fanciful devices: The Dark Girl~~~ [sold]

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.

11/12/13

The Dark Girl~~~ [sold]

It sold!
I promised some destash, yes? Well, this time it won't be just for free though. I figure since a real studio re-haul will involve some down time, I should be profit-minded or something. So here's the 1st lot, which I'm calling "The Dark Girl" for all you closet goths.

~~That domino is soldered around the edge. There's a shitload of stuff so I'm not going to describe it all in detail. I'll babble some, but y'all have eyes.~~

~~And if you have any questions, just put them in comments or convo me. And I think everything can be clicked for bigger pix. If blogger doesn't hate me today.~~

~~Emblozled tin, faux druzy cabs.~~

~~Back of tin.~~

~~Shark tooth fossil.~~

~~bobs.~~

~~bits.~~

~~Beautiful stones but I can't do a thing with stuff longer than it is wide.~~

~~Nails.~~

~~Who knows?~~

~~keys, kuchi, porcupine quills.~~

~~This was once an aluminum ashtray. Now no one can say.~~

~~OK, this is a really cool thing from Uruguay I never quite found the right home for.~~

~~sword!~~

~~Found metal and blanks.~~

~~leather cuff for small wrists. Strange waxed beading cord found metal with iridescent paint.~~

~~plastic telescope, retractable.~~

~~Trim and micro beads.~~

~~More faux druzy (4 cabs total) , smokey quartz with rough/pitted almost etched surface. Some vintage and stone (carnelian?) beads.~~

~~Cool India coin, rhinestone cab w/missing stones, agate glob stones.~~

~~Small very thick ring shank, adjustable, with 3 rings for beads.~~

~~Shells, formidable dude on Panamanian coin.~~

~~caps, ceramic thing, very rusty bottle cap.~~

~~hairpipe beads and ceramic pendant.~~

~~3 rough amethyst chunks, other stuff.~~

~~cool clip, antique from germany.~~

~~giant cone.~~

~~So... how much is this? I dunno. $35? plus shipping, so $40 total? I don't know. Convo me if you want it. And absolutely if there is any space left in the priority box, I'll stuff with more things.~~

RaggedRobyn asked, "Do you sometimes solder the joins of your earrings?"

Only these:

Because I was soldering and once I start I'm all

and I won't be stopped.

Star of the East opined, "You have 3000 sales with shitty pictures, you couldn't keep up with demand if the pictures were great." No way! I'd be a making machine with no days wasted on pix and editing! In fact, that might be the case as the glorious Karen of ArtBellaSurplus has offered to do all my photos for me. At first I was like, what and send all this crap over? But yeah, compared to this hassle. (It's not a scam Mom! I know she's reading this and thinking that.) She just sent me some pix to show what she could do and they were all of things she'd gotten from me. I had no idea she'd gotten so many things from me and I almost got teary-eyed. Pre-teary-eyed feeling. Not actually teary eyed cuz my meds make me an emotionless robot monster. Don't hate.

Alice said, "Just look at those pearly white teeth." Er. Yeah, cuz I totally didn't go into Photoshop and whiten my teeth out of a massive sense of vanity or anything. And I totally don't do a happy chair wiggle every time someone comments telling me I'm cute.

I also made this pendant:

I might be all about pendants for a while.

Niece Marcela's 5 year birthday party was this weekend. They were with their little cousins on my brother-in-law's side and my sister asked the two youngest girls if they knew who I was.

Marcela goes, "She's Mommy's sister."

Carlos goes, "She's our aunt and she's very loco."

Little cousin Emmet, Carlos' best friend in the world, yells out, "I know what that means!"

"What?"

"Mexican!!!"

...

"So you think Carlos just said I'm very Mexican?"

At which point for some reason all the kids told me I laugh too much.

5 comments:

StaroftheEast said...: The kids have you pat.
Completamente loquita :); 11/13/13, 3:23 AM
JLou said...: I'm with ya on the 'once I start soldering, I solder everything'... last time at the bench, I vaguely remember soldering the cat's collar on...; 11/13/13, 7:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Your blog makes me happy ever time I read it. I just wanted to say thanks. You rock! -Christine; 11/13/13, 3:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Congrats on selling your destash, Marina. It sold while I was reading your post!

I sell my destash regularly. It's always sells quickly and really clears up space in my studio and in my mind. As a result, I tend to use things in my work that I may have previously overlooked because I've narrowed my choices down. I think it's not so good to have TOO many options. Plus, I've got cash to buy new (old) stuff that currently inspires me.

I've noticed lately that some photographers are offering their services to people who sell online. I think it's a good idea. We can spend a lot of our time on product photography and it can get frustrating. There are other creatives out there that have the equipment to make our work look amazing and that's what brings us sales. I mean, how many times have we spent all day shooting and editing photos? Think of what you could have done instead (as you already have done.) You just have to make sure you're comfortable with handing your work over to someone else of course and see if your sales increase as a result.

Gotta say also that I love your animal videos, girl!
xxx; 11/13/13, 8:35 PM
Unknown said...: Yeah Marina, I was just thinking as I read Linda (Wolf [- oh what a fabulous name])'s comment that you are also hiring {you'd be hiring if you chose that route} a 'small business' person who is like the rest of us, selling our wares, or service, etc. so you'd be contributing to that vibe. You know ~~ small independent business vs. Walmart and off shore interests, etc. My english is way bad right now...time for some lunch. I love your art. Norma, x; 11/14/13, 1:32 PM