fanciful devices: 07/2015

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.

7/28/15

Catch-up

Gotta catch y'all up on some makies. La Gaudière. Rustic blue folk choker necklace.

La Gaudière- n. the glint of goodness inside people
-Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

I found these 70s-folk-craft-style ceramic beads on etsy. Adorable. Except they weren't beads, but pendants with only half-way holes to glue a bail in. I got a set of drill bits and immediately broke over half of them. I realized there was no way I could drill through them, but rather that I'd have to adhere bails to either end. Then the epoxy glue mess... So that was a whole to-do.

Blazing Unnatural Light.
A man goes far to find out what he is--
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light

--Theodore Roethke

I wrapped a chain in thin leather cord here. To keep it from unraveling the chain had to be individually spun as well in the same direction as the overall twirl.

Did you all ever twist your hair that way? When I was super little, my older sister taught me how to do it with yarn to make hair ties. We'd tie a long bunch of strands to the bed frame, take the other end and twist and twist until it was time to fold the whole thing in half. Bringing the two ends together, we could watch the yarn twirl into itself like it was alive, leaving us with a strange floofy artifact we'd proudly tie into our pony tails.
Wayward Wayfarer. Gold colored rustic assemblage Victorian tribal necklace with Mary medal.

Wayward Wayfarer. Gold colored rustic assemblage Victorian tribal necklace with Mary medal.

Wayward Wayfarer.
I took all the pictures for this guy with my ipad, to see if that was possible.

So, possible but maybe not fantastic?
Petrichor. Rustic assemblage pendant with ceramic and torch enamel.

Petrichor. Rustic assemblage pendant with ceramic and torch enamel.

Howzabout I don't link to the stuff that's sold already?
But check out this dimension I achieved with a stack of metal disks which I riveted to the tin, yo. It's prongs and adhesive keeping that in place though. Felt like just prongs was a bit precarious.
Petrichor. Rustic assemblage pendant with sea pottery, ceramic, agate slice.

Petrichor. Rustic assemblage pendant with sea pottery, ceramic, agate slice.

Petrichor- a pleasant smell that comes with the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.
Here's another using the 70s crafty beads. Takes me back.
Deep Heart's Core. Long dangle brooch in iridescent blue.

Deep Heart's Core. Long dangle brooch in iridescent blue.

Deep Heart's Core.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
– W.B. Yeats
I made a long strand brooch because why not.
Mercy from Above. Rustic oxidized dark earrings with milagros and Roman glass.

Mercy from Above. Rustic oxidized dark earrings with milagros and Roman glass.

Mercy from Above.
And these using teeny Roman glass connectors.
Rückkehrunruhe. Pink assemblage earrings with sterling silver sandal charms.

Rückkehrunruhe.
The teardrops I filled in with a super thin layer of polymer. After they baked I kept slicing out more of the polymer until it was just the thinnest layer, then I sealed it with varathane, then matte medium to remove shine. Sterling sandals from old souvenir bracelet.
Reserved for Marion.

Lots of torch enamel drops from 4Ophelia cuz I can't get enough.

The Devil Will Come. Rustic assemblage earrings with rosary centers in blue.

The Devil Will Come.
These are the only ones left. See the title there? From a Faust quote. It's like when I use Christian imagery I have to subvert it somehow. But yeah I had lots of requests to make Christian things so yeah.
Anemia. Green assemblage earrings with sterling silver sombrero charms.

Anemia. Green assemblage earrings with sterling silver sombrero charms.

Here with my final pair of sombreros from the same souvenir bracelet and more torch enamel drops.
Anchorage. Coin, citrine and roman glass earrings.

Anchorage. Coin, citrine and roman glass earrings.

I had this slab citrine, roman glass disc, little coin from Uruguay and octagonal one from Chile and I realized they didn't really need much else.
Overcast. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in silver grays.

Overcast. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in silver grays.

Overcast. Wacky stackies. Below are just the two non-bangles of the bunch.

A friend wanted reserve it 'til tomorrow but I'm trying to dissuade people from requesting reserves so I just took it down 'til then.
Beach Sand. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in white and beige.

Beach Sand. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in white and beige.

Beach Sand.
So these stacks I already showed but I added a pearl bangle to each. First cuz I thought they needed a little extra something and also cuz I went overboard on my pearl-gathering and was glad to use a few up.
Beach Sand 2. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in white and beige.

Beach Sand 2. Bangle stack. Rustic tribal gypsy bracelet set with cuff in white and beige.

Beach Sand 2.
It's not like it's hard to find places to incorporate pearls.

I could really use some cute on this steamy-hot day...

How can you think this creature is anything but adorable, you heartless wenches?

7/15/15

PEARLSPEARLSPEARLS

Get 'em while they're hot!

I'm not even going to add individual pictures of these. I feel like you get the idea.
Oh I finally listed these.
Invisible I. Cosmic Victorian tribal assemblage choker necklace.

Invisible I. Cosmic Victorian tribal assemblage choker necklace.

Invisible I.
What took me so long? Idk, feels hella weird to list something you made 2 years ago.
Lights. Cosmic rustic iridescent assemblage collar necklace.

Lights. Cosmic rustic iridescent assemblage collar necklace.

Lights.
Also having lived with them for a long time and featured them in a book, they feel extra important, like they're imbued with so much more of my energy than other things.
Well, that made for a short post, hu?

Have a picture of my mom's cat looking all seductive.

And my dog, happy and goofy as always.

And of course, some gifs.

What a lot of ginger cat. Have some geko.

Random things that made me laugh:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—  I took the one less traveled by,  And that has made all the difference.“
-Robert Frost

253,908 notes

Tumblr, the gift that keeps on giving.

(PS, I'm obsessed with the show Sense8 on Netflix. In case you were looking for your next binge. OMGsogood. Also I just got avocado coconut ice cream from Whole Paycheck. They were having a deal. Yum. Also, my workouts have been going really good! I can punch myself in the abs now and get this flat sound where before a light slap would get a "boi-oi-oing." So that's new. Though I tried to lift a kettle bell the other day, the smallest they had, and I almost died. Just sharing.)