fanciful devices: Evocative Beauty

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.

7/23/13

Evocative Beauty

She Held Tight to the White Bear by Kay Nielsen

Statuette de femme coiffée d’un croissant de lune doré, Albâtre, bronze, yeux et nombril en rubis

This image from Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a stellar nursery containing 1000's of young stars and developing protostars near the sword of the constellation Orion.

eye of providence, sun worship, sacred triangle, esoteric, esotericism, masonic,

All this and more can be seen on my pinterest spirit board. Just felt like sharing. And while I'm sharing... It bothers me that you can see right away which of your images have been liked and re-pinned. Feels like those that haven't are failures. Feels like a competition with yourself. I need the grace not to care about these things and I mostly don't. But it's the same way that I feel like unsold items are failures.

Speaking of beauty, I ordered these from Numinosity:

And, perhaps because I'm always pimping her shop and calling her da bidness, but mostly because she's awesome, she tossed in all of these:

(Oh poop I left out a gorgeous little purple pin.) That one bit that looks like a box is a decoupaged bamboo tile bead. The discs are mica. Wait. what's that over there?

SQUEEEEE!

Yeah, she mentioned she was gonna send a broken-off head. I'll take that thank you very much.

(here)

Sales have been pretty great lately so I've just been indulging in all the supplies.

Keep forgetting that if it's for the shop it's not exactly frivolous spending.

(here)

Brass and rhinestones from jan's jewels.

Tanya Mcguire lampwork.

I even somewhat cleaned the studio:

At least there's a path to the windows, since the handyman had to come fix them so that I might once again be able to solder. See that board sitting there on the floor by the table? It's epoxied there. Yup.

Turning slightly left:

And now I'm going to spend the rest of the day on the couch because

8 comments:

TanyaMcGuire said...: Your work is just fantastic. I can not wait to see what you will do with the new beads.; 7/23/13, 9:17 PM
big mamabird said...: Oh I hear ya with the uterus, couching alongside a' ya in spirit!; 7/23/13, 11:41 PM
alteredarcheology said...: How inspiring those images are, artistically and intellectually. Then I scrolled down your post and lawled my ass off. The wood epoxied to the floor? That is priceless. Now i feel bad for even mentioning the little drips of cyanoacrylate glue that my hubby dripped on the marble floor. Oh, and that battle scene? Nothing could be funnier or closer to the truth!; 7/24/13, 7:59 AM
Numinosity said...: So you have a new follower of the Pinterest kind. I want to be evoked by you!
Thanks for showing your Pile o' goods. I have random one offs that I am afraid to give as gifties to others as I think they will go what the hell am I gonna do with just one? And i know that is not a problem for you so you get the bounty of my odd ones.
I forgot to ask you an important question on my last comment. When is your next trip to Uruguay?
I don't think I've dared to use anything from that trip yet but I did leave the bulk of it in Arizona so it's waiting for me there when I get back in November.
You need a Utee-rus instead. Maybe you can design one.; 7/24/13, 10:06 AM
Unknown said...: Ouch - sorry about the tummy pains. Renew your energy and take a break...great parts from Kim.; 7/24/13, 10:45 AM
Wildthorne said...: dying over your uterus pic... sigh is there one for bloating, and headaches too? What a pretty blog post title, and wonderful images, the anatomy is flowery... and yet slightly repugnant. lovin' you; 7/24/13, 3:24 PM
StaroftheEast said...: Aaawww your poor uterus, its a crime scene down there again, yes?
A war that cannot be won :(; 7/25/13, 4:23 AM
Jennifer Valentine Morford said...: omg...the uterus thing has me shoving laughter down deep because it is almost 3 a.m. and my husband actually sleeps..........and i no longer do......therefore i have to keep things on the hush hush.....
but you are so damn funny!; 7/30/13, 1:57 AM