darken that tear mark.

Here's this.

I need to smooth out the surface color. This is why I go for just total oxidation and don't buff to show highlights. These specs of lightness that appear everywhere. Not cute. Oh, also old Uruguayan lock with a bit of Chinese label.

Warm color one. Indian beads I've waxed because I like to make things difficult on myself. Also it gives an antique look.

Here you can see a cathedral.

So I figure, why put them in the shop if I'm leaving Friday morning? Middle of the night Thursday, by my inner clock. So I'll get these up when I get back around. April 20th. I can't stay away form you for very long.

3 comments:

Claire Maunsell said...: Have a great time and DON'T stay away too long. REALLY...; 3/29/11, 5:47 PM
Regina said...: Happy travels...; 3/29/11, 8:43 PM
stregata said...: I love the piece with the nail... something about the circle and the straight bar.
Have a wonderful trip, find lots of treasures and come home safely!; 3/29/11, 11:52 PM