fanciful devices: More.

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.

5/28/11

More.

I offer you this chunky old Indian bead.
Phantom Limb. Necklace.

Phantom Limb.
I shortened this and it looks pretty good.

Phantom Limb. Necklace.

Blindsight.
I added some Azo yellow to fix this one.

Sorrows Grown Fruitful. Split Saucer Hoops.

Sorrows Grown Fruitful.
Made these - and listed them in about 2 seconds!

Sorrows Grown Fruitful. Split Saucer Hoops.

They Pyre Reserved for a Mother's Crimes. Oversized Hoops.

They Pyre Reserved for a Mother's Crimes.
Ditto.

Duuuudes! So, Numinosity won my giveaway, and look what she sent me after getting her earrings:

First this teapot I was obsessed with w/o realizing it was from her supply shop.

These CRAZY glass head pins and discs she made.

And which you can see more of in her lampwork shop.

And this crazy huge thing from her pet elephant. All in a cute handmade envelope with cute ephemera. Thank you Numinosity!

4 comments:

Unknown said...: What a great necklace!
And gifts! Do you really own an elephant tooth? That is so far out!; 5/29/11, 10:54 AM
Numinosity said...: Actually it's a moose's tooth! The rest of it is in my freezer.
Thanks for the shout out. In hindsight I thought maybe you would have preferred etched disks to go with your look
It's fun picking out things people may like besed on what I know of their style.
xoxo Kim; 5/31/11, 6:23 PM
fanciful devices said...: I made that up about the elephant. Wait. you have a moose in your fridge?
I rub wax on stuff to take out the shine, if that's what you mean by etched. If not, then.... yes, I'll take some etched disks.; 6/1/11, 3:59 AM
Numinosity said...: So I'm sitting here on a washed out farmer's market day scrolling through a backlog of your old posts since I have so e high speed internet and found this comment of yours that I never answered.
I use an acid etching solution called " EtchAll" to take down the shine on my lampwork. I am currently out of but I have some etching cream that I must have gotten at Michael's or Ben Franklin years ago which works but is messier. might as well use it up.
I hope to make some more of those drops soon, just waiting for my wrist to heal up from a salmon dipnetting marathon whichmade it swell up and actually creak like a rusty transformer.
xoxo Kim; 8/13/11, 1:13 PM