fanciful devices: Listing Thangs

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.

7/28/14

Listing Thangs

So I took some non-ipad pix and listed a ton of things just now.
Ambrosia. Ancient glass in caged rustic assemblage art earrings.

Ocean Foam. Ancient glass in caged rustic assemblage art earrings.

Cloudy Skies. Ancient glass in caged rustic assemblage art earrings.

Ambrosia. Ocean Foam. Cloudy Skies.
And yeah these caged earrings are expensive but they sell so that's just supply and demand. I took a pair off reserve and raised the price and someone got a bit mad at me like I was price gouging.
Many Moons. Rustic victorian tribal antique baroque pearl cage earrings.

Many Moons. Rustic victorian tribal antique baroque pearl cage earrings.

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 12

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 11

Many Moons. 1 2 11
And I get that she was disappointed but art's worth what you can get for it and in any case, as an artist I'm destined to be poor no matter how successful I am...
Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 9

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 9

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 8

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 7

9 8 7
But people don't know that, they're just comparing to stuff they see in shops. But I got all weird about raising the prices on these charms as well.
Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 6

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 6

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 5

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 4

6 5 4
But then I got over it and raised away. So let me say it again: Art's worth what you can get for it.
Shimmer beach glass asymmetrical earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 3

Shimmer beach glass asymmetrical earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 3

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 2

Shimmer beach glass earring pair with solder and flash. Faux Roman glass. 1

3 2 1
There's this guy who puts paint up his butt then poops it across canvases who says art is whatever you can get away with. I don't know why but every time I think about art and its value I remember that. And I think, hey at least I'm not shooting paint out my anus.
This is on sale:

A Sacred Pair.
I have all this left to list:

Don't know what came over me to make more earrings, since practically all that sells is the caged ones.

These above'll be cheap.

I'm gonna be adding blogs to my sidebar later today, I'm not forgetting you lovely ladies that sent me links.

But right now Imna stop to brush my teeth and walk my dog like a person.

Wait, I just did that and came back- MAGIC!

After using some myself, I'm finally listing these burnt babies which I chronicled here. Man just looking for that post I saw so much stuff I'd made...

Good lord I make a lot of stuff.

So yeah here's some more.

Look at these non-photogenic things....
I should go keep listing. Feeling like Sisyphus- make photo, edit, list, mail, make, photo, edit, list, mail.... Except if Sisyphus got aesthetic pleasure from pushing that rock and watching it roll. Yeah.

6 comments:

Barbara said...: Ooooh, you're a price-gouger now!!!! Whoo hoo! Right. Pardon me while I clean the coffee I just blew through my nose off the computer. Question: what did you say to that person in response? Did they specify just how you are price-gouging? Me, I genuflect in front of your frabjous genius.

P.S. I think I was married to that artist guy.; 7/29/14, 5:50 AM
Penelope said...: Your blog changed colour! I think considering your prices are already under wholesale, you should have that whiny person report to me and i will tell them exactly why they ought to be ashamed of themselves. So there. I'm diggin' the refinement in these pieces. Looks like you better change your name to 'classydevices'!; 7/29/14, 11:27 AM
Juliette said...: oh man. SO I love your caged earrings. They look and feel original yet ancient. Well done!

I showed them to a friend of mine and she said this: 'interesting...the beads though remind me of the little occillimaran pills I take'

crazy! Hah.; 7/29/14, 3:38 PM
Julie Wong Sontag said...: I'm in love with the faux Roman glass pieces. Seriously uber great. -- Julie; 7/29/14, 3:53 PM
Unknown said...: You know what? Fuck ppl that don't understand how time consuming or blood shedding and HARD Art is to conceptualize, make and birth! I had a friend asking me why I would sell a painting for more than$100, that I shouldn't do it for the money! I told him: first of all I spent YEARS figuring out my techniques and I still am, second it took money... College ain't free... And then let's not even start with materials etc! I got really mad!
So if those ppl don't understand that, they don't need to be buying Art, they need to order some mass produced bullshit from Ebay. so raise your prices as you should and Amen! I can't wait to get those earrings in the mail btw... So see? Someone that understands is buying ;); 7/30/14, 9:39 AM
Beatnheart said...: well...yes...people who do not make stuff, who do not toil and make tons of mistakes while figuring out how to refine a design...they don't get it, they never will get it...unless of course they make the caged earrings themselves after which they probably would want to sell them for $200...

How come you never talk about Mr.Devices anymore...I miss all the crazy crap he does...; 7/31/14, 8:46 PM