fanciful devices: Yeah Baby!

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.

3/2/11

Yeah Baby!

700 Sales!!! Uh-hu, that's right, uh-huh, I rock (say in obnoxious sing-song voice).
A Market of Fleas. Asymmetrical Coral and Turquoise Earrings.

A Market of Fleas.
And finally, some pieces are up. Phew.
Arabesque. Asymmetrical Earrings.

Arabesque.
Seems sales are particularly slow if I don't post new things all the time.
Eye Teeth. Optical Lens Reliquary with Black Bits.

Eye Teeth.
My hands don't hurt but it's because I've been heating them and not using them a lot.

Corvid Delights of EarthRooted Flights.
Oh, AND I now officially have a workshop of elves to help me out, sorta. The lovely ShesSoWeird is helping me come up with titles and post descriptions! (She had a hand in all of the above except for 'A Market of Fleas.') And is glad to do so, despite the fact that my husband got all worried saying I had to give her credit in the shop cuz if not it's some kind of plagiarism. But I figure here is enough, cuz the shop has that minimalist vibe. Which these spazzy blog entries totally destroy. But the my real victim of plagiarization is Wikipedia, of course.

4 comments:

~Debi said...: Congrats on your 700 sales! Yay!

I'm glad your hands are feeling better. When is your surgery date? :); 3/2/11, 6:00 PM
Regina said...: Congratulations on your 700! You do rock!; 3/2/11, 6:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Congratulations on your 700 sales. That's a lot!; 3/2/11, 7:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Just back in bloggy land & had to say a big congrats! It's nice to see such an awesome shop well-appreciated. I'm sorry about your hands & hope you have luck moving up your appointment. Here's to that, and to your next 700 [lifting my coffee mug]!; 3/3/11, 5:48 AM