fanciful devices: From earth to the largest star

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.

5/10/13

From earth to the largest star

Here.

I've been making vignettes. Like little collages.

The bezel is the base of a soda can. The greybird dangle I added a bit of hemp to, waxed it, and connected with a thick rosey pin. I know you're thinking greybird's a genius but its that scrap of thread and the pin that really puts it over the top. Lemme have that.

Here it's a lid from an old tin. Inside we gots celluloid rose, tooth in a bottle, ceramic bee and face cab, ocean stone with foil, theengs...

A way to use up all those little bits I never quite found homes for. Also it'd been a while since I made girly pretties. Still loving the dirty whites.

Couple roman glass earrings for the patroness.

With scorchedearth and greybird bits.

Am I addicted to adding redonk gifs to all my posts? Do I have to restrain myself from adding more?

(here)
Are these rhetorical questions? Am I talking to myself? Is it grey and depressing out? Should I be doing something productive? Did I just google mother's day to make sure it wasn't today?

9 comments:

rubyd. said...: Those vignettes are so cool and the earrings are gorgeous and exciting. Just amazing work flows from you!; 5/10/13, 7:50 PM
Jiorji said...: those earrings are AAAHHHMAAAYYYZING!!! love the greens :D

you should watch this. it's funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk

:D; 5/10/13, 8:42 PM
Anonymous said...: I like the girly pretties! Especially the top one.; 5/10/13, 10:15 PM
Numinosity said...: I love your vinaigrettes. Makes me want some bead salad.; 5/10/13, 11:00 PM
StaroftheEast said...: Lovely and unusual earrings.
The tin with bits I find a bit too much...:); 5/11/13, 2:59 AM
Beatnheart said...: greybird and green glass ones are outta this world...wow.

poor little old wacky bear ...cute though.; 5/11/13, 5:10 PM
happyfallout said...: When I saw the first picture, I thought you made a necklace to celebrate yesterday's spacewalk!

That's an awesome .gif. I remember seeing something similar in a book on science I read as a kid, but those superlarge stars were not mentioned there.; 5/12/13, 5:05 AM
alteredarcheology said...: Umm, yeah, the jewels are cool as usual but I'm sorry, the star thing....???? Hellllo!!???? That blows my infinitesimally tiny mind!!; 5/12/13, 8:49 AM
Unknown said...: Roman glass and clay earrings - hhmmmmm, just yummy. Soda can bottom? Way cool choice for a story collection.; 5/12/13, 4:57 PM