fanciful devices: Another tutorial for ya.

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.

2/1/15

Another tutorial for ya.

Well, I got such overwhelming response from my cheaty prong setting tute, I thought I have to make another one. These are of course little things not worthy of a whole, publishable tute. And anyway, you can probably figure them out yourself by just looking closely at anything I make. But anywho, y'all seem to like so here.

If you really like this, you can click each page for larger, hi-resolution images that you can print.

Meanwhile we're having a crazy blizzard and I went to Mr. Device's kickboxing class. I thought I was gonna pass out. Then the next day I got my period which means I went on my most PMSed day of the month which means I'm Superman.

Gotta go watch me some puppy bowl.

9 comments:

Unknown said...: Thanks for the cool mini tut! I think it's always cool to see how other peeps make thing! Love the kitty backing out with his butt....lol. Thanks for the smiles as well :); 2/1/15, 6:35 PM
Thoughtfulhands said...: You are so smart what a great way to wrap beads...Thank you for sharing...; 2/1/15, 7:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks for this! I've always wrapped the beads one at a time and it makes me impatient:); 2/1/15, 8:08 PM
Saraccino said...: Okay, on my to-do list now! Thank you :); 2/2/15, 2:54 PM
Penelope said...: zomg I assumed this is how it's always done...do people really thread one then wrap it then thread one then wrap it......holy moly. Mine never seem to come out right though, either way. I'm just full of self-hate like that LOLZ *throws everything into a lake*; 2/3/15, 11:13 AM
Unknown said...: Smart cookie! Thanks Marina.; 2/3/15, 10:28 PM
Unknown said...: You rock my world, Marina. I'm going to do these. Squeeeeeee! Norma, x; 2/5/15, 3:17 PM
Shibui said...: hey this is great but I am having problems printing the photo with step 10 on it!; 2/10/15, 7:57 PM
Rebecca said...: What a great idea!; 2/12/15, 12:34 PM