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.

12/6/12

Ok, ladies. More photos from lightless land.

Here we have some cabs with fuzzy spots right where you'd want them- over the top face area. Oy vey.

Here I added gold foil on these seeds I found in Uruguay. Which on the base of I put buttons. Buttons of which I put on the base? And all these vintage plastic goodies are from here which I traded for a pair of earrings. When my husband saw these he said "Hey! Little hamburgers!" 0.o

More tarots.

The Orphaned Mind. Grey Asymmetrical Found Object Dangles with Lampwork.

I updated these with gold leaf, from these:

I found another ring I made! Not that they've been marching off the shelves or anything.

I resined a ton of post backs on a ton of things to make a ton of earrings.

Like here with kuchi bits, tarot resins and a buncha gold leafing.

This one has an over-the-top gold theme.

This one I stenciled with this very dimensional gold paint made with beeswax before resining over top.

She represents the moon, and happens to wear a moon over her whoo-ha.

Oh you guys I'm so pimsed and achey and grumpy right now. Muah.

Here's the inside of this:

I dunno. I hate everything I made right now. But it might be the grumpies.

6 comments:

Juliette said...: Haha! You had me at hooha. Love that piece, but the way you described it had me going there. Hope you feel better soon. xoxo; 12/6/12, 6:29 PM
darlene said...: the neckpiece with the openy box with cool images is beauty. xoxo; 12/6/12, 7:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Awesome cool batch.
Adore the tarots. LOVE the gold beeswax moon whoo-ha piece! Motion & texture ;); 12/7/12, 1:46 AM
betweenreader said...: Oh it's the grumpies; these are some of the beautifulest, especially the earrings. The little hamburgers have etched a hole in my want-it lobe.; 12/8/12, 9:10 AM
Jokke said...: I like what I see.; 12/8/12, 10:42 AM
Jennifer Valentine Morford said...: New word. Hooha.
Love it!
And all the new colorful pieces!; 12/15/12, 10:43 PM