fanciful devices

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.

9/1/11

I finally got some decent pictures of this guy. The key was getting it on the mannequin so it looked like less of a junk pile.

Soul Eater. Shabby Rustic Gypsy Necklace Pink and White Altered Assemblage with Animal Tooth.

As usual I have no idea which picture should go 1st. Imna go switch them again.

Soul Eater. Shabby Rustic blah blah blah ...

So have any of you been struggling with Relevancy? I have. One result of which is now I, too, have those tacky, paragraph-long titles.

In a Dark Time. Rustic Bracelet with Antique Hardware.

In a Dark Time. Rustic Bracelet shabby tribal vintage your mom...
Did you know you could just click and drag pictures from etsy or anywhere onto your post you're working on? yup. But then it jacks up your formatting sometimes and that's what's happening to me. Ugh!
Stupor and Storm. Raw Quartz Points and Rusty Tin Gypsy Earrings.

Stupor and Storm. Raw Quartz Points and Rusty Tin Gypsy Earrings.

Stupor and Storm. Raw Quartz Oxidized Rustic Gypsy your mom...
Four Branches of the Mabinogion. Shabby Rustic Gypsy Altered Assemblage Necklace with Hardware and Gemstone.

Four Branches of the Mabinogion. Shabby Rustic Gypsy Altered Assemblage Necklace with Hardware and Gemstone.

Four Branches of your mom...
Primordial. Primitive Chunky Necklace with Ancient Gemstone Geode.

Primordial. Primitive Chunky mom...
Cast for Madness or Love. Rustic Shabby Chic Altered Assemblage Vintage Gypsy Earrings with Aquamarine.

Cast for Madness or Love and your mom ...

Did I need to blog all those you saw yesterday? Maybe not. But it's such a habit to put up listings then announce it here.
OK, here's the question for today. Spirited Earth left a comment saying it was OK if I don't include a mile-long list on each post saying where I got everything. "Leave a little to the imagination, you source-naming slut," I think were her exact words.

(bead porn)

This dropped my jaw something fierce. Because people are always whining "where do you get all those blah blah blah?" OK, not whining, but that's how I'm imagining it right now- spoken through the nose. So I thought that by telling you the exact source of each thing... folks would finally accept that... I'm not cheating? I don't have a magical source? They are real physical objects?

(so you don't just see a big block of text and just skip over it.)

Huh. I'm discovering something about my subconscious here I didn't know... It's like when I'd teach a bit of language to my English class and ask, "Has anyone ever heard this?" and if someone said yes, I'd be all, "See! I'm not making it up!!" Because when learning any language, everyone's first reaction is always, "That can't possibly be how people say stuff. That's way too weird."

But why would I have this same feeling with jewelry?
It also happens when I tell people I'm from Uruguay. I think they're gonna say, "That's not a place! You made that up!"

(and my friend's girlfriend just GAVE me this tin! Color!)

OK, but! the real reason for this post was to let everyone know who doesn't already that now, with the whole relevancy thing, renewing posts no longer works to promote your stuff!!!! So yay, you can save your $$, but boo, you don't have an easy way to land on top of the heap.

Also, I have a slightly embarrassing admission to make. I made a cutesy Halloween necklace.

I'm wondering when to list it. Is it too early for Halloween?

7 comments:

Claire Maunsell said...: No, post it now, post it now - enquring minds want see YOUR version of a cutsey necklace.....yesterday, 2 halloween treasuries, front page, Etsy; 9/1/11, 8:00 PM
Lorelei Eurto said...: HOT DAMN! I saw that bracelet in this post and it was love at first sight! I am so happy to be getting my very first Fanci piece. :); 9/1/11, 8:01 PM
Anonymous said...: No, it's not too early for Halloween. I think you should go ahead and list it! And, I agree that you shouldn't have to list the specifics of every item that you use in your pieces. If someone is curious about a particular bead or whatever, they could just convo you and ask about it, couldn't they?; 9/2/11, 1:13 AM
Aqua Junko Artworks said...: Love that Halloween necklace -- cool! And I love when you tell where you get your stuff - I'm always looking for supplies(beads).; 9/2/11, 8:59 AM
Penelope said...: Never too early for the 'ween- people do it all year! That's what I heard- in Australia we go straight from Father's Day (today!) to Christmas in one weekend. Seriously I've seen christmas shit already.

I love your posts, they're so funny. But totally don't forget to put 'steampunk gothic lolita' in your title! It's like the biggest trend and junk! OOAK! Owl feathers! Occult hipster shaman mustache!! Poncho!; 9/3/11, 10:26 AM
Pretty Things said...: The tin, the tin! I collect cool tins, glad we have that in common!

I'm always so interested in what you make!; 9/3/11, 5:46 PM
Michelle York said...: How gorgeous of a stash!; 9/5/11, 9:21 AM