fanciful devices: ReDo

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.

6/16/11

ReDo

I re-did this necklace for the first before-n-after post I've blogged in years. I've been getting much better at making things so I've found much less reason to remake things even after they've been in the shop. But I think I was rushing to finish this one before my surgery so I was slapping on whatever was w/in reach.
This is before:

Note the chain that is way skinnier than any other elements and the closure that is way too big and and attention-getty. Also didn't love the crusty quartz there.

And now:
The Cats Eye Nebula.

I think it's simpler, to keep the attention of the focal where it creepily belongs. The Cats Eye Nebula.

As for my hand, it's totally anti-climactic. I don't even see a bruise and its barely sore. Thing is, this hand had more muscles to get through before finding the carpal tunnel- so shouldn't it be bruisier? Cuz I've had a lot of muscle loss in the right hand, and I guess not as much in the left, because of the shots I'd previously gotten... or because of just the CT? Who knows, I'm not a doctor. Maybe lefty's doing better because I laid off it more before the surgery? Maybe because Mars is in retrograde? I think my surgeon mentioned something about that.
Oh, I sure know how to wrap myself in a blanket of LOLs!
WAIT. There is really good news. I'm typing with 2 hands like a person! Glory be unto the gods of manual dexterity, ~~halle~~...~~halleluja~~ ... ~~halelluya~~.... h~~aleluya~~ ~~haleluja~~ ~~hallelluja~~ ~~halelluja~~ Hooray!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: can't you at least put a damn eyelid on that thing? the chain is exquisite, as always...and then......BAM! the eye.....
maybe it is because I have this "thing" about eye balls.....Idunno.
but I loves you, and your glass eyeball anyway.; 6/16/11, 11:40 PM
stregata said...: So glad to hear your hand is good - ...luja!; 6/17/11, 12:08 AM
richelle said...: If you consider that muscle loss=damage, then it makes sense that it would bruise more since there is less soft tissue present to carry lymph, water, etc. for healing. It's all pretty mysterious though--I had both mine done at the same time and they were pretty equally damaged but healed pretty differently and unexpectedly. Amazing you have no bruising or pain. Glad it's going so well.; 6/17/11, 1:15 AM
betweenreader said...: Happy happy happy dance, yippity zippity! So happy for your hands to be working together. (Even though your pre-surgery work didn't betray any disability.) Pitch went into the mail yesterday.; 6/17/11, 5:37 PM