fanciful devices: Score!

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.

6/4/11

Score!

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I think my carpal tunnel pain meds keep me up. I entertained myself by poking around the websicle for attractive storage for all my makings, of which there soon shall be much more, I expect. (My last day of dayjob is the 30th-eeee!) I started looking for block printers trays, or whatever they're called. The average price for an un-adulterated tray on etsy is over $50, including shipping.
Anywhoo, I finally got to sleep at 7 am and woke up at 3:40 pm. My husband leaves me notes about his walks with our dog, which he refers to as the "Poo Bandit" for some reason. Today's note mentioned Bingo not wanting anything to do with the book fair crowds. Book fair!
Before I even had my headache releiving coffee, I ran my boney ass through the start of a rainstorm, got there just as the downpour was starting and snatched up two uh-may-zing block printers trays - for $20 total! And no shipping!!! Plus I got the long compartments which are good for necklaces, having already jerry-rigged an earring solution. Just goes to show what living in a neighborhood called Printer's Row can getcha. Yes, two blocks away are a couple streets which were 100% dedicated to printing back in the day, and once a year these folks come out with more letter blocks than you can shake a stick at. You see these crowds trying their best to shake sticks at them, and they just can't.

This one sold, but it was my favorite.

Here's another. All different styles.

I should mention that all this was inspired by missficklemedia's new driftwood display pieces, which look nothing like these trays. Her pieces are more like for shows and fairs. Which I'm to lazy to join. If you aren't so lazy, go check out her new display collection. They're beautiful and actually rather reasonable, even for my cheap ass. Especially if you don't happen to live in Printer's Row.

3 comments:

stregata said...: How absolutely cool!!!!! I only ever see them with the small compartments. So jealous....; 6/4/11, 11:30 PM
Penelope said...: Sometimes all you gotta do is ask, and Mr.Universe provides.

Funnily enough you must've been organising your studio at the same time I was. Mine's getting out of control- too many projects! And only 2 of them currently taking up workspace!; 6/5/11, 5:38 AM
fanciful devices said...: organizing? never heard of it.; 6/5/11, 8:42 AM