fanciful devices: KAPOW!

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.

9/28/12

KAPOW!

OK, OK, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you did guess my deepdark secret. Turns out Perfect Pearls is mica powder. And that's what I used. Yeah, available at any Michael's and touted by all fine stamping artisans and card makers.

BUT! I wanted to share more of it because I'm so excited about how sheeeeemery glowy glow cosmic unicorn glitters everything is turning out. Except without the unicorns. In fact, my whole yardstick for knowing what to make is asking myself "Is this too unicorny?'
So like here for ie, this badass lionface. he was a gift from SacredCake eons ago. He's a bigun and I just couldn't figure out what to do with him. He was originally in a big ol' frame too... anywhoozits, a little coloring and voila. Or as they say on etsy, "wa-laa!" I mean... Ok, now I'm doing that thing I do after my excitement has worn away and I'm looking at it on the blog and it's starting to look ... unicorny. Shit.

Whatev, look at all the crap I done been making.

This one I rubbed most of it off to let the gold glow through.

This one is all about the links! You know, to connect it to stuff.

And this one! It was just another variously broken antique bronze escutcheon bracelet and now it's a big gay rainbow! And since y'all's comments put ideas in my head, the clasp is colored light blue with some eyeshadow I never did manage to rock. No I didn't mean to break it, it's just hard to hammer bronze without breaking it and to heat it up enough to bend I think you have to make it molten or something... I've already discussed my torch issues so no fucking foundry of molten bronze in my little condo...

Now, the only reason my hand looks that clean is because I took the picture 1st thing this morning before it was covered with grime and blood and the guts of sacrificed innocents.

Even some finished babies!

And also some rezy-rez!

I found a book I got ages ago called... whatsitcalled... alchemy mysticism blah blah imagery blah... I got it for the pix, forgot it, found it, and anyways, here's some resin:

By now there's already metal backings going on with most of these. I got a gold foil background I'm working on with these on the left. And some black against which the powders will look sorta star-cluster-y. Nebulish.

With galactic backgrounds...

(The royals here are all the same couple- the

male/female duality of existence, siblings that did the

horizontal mambo to create the universe. I know, ew.)

With this crazy fusible film imbedded.

Two pix to show how the color with the movement and the changing.

Embedded with wrinkles to look like rays. Rays!

I've always had a thing for rays. They're like, lines of energy going out toward infinity. *tosses glitter up, looks at you mysteriously*

And when you move the piece around you can give yourself a seizure. Awwwyeahhhh. (Any clue how hoard it is for me to keep dog hairs out of these? Hm?)

And also some just regular pendants.

Lol. This is my 'just regular'.

And! An actual necklace:

Open it aaaaand:

KAPOW!

And then I found this cool video. Now you look at it.

Earth from Michael König on Vimeo.

Oh, and thanks for the feedback on kits. I've been gathering some up and it's already completely relieved my oversupply panic. You know what that means, right?
Shooooopppiiinnnggg!!!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Lol unicorny...how does that stuff work? you just rub it on or do you have to heat it up?; 9/28/12, 12:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Beam me up Scotty, love those rays, they're nuts. The colour graduation on the key is gorgeous. Like that sweet little cross stitch tin with the all seeing eye trapped in it.; 9/28/12, 6:09 AM
Penelope said...: EYEBALL FROM NOWHERE GAH

Man this juices me up- not just cause all this is so juicy, but in terms of getting myself more space and branching out more, there's so much i could be doing with hammering and carving and collages and shit, gettin' messy with it like you do. I need to stop being so damned neat and tidy about it. Well a little bit anyway.

Those finished earrings- are they ancient quartz bits on the bottom? Was that you that bought those?! I faved some a couple of days ago and I was all 'damn i should just buy them' the next morning and they were gone! Damn circle.

I Lol'ed like a bitch when you said 'regular pendant'.; 9/28/12, 6:14 AM
Beatnheart said...: The bad thing about your posts is that they come to an end... I am convinced that you have a posse of bitches in that condo of yours cranking stuff out while your waving your magic wand around. How can one person do all this stuff? I love you and hate you all in one breath but no I really love you and your wild cosmic energy; 9/28/12, 9:55 AM
Beatnheart said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/28/12, 9:55 AM
Anonymous said...: LOVE the alchemical pieces. and the wrinkle rays. Amazing.; 9/28/12, 3:53 PM
Tribalis said...: What is that "horizontal mambo?"..ha,ha,ha!!
I am going to bed all intergalactic! * 8 * 8 **** 8 *** 8 **** 8 ********

Beautiful Fanci, all this juego de colores!; 9/29/12, 1:21 AM
Tribalis said...: Me gusta los bastardos ángeles ..; 9/29/12, 1:23 AM
Anastasia said...: That little tin with the Hubble image, eyeball and tapestry cover just blew my mind.; 9/29/12, 1:13 PM
Louise said...: I'm loving these rustic rainbow shades sneaking into your style and dancing about the place. Gorgeous! And unique. We of course, want to see the after shot of the grimy bloody hands. :) Then it's proof you did it. ;) I'm particularly drawn to the tapestry at the end - stunning. LOVE LOVE your stuff.; 9/29/12, 1:23 PM
Lela said...: All that galactical stuff is fantasmalactical! Really VERY cool....great pics for it.; 9/29/12, 5:33 PM
Anonymous said...: So much yumminess! I love when I get to hawk at the days of entries in your blog from my previous love fast. Does that sound stalkerish in my anonymity? Jk. Seriously though, I'm totally diggin' the unicorns in space episode.

If you like the Perfect Pearl powders you'd probably like the micas and "magicals" by Lindy's Stamp Gang. No need to set with water afterwards. Also USArt Quest has some awesome chunky micas and....I'll stop before I cause head explosions. Some great yummies in the mixed media world. And in the jewelry one, has your majesty of the grungy galactic glamazons checked out the Swelligant goodness?

Don't hates me because I'm an enabler. I've been good and kept so much to myself you'd like! -maybe.

Hates me for that!!! Now I'm going to go take a twirl down the rabbit hole with some beeswax, some mica, and an itsy bit of resin. Maybe a feather or two. Look out Edgar! Alice'll eat your heart out!

M; 10/1/12, 5:38 PM
Lynn said...: Your work is ooak and so are you! everything you touch turns into something i'd give anything -- ok, not *anything* i need my arms and legs and cats and husband and friends and all. but almost anything to be able to do half as well. you're not just talented. tons of people are talented. but you have an insanely glorious vision and a gift that maybe one in a million artists have. your inspiration feeds so many people. my dreams for my work have gotten wilder since i've been looking at your treasures. thanks for sharing.

Lynn; 10/2/12, 1:25 AM