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.

11/17/12

Wait, lemme explain. I was spammed by a ton of sleeping pill commercial spamses, that's why I had to add the awful and super annoying type-in code thing that you can never read anyways, etc. That's not because of anonymous. I'm cool with random wackos. Not so with twenty GETAMBIEN! NOPRESCRIPTIONAMBIEN! comments on one post over the course of 2 minutes. So ... I guess I could also moderate, hu? Any of you guys moderate comments? Is it a pain in the tush?

10 comments:

Numinosity said...: I just moderate without the code captcha and don't seem to get a ton of spam. I also accept anonymous comments and if I can decide if they're spam or not.; 11/17/12, 3:37 PM
Tanya said...: I moderate, and they dump the spam into a folder, but it's still there and annoying as ever - I've been hit HARD the past 2 months, and can't figure out what gives!; 11/17/12, 4:54 PM
Alice said...: Ugh,what? Don't they have anything better to do?

I moderate my comments and it is no bother. But I probably don't get as many comments as you.; 11/17/12, 5:00 PM
Unknown said...: It's only a pain when I forget to check if there ARE any comments and then find something that has been sitting there for aaaages.....; 11/17/12, 7:04 PM
Patty said...: The fact that the bots or whatever have picked up your blog is proof that lots of folks are checking in
to see what you're up to. Annoying, buy also gratifying. You're on to something. Bellwether kind of thing.
It happens when you're on the edge.
Carry on.; 11/17/12, 8:08 PM
richelle said...: Hi Marina; Did you also install a code thing for the forum (or was that always there? It's been a while.) I just tried to leave a reply about the box for Lynn but it simply would not accept the code as valid--I tried about 15 times. Just thought I'd let you know there seems to be a glitch there. You don't have to post this comment...; 11/17/12, 9:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Be grateful it wasn't penis enlargement... Anyway success eguals
1. Trolls
2. Spam
3. ???
4. Profit; 11/18/12, 4:55 AM
Skye said...: I haven't been moderating. Blogger seems to catch most spam on it's own... but it does tend to stick something in spam that AREN'T spam, so you DO have to check that folder often >.< I've been getting more of the phlishers sneaking in lately though, so I'm considering moderating mine, too.; 11/18/12, 7:42 AM
Beatnheart said...: I get bugged to no end doing the type two words thing and have a tendency to not comment then...I’lll always comment here regardless cause this is important .; 11/19/12, 12:22 PM
Tribalis said...: Love the rings Fanci!
Thanks for choosing another possibility to accept comments!.....; 11/21/12, 12:56 AM