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.

11/2/11

Awww! Aquajunko/Lori, that was the sweetest hate mail ever! You just made me giggle like a schoolgirl. Or maybe a dropout, not sure. Btw, don't be so apologetic about it!

Why is everyone in craftblogetsyland so damn polite?! It means I must be being terribly rude in comparison, I just know it. It means I'm gonna hurt someone's feeling by being my spazy blunt self. But. but fuck that! Harumph!
By the way, here's a bracelet. It's not up yet.

Let me tell y'all. Lets be aware (like Aquajunko/Lori is) of when we feel raging jealously or anything else negative. Lets not fight it or deny it... I think when we embrace even our bad, it somehow resolves itself to be OK... I dunno... just, you can't fight yourself.

All my life, I fought against myself to be something else, whether it was the perfect daughter or an enlightened Buddhist monk (I'm not kidding). I made myself even more insane than I already was. So wrong.

Anyways. Above- rhododendron... rhodium... rheumatoid arthritis... those pink things. and faceted garnet. And more stillpointworks fun. Rhodonite! That's it.

These have iolite rondelles and chunky black tourmaline, blue goldstone, victorian shoe button, ancient nugget donut thing, and a very un-ancient plastic briolette and bumpy button... that was actually a stud earring, see image. I curled the stud and there you go. (Well, I may have rusted the stud and removed the shine with a dab of black paint. But you get the gist.) So in all this valuable stuff I threw in 2 plastic bits of cheap stuff just to mix it up. Just to keep 'em guessing. Just cuz.

Oooooh this is Roman glass. Ancient and also glittery. From the site: "roman to early islamic period glass, these beads are from afghanistan, made by local tribal people from old glass fragments."
OMG I love them. And on sale they were $42 a strand, which is the most I've ever shelled out for 1 unit of supplies ever. It's Kathy's fault for linking me to them. Actually I'm not at all sorry, which in itself means I'm slowly evolving into a high class-type person.

The watch was given to me by the awesome readbetweenlines.

Finally finished this baby. See all the gemstone rondelles? I'm high-class!

And here, see the lack of any gemstones? I'm non-materialistic!

It's a lariat. I'm alternative! (?)

7 comments:

Penelope said...: OMG

OMFG

THAT ROMAN GLASS HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH GLORY

No seriously- I gasped when I saw it, and I only saw the top of the picture and I had to pause and get ready to see the rest, cause I needed my full faculties to witness it. The colours, the light... it's like when you see the sun through a stained glass window.

I'm too polite on my blog; I go all Victorian. The last post I wrote something like 'oh dear I do leave such long gaps between postings'- but in real life I'd say 'fuck me I so friggen never blog, I'm so shit!' Cause I'm a salty old sailor. (shhh don't tell no one, they all think I'm a redhead from Australia- that picture is my wife!); 11/2/11, 7:17 PM
stregata said...: OMG - you are sassy crazy divine... and you are driving me crazy. That roman glass necklace has me on my knees!!! Exclamation pointses!!; 11/3/11, 1:03 AM
Aqua Junko Artworks said...: I wrote you a sweet hate mail reply but the cyber-space monster ate it and I couldn't remember what I wrote....Grr...Something about the fact that you are becoming the Queen of dark patena able to turn nasty empty shine into deep thought provoking darkness. All Hail the Queen! Lori; 11/4/11, 3:41 PM
Carol said...: Fanci,Fanci, wherefore art thou Fanci?
Oh how I miss you, hope all is well, and you're congering up some over the top creations!
Carol; 11/7/11, 9:28 AM
Petra Carpreau said...: SOOO much I want to say, and no idea where to begin. But, as a starter - oh hoo-fucking-ray - someone's said it!!That etsy politeness thing - it's made me feel really out of place with my love for a bit of salty language! Ha - Little Brown Sparrow, I know exactly what you mean about going all Victorian - that's so funny. The way it's affected my creativity is not so funny though. I keep making this vanilla-hearted shite that just isn't me at all. Well, no, I suppose it must be on some level, because it's only me who's making it. Maybe it's lack of heart is why I haven't sold any of it.It's as you said - about trying to fight yourself to become an idea of something/someone. Just shouldn't be done. Discovering your glorious blogspot has felt like an epiphany (too gushing? well, it's true). What a damn fine creature you are, Marina!
Then there's your work.Oh God.
Invariably, when I see your latest creations appear on etsy, I have to make sure I'm sitting down first! Yep, stregata,I know what you mean, down there on your knees!
The dark patina is SO much more interesting and passion-inducing than blingy high shine. I have many lessons to learn from you - and would welcome any offensive comments!
In awe,
Petra; 11/7/11, 9:49 AM
My Life Under the Bus said...: Oh I love the salty language - as my oldest says " Here comes some of moms colorful lingo" lol these are stunning! Love love love all that patina *too fantstic*!!!; 11/7/11, 1:57 PM
E Makes Art said...: OH!!! That bracelet!! And that necklace with the roman glass!!!!! Holy moly!!! pitter patter pitter patter. Your talent pisses me off! Just thought you should know ;-)

xoEsther; 11/7/11, 5:29 PM