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.

2/9/13

So I 've been making some earrings.

I Seem to Myself Like Someone's Dream. Cosmic Rustic earrings with rough amethyst and raku.

I Seem to Myself Like Someone's Dream.
Between the raku, the amethyst, the iridescent foils and the questionable photo skills, each image looks almost like a different pair-->

These below are a different pair. Exquisite Paradox. Cosmic Rustic asymmetrical earrings with rough amethyst and raku.

Exquisite Paradox. Look how different the raku look:
Exquisite Paradox. Cosmic Rustic asymmetrical earrings with rough amethyst and raku.

Found two shops with gorgeous, inexpensive simple raku beads, starspiritstudio and MamaBearBeads.
Illusions. Cosmic Rustic earrings with lampwork and druzy geodes.

Illusions. Cosmic Rustic earrings with lampwork and druzy geodes.

Illusions.
I hope you're all warm and cozy and out of any storms.

Well, of course you are, you're here wasting time on the 'puter. The You Which is Me. Cosmic rustic asymmetrical earrings with rough amethyst, druzy geode and raku.

The You Which is Me.

Again, look at how different these raku look above and at left.
Kiss the Ground 3. Raw Amethyst crystal on chunky oxidized ring.

Kiss the Ground 3.
And this ring. See there was no color in the crystal part, so I dripped some alcohol ink in a pale berry on it. So clevuh.
Kiss the Ground 3. Raw Amethyst crystal on chunky oxidized ring.

Is that cheating? Do I care?

Remember what I was saying about forgetting my own formula? Well, that certainly applied to this guy:

Which I'd made in some kind of frenzy to use up whatever beads were directly in front of me. Well, I unmade it and added some rough and chunky ones from my benefactress. Who has amazing taste in gems.
RESERVED for Lori.

Better?

Better.

7 comments:

beadybaby said...: I really like the earwire style! Are they annealed steel?; 2/9/13, 8:10 PM
Juliette said...: That ring. LOVE. The bracelet below? serious love. And those earrings - I can't decide which ones I like more, so let's just say everything is my favorite xoxo; 2/9/13, 8:24 PM
HundredColors: Art, Design and Photography by Sumi said...: Its always a treat reading your posts! Great designs!!; 2/9/13, 8:37 PM
HenrietteWhite said...: You have to know that I put aside the newspaper (switch to another tab) to first read your blog! And afterwards the newspaper just does not seem interesting at all!

It is just so inspiring. Love those earrings and especially how you use the earwires? And then you end up producing the most amazing colors!!

Have a lovely Sunday!; 2/10/13, 1:48 AM
martinisfor2 said...: OMG... Love everything especially the bracelet...; 2/10/13, 10:25 AM
alteredarcheology said...: Love the puttied filigrees on exquisite paradox and the foiling on kiss the ground 3 looks so natural like something glistening on the bank of a Yellowstone geothermal pool.; 2/10/13, 1:14 PM
Numinosity said...: OK, I'm going to use the overused blog word..stunning since I just woke up and wanted to make sure I said SOMETHING about how these are standout earrings and what you're doing with these crystals. how about YUM...overused too I know but it's the best I can do on my commenteering at the moment. I should be writing my ART-tickle for BA so I'm reduced to procrastination and bad adjectives.
Countdown to Uruguay though!!!; 2/11/13, 9:18 AM