fanciful devices: "She's got her life on track"

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.

4/17/13

"She's got her life on track"

Star of the East- Tea towels embroidered with the weeping week? Best idea ever. Reminds me of those days of the week undies we had as little girls.
Here's this:

Who gave me that giant seashell? It was one of you all and now I can't remember. Notice what looks like a bronze gloop at the bottom. Grey beach stone with Gilder's! Turns out this color actually cures, unlike my black tin from clothes-staining hades.

I couldn't stand the horrible photos of this stack so I took some more just now. Here and above, I forgot to aim one of the lights into the light tent, fuckmylife.

Haven't gotten much done, though I thought I'd share a great big failure.

After struggling through several broken glasses to make this shrine shape, and faux-mercuy-ing it, and cutting some thicker tin to protect the thin glass... (then stupidly having this idea of rimming the outer edge of the... edge with wire to provide a little space between the glass and the picture for depth, thus putting extra pressure on the glass when bending down the tin...) this fucking thing broke. Taking leave of all my senses, I decided- hey, how about superglue? And then squeezed a tube of that shit with all my might because it was clogged and why not just squeeze it with all my might right over the fucking thing? See the care I take while creating? So yeah, then an entire tube of the shit came zooming out and this is what happens when that happens, aside from getting crusty pants and supergluing all your finger tips so in case you murder someone the cops find no prints.

So with this in mind, with apologies to Wildthorn:

(Just got my period so this shouldn't depress me nearly as much real soon.)

11 comments:

martinisfor2 said...: Don't you just love it when you f*** up with something and it turns out to be the greatest thing since sliced white bread??? Quick, get that to the patent office. I love the effect you created with it. Kind of adds an air of mystery and ancient ruins. You go scientist girl! I never thought about the no fingerprint thingy all the times superglue has shot out the tube all over my fingers. That is probably up there with the pms defense.

Loving the sea shell necklace.; 4/17/13, 6:01 PM
Juliette said...: Oh man, I sing that a lot when I'm around my non-jewelry artist friends, because I don't want them to EVER sing it to me! At the same time, I love it.

And I am in love with that shell pendant. Really groovy idea with the goop!

xoxo J xoxo; 4/17/13, 6:25 PM
Jiorji said...: OMG!! OH MY GOD!! THAT"S MY SHELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! yeah i gave you the shell. i found it in P.E.I.(East Canada Coast)

i love how pretty you made it :)
the pearl making shells are jealous of this one!

did you gold leaf the other side?; 4/17/13, 6:53 PM
Beatnheart said...: well i did try shell art and putting bird on things, so yeah looks like I’m right on track.; 4/17/13, 8:09 PM
Tinibelli said...: The sea shell necklace is just fanatstic - as all of your jewellery!
And I truly enjoyed reading about your frustration during the creative process - good, I'm not alone then! Hope the glue has left your fingers by now... Thank you for sharing. :-); 4/18/13, 12:19 AM
gretchen said...: I live right next to Portlandia.... and damn if it's not more truth than fiction. Of course they film the TV show Grimm here, too (actually have filmed just a block or more from my house) and we have yet to run into any of their scary storybook characters.

excuse me while I go back to putting a bird on everything...; 4/18/13, 12:56 AM
Anonymous said...: So you had a little mishap...at least you didn't resin a cat, like I did. She was walking around for days with a skull and cross bone image stuck to her leg. It was like a cat tattoo. I just leave it well alone these days.; 4/18/13, 2:01 AM
Unknown said...: Whoa talk about a learning curve...sounds like you and the muse had a show down. Breathe. My daughter showed me that video awhile ago...isn't it priceless? Have a good one, Norma, x; 4/18/13, 2:29 PM
Unknown said...: Great job with the shell necklace. On turning the edges for the tin pieces - that's a bummer. Flat glass can be a bitch that way. Have you tried pre-bending the edges with conforming pliers (got mine at Rio)? They have a long beveled edge so you can get a sharp bend on things. Scoring helps sometimes too. Maybe they would work next time you want to do that...but I kind of like it the way it is too. Lets see I have so many screwed up projects around I kind of save them in boxes - you know - UFO's (unfinished objects). I open them when I need a good laugh.; 4/18/13, 8:59 PM
PipnMolly said...: Thanks. I have these days on a regular basis. Seems to go in circles for me. Days of driven creativity followed by a day of destruction. I need to learn when to take a break and get out of the house.; 4/19/13, 9:35 AM
annamei said...: If you had in mind to create it by purpuse it wouldn´t work but because of your *accident* ..looks like a perfect effect.
What will you answer if someone ask you how you create this finish?Offers a lot possibilities for funny answers and laughs.
Thanks for sharing your frustration i thought this most times happen to me:)))
I love your new bangles!
hope you don´t ruined your fingertipps!; 4/21/13, 8:25 AM