fanciful devices: Cut-n-pastin' and time-wastin'.

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.

7/19/13

Cut-n-pastin' and time-wastin'.

I never did tell y'all about a great post Numinosity did about headpins and all the great ways there are to make them. Whereas I was concerned she might look askance at my cheapo utee cheatypins, she actually sighted my tute, linked to it and added pictures of my results!!! Also noted a polymer headpin tute, utees by 4ophela as well as her own majestic lampworks. I was super flattered and flustered. Cuz she da bidness.

Here's this. Very glowy.

Simple, with garnet, jade rubies and ceramics by Grubbi.

A mis-matched pair of these.
Here's a little excerpt from my life:
Soon after Mr.Devices, who well knows what a sucker I am for cute animals, showed me a list from Buzzfeed of "Depressed Dogs having an existential crisis" I overheard him addressing our dog thusly:

Mr.D: "Bingo do you question your exten- ... exten-... exten- ..."

Me: "Existential!!"

Mr.D: "... your existential business?"

Me: "Your WHAT?"

Mr.D: "Your ex...is...tential business?"

He didn't recall the words 'crisis' or 'angst' so he landed on 'business.'

Another just sweet girly pair.

I'm liking these a lot. Listings to come.

Oh! Juliette Williams asked my favorite Discworld book. They all kinda blend together. I liked the weird deepness of Pyramids and I love the cast of the city watch. But they're all good!

Sharon Driscoll asked if I know any cowboys, lol. Do you mean gauchos? Cuz no. They're actually farm laborers and unfortunately rather poor. The ones I've met are practically mute. It's this thing about people raised in the country. Except for the guy who runs my one uncle's farm, he was cool. ➡

He asked me why I was so fascinated by everything, don't they have countryside where I live? I said I live in Chicago and he said, yeah, but when I go out to the countryside of Chicago...

This momma was mad at me for trying to get a look at her newborns. What you can't see right under the camera is the dead little piggie she'd smothered in her sleep.

These ducks were from all different races but they'd banded together into a family. They'd walk in a line, one right after the other, avoiding the rooster who was a mean bully.

Here's my uncle feeding a little colt whose mom had died giving birth. (Dad's poking his head out from behind him.) He explained that orphans are always tamer since they spend much more time with people.

Jiorji, "HAHAH love!! Sparrow IS crocodile Dundee. I'm pretty convinced. Man i wish she'd blog more too. I want to be inside her head. I can't :( why has science not made this possible yet???!!" Hear that Sparrow?

Really interesting conversation about pricing on her blog . Highly recommend.

Ok, confession time. The staple bezels.... . They're from the Industrial Chic line at Michael's. They don't carry them in all the Michael's, though, so I stocked up on two sets when I found them in Virginia Beach. But you can fake them like so:

The Names of Water. Rustic Primitive Choker with Mica and Pitcher.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: Talking of existential, my daughter Fern's favourite saying is "Jesus crisis." Loving the girly earrings, dare I say they look like they're blushing. Adore the first necklace too.; 7/19/13, 5:22 PM
darlene said...: my son and i stopped a robbery in progress today. that sums it up. you were much more productive in a creative way. me, not so much. as a result i went and had margaritas.xoxo; 7/19/13, 6:14 PM
Unknown said...: Oh Gosh - gauchos, I should have known that. My one daughter-in-law grew up on a farm and can throw a hay bale like nobodies business but doesn't like horses. The other one's father (I have two DIL's) was a corporate attorney but he grew up on a farm -she now has three horses (one butt but three horses -it doesn't equate to me). Farms are interesting places to me too. Thanks for the answer.; 7/19/13, 8:08 PM
Juliette said...: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh LOVE the moon and star earrings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are they listed? I must find out.; 7/19/13, 9:04 PM
StaroftheEast said...: Thank you so much for the info! Not that we have Michels in South-West Turkey, LOL
And you have to love a man unfamiliar with crisis or angst, lucky him :); 7/21/13, 3:35 AM
Penelope said...: Sometimes when you talk about Mr.D, he reminds me of Dougal from Father Ted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNglxh5XeAQ

also- I did read that about me blogging more yes. I wish I blogged more too, but I get very distracted and confused when the internet comes on. Sometimes I forget I have a blog! Also in my head...you don't want to be. There's all kinds of weirdness in there. A veritable cavalcade of strange.; 7/21/13, 1:31 PM
Numinosity said...: Thanks for the shout about the bidness.
You know what I notice most about your creations besides dismantlingin my head and imagining mantling them myself is this sparkly gemmy pink and purply that would make me run from the girl's toy aisle in a department store is that you make it into the most wonderful spectacular glitzfest with your exquistite pairing with the rustic crustic madness.
So much respect for what you do.
( I went back to my old ID here, I'm not sure how I ended up having google reveal my name there for a spell. It was something I did, I'm sure); 7/21/13, 6:43 PM
Beatnheart said...: uhfff....youse guys confuse me
I'm with Sparrow...if her head is as wacky as mine...
which is too say way to many conversions and confusionings going on in dere.; 7/22/13, 6:26 PM
Beatnheart said...: in my head...I don't know about Sparrows...
prol about the same
as mine; 7/22/13, 6:27 PM