fanciful devices: What do you have to show for yourself?

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.

3/12/15

What do you have to show for yourself?

A Thousand Hearts. Rough raw RUBIES salvaged tin ring, vertical.

A Thousand Hearts, vertical.
I don't have a ton to show for myself during the time since last post. I've been working on a lot of components so that means less finished pieces. Oh and also not working. A lot of that.
A Thousand Hearts. Rough raw RUBIES salvaged tin ring, horizontal.

A Thousand Hearts. Rough raw RUBIES salvaged tin ring, horizontal.

A Thousand Hearts, horizontal.
Here, real rubies in crusty tin box bezel rings, revisiting an old design I meant to try variations on ages ago...
Spinning. Rustic assemblage earrings with urchin spines.

Spinning. Rustic assemblage earrings with urchin spines.

Spinning.
These are way cooler in real life as the danglies hang like some kinda fancy spinning chandelier carousels.
Where You Fear to Live. Chunky rustic assemblage cluster pendant necklace.

Where You Fear to Live. Chunky rustic assemblage cluster pendant necklace.

Where You Fear to Live.
That central piece of hardware is called a gas key. The giant seal tooth and quartz crystal are from Uruguay.
Stories. Rustic salvaged tin earrings.

Stories.
Tin babies.
Prize Inside. Rustic assemblage earrings with king cake figurine trinket toys.

Prize Inside.
These sold already, sorry.
Djenné. Ancient beads in caged earrings with cultured pearls.

Djenné.
Made a couple more of these guys.
Djenné. Ancient beads in caged earrings with labradorite.

Djenné.
Cuz they're popular yeah...
What else do I have to say for myself? Do you need to be told I need a root canal or that I spent the weekend with niece/nephew in Wisconsin? That my new fitness meant I could play with them without running out of breath? Ooo I know, how about random piles from my messy work table?

Earring bits

Oh which one of you lovely ladies sent me the sea glass bottle sections? As you can see above I've started forming them into bracelet sections. First I had to cut them into reasonable shapes with my awesome flex shaft but I put that off forever so you proly forgot you even sent these to me...
Oh, crappy news! Michael's has stopped carrying the cheap mosaic sea glass that I basically based my whole Starry Shards tute around! So do I stop offering it? It still works with regular found glass or whatever you can get for not that much on ebay, its just that it references that damned kind you could get in Michael's. And I can't edit the tute cuz my computer is now officially too old for Drop Box to acknowledge its existence. It's a Mac so it still works fine... But you know you're getting old when you're like, "But I just got it nine years ago!"

Bailed rough crystals, etc from Uruguay.

Middle Eastern theengs.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEADS!

I got the craziest heat patinas on these rings. Like, that's not brass or gold, it just turned matte yellow under the torch.

More random crap.

Moving on to my mom's favorite part of my blog...

Stop and look at what these crows are doing. No really.

Sneezing cat:

Itching-for-a-fight hedgehog:

Teamwork:

Oh also I got a long comment from Jessica Wooten a few posts back. I will tell you and anyone any and all my "secrets," just etsy convo me since I don't want to dedicate posts to stuff I've already explained. But I love when people ask how I do stuff it makes me feel important.

4 comments:

Saraccino said...: Okay... I now know tht I not only can't get enough pictures from your work... I also enjoy so much seeing your worktable. And honestly... still looks somehow organized! I have seen worse (also on my own worktable).

My absolute favorite earrings are "spinning". They are just stunning in every way!; 3/12/15, 2:16 AM
Beatnheart said...: You see. this is what separates you from some people who do think they're special...who think they invented wire wrapping or some other ancient technique that's been around for ions...YOU SHARE..YOU ARE KIND...YOU DON'T HURT OTHERS by calling them copycats...you encourage and support...a real sister in every sense of the word...I love you Marina and I will shout it from the roof tops...This woman deserves every wonderful thing in the universe.

and besides you really did invent most of these techniques...

I thank my lucky stars for the day I found you in this sea of medicore...you are the real deal...; 3/12/15, 5:11 PM
darlene said...: i sent the shards some time back after a conversation about you wanting to try them for the starry nights treatment. looks like it's working! xoxo; 3/12/15, 6:48 PM
Anneenomouse said...: I've officially decided you are my teacher. I'm haunting your blog, going back in archives to become immersed in your crazy unfettered rampant creativity. I'm too old to have such a young teacher but I'm very fettered & unrampant & reading & looking at your work is oddly so relaxing & helps start to smash creative blocks lurking around in my dusty brain.
Thanks teach!
p.s. Also of course I want to continue to collect your artwork!; 3/14/15, 9:38 AM