fanciful devices: Winners, medals, arcutekchur, mush

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.

7/3/14

Winners, medals, arcutekchur, mush

Oh snap I had this post ready to go and I thought I'd published it but I hadn't so looking at all the comments directly from my comments page I was like "Dang, guess no one liked my medals post."
I think you've waited enough. I picked three winners at random (No really, I promise. I don't have photographic proof cuz I been busy making up a storm so just sit back down you).

La Fileuse gets the hairpins.

Betweenreader gets the ring

Artistic Rejuvenations gets the little earrings. Y'all etsy convo me!!

So as you can see I have some gorgeous medals. The upper two have gorgeous backs:

As well as the ones above and below...

Here:

The one on the right says "NEPTUNE CLUB / SWIM CAMP / LOSERS". That's right. It's a losers medal. Sort of the weird equivalent of our participator trophies.

I'm having some very specific overmedalsupply panic.

Liberte, egalite, fraternite!

"National public assistance, inauguration of the maternal protection service, May 1915, Montevideo."

One Penny! It's huge- 1902! I like that it kinda looks like this lady (Victory?) is on some kind of Greco-Roman wheelchair.

And this one! I love the crusty side.

I love these puma coins. They're just regular ten peso coins in circulation in Uruguay and I kept two to play with.

Sixpence. What even is a sixpence, it's too cute. Might it mean six pennies?

This little container originally held a heavy stamp and pad. The upper top is as reflective as a mirror, which made me assume it was a lipstick case, but no. Oh we're moving on to containers now.

Let's see what's in these, shall we?

Love me some old chains. For some reason these are unusually flat. While I generally dislike cable chain, these are so fine and delicate I love them. And I got that little Australia pin because it reminded me of Sparrow. I guess I was thinking of sending it to her but then I thought about someone sending me a pin of the US and just laughed and laughed.

OK, super old coral, pierced. And this miniscule ivory chip with a lady fading on it.

I got this coin keychain because I loved how the guy mounted it. I got the face keychain just to remind me to carve some wood! I always meant to .

A nutria tooth with a cool wire bail, heat-carved long vone and this awesome antique necklace I got cuz look at the beads!

Carpinchos are capybaras and they're even on our two peso coins.

I love this spotted bracelet. The artisan showed off how the hook can't come off. I should've snapped a pic of the back of this mini frame its awesome.

I also got this ring even though it's a finished thing and too big for me. Idk, I just loved it.

This baby snaps open wit a pop, revealing these three tiny pix:

I got a macrame cord for necklaces. They're made with this sort of plastic twine which looks all rough and awesome.

And these linked metal bracelets which I thought would be crazy expensive but weren't. So many good links! Also bracelets with that same plastic-y twine for necklaces. And some badass leather cords. Maybe I should just slap some dem medals on some leather cords and ... well, add an amethyst or something and call it good?

Let's break for some ridiculous Uruguayan architecture, shall we? Like at the top here we see a window balcony you can step out to from... the roof.

Oh Mr. Devices and I loved this one because it was so insanely skinny and tall where all the other nearby structures were single story and because the roof was a sort of very far above, enlarged version of an Amitiville-Horror-style haunted house roof. Like a haunted apartment complex?

And glancing up from right in the middle of downtown shopping area, I see this. With those baffling giant rosettes under each balcony. They looked like they each weighed 30 pounds. Just what you want on old balconies- extra weight.

I like this bull's horns monument:

Because when you stand in front of it there's this fountain squirting up between the horns and it looks like a big V and the effect is all sort of unexpectedly ... vaginal.

Mr. D showed the most appreciation for this structure- an entire supermarket run out of a truck.

But my favorite structure was this fine sculpture right here.

They had a National Team ice cream flavor! Yes, American readers I'm talking about futbol.

And the folks at that parlor were very amused to see the American, Mr.D himself, taking pix of his La Celeste ice cream.

Some very important blurry pix of my cousin's dog going to town on a plastic bottle.

Lookitdat pink mush! Mr.D and I call 'muzzles' 'mush' cuz you wanna mush them and they're mushy. It's late, I'm sleepy. I been making up a storm so I have a right to be incoherent.

6 comments:

Angi in hana said...: So happy u are home! Tried to send a message the other day but I keep having tech probs, wanted to tell u how much I missed u and your art and super fun craziness while u were gone and I am speechless over the insane shit u brought back! U are so lucky and I even thought about getting in a canoe to get off this island and come steal some of your awesome shit, happy your back, aloha, angi in hana; 7/3/14, 12:58 PM
betweenreader said...: Oh I am dancing around in a frenzied celebration! I get the ring, yikes, wow, whoopie, triple dipple, carried by sppeding taxi cabs. I am a fortunate woman. Thank you! And even better, what a haul of medals -- it raises the bar on the potential use of old medals, and really makes me think of the impulse humans have of making them, and all the purposes they may serve, and those deconstructed. Oh frabjous day, I continue dancing ...; 7/3/14, 12:59 PM
Penelope said...: The 'lady in a wheelchair' is Britannia, spirit of Great Britain. Six pence means six pennies, yes. Extra points; they are considered lucky and were once put in Christmas puddings for wishing on before the Safety Police decided it was dangerous to place large metal discs in your child's food.

And you can keep the Australia pin my dear- bad enough I have to live in it, let alone be reminded! Even though it's a nice enough country and it affords me the unique lifestyle combination I have developed of luxury and slothfulness.; 7/3/14, 1:05 PM
darlene said...: yippee for me and p! we both got your loveliness to adorn ourselves. forrest is a rubiks cube champ now. not just a mothra fan. lol; 7/3/14, 7:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Woooo! Gorgeous balconies. Incredible finds & medals. I especially love nutria teeth & capybaras! Yes- slap/string them on cords; simple coolness.; 7/4/14, 2:54 AM
CraftyHope said...: What else can I say at this point? You so lucky. . .; 7/5/14, 4:56 PM