fanciful devices

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.

6/19/11

All Up!

Inocciduous.
Oh how I hate pricing things.

To Ecstasiate the Ephydriad.

To Ecstasiate the Ephydria...
So, I'm going off the fact of these being totally one of a kind materials that can only be gotten after a plane trip. And are made of silver and gold. Yup.

Magastromancy. Bell and Semiprecious Cylinder.

Magastromancy. Bell and Semiprecious Cylinder.

Magastromancy. Bell and Se...
But it's not about the intrinsic value of materials or amount of labor put in, it's about how much you can get and I don't know how many folks are out there who'd spend that on these.

Bringing Forth the Fire.
I guess we'll see! I don't mind them sticking around a while.

Beauty for a Heart Like Mine.
Meanwhile- happy father's day! Yeah, cuz there are so many men, not to mention fathers, trolling this blog I'm sure.

A Victor King.
I hope you are all having as lovely a weekend as I am.

Essomenic Graocracy.
But with less dog-pestering-to-go-outside-ness.

The Cave of Night.
And with that, Imna go walk Bingo.

The Stone of Sisyphus.

6/18/11

My first free day with my newly functional hand!

I couldn't resist snapping some sneaks.

Once again, disclaimer: taken under artificial, nighttime light.

Hopefully tomorrow there'll be time and light to take good pictures.

OK, I clearly have nothing to say.

All day long I'm coming up with all sortsa clever tidbits to pass along, but when it comes down to posting, I'm like- lookit! And that's about it.

I can't remember any of the inner monologue I was entertaining myself with so much.

Here's some simplish ones with a nice strong focal and a simple chain and/or cord.

Here's my first bracelet of the kind where, you know, the bracelet already existed.

So, Richelle, if you got both of your hands operated at the same time, how did you, um, wipe your heiny? and all that? I really hope I re-build my right-hand muscle. I got a lot of heiny-wiping to do!

6/16/11

ReDo

I re-did this necklace for the first before-n-after post I've blogged in years. I've been getting much better at making things so I've found much less reason to remake things even after they've been in the shop. But I think I was rushing to finish this one before my surgery so I was slapping on whatever was w/in reach.
This is before:

Note the chain that is way skinnier than any other elements and the closure that is way too big and and attention-getty. Also didn't love the crusty quartz there.

And now:
The Cats Eye Nebula.

I think it's simpler, to keep the attention of the focal where it creepily belongs. The Cats Eye Nebula.

As for my hand, it's totally anti-climactic. I don't even see a bruise and its barely sore. Thing is, this hand had more muscles to get through before finding the carpal tunnel- so shouldn't it be bruisier? Cuz I've had a lot of muscle loss in the right hand, and I guess not as much in the left, because of the shots I'd previously gotten... or because of just the CT? Who knows, I'm not a doctor. Maybe lefty's doing better because I laid off it more before the surgery? Maybe because Mars is in retrograde? I think my surgeon mentioned something about that.
Oh, I sure know how to wrap myself in a blanket of LOLs!
WAIT. There is really good news. I'm typing with 2 hands like a person! Glory be unto the gods of manual dexterity, ~~halle~~...~~halleluja~~ ... ~~halelluya~~.... h~~aleluya~~ ~~haleluja~~ ~~hallelluja~~ ~~halelluja~~ Hooray!

6/13/11

Not Enough

Considering they made a 1cm cut at the base of my wrist and a 3mm cut in my palm, I just don't think they used enough bandages.

Just like I don't think this lazy loaf has enough pillows.

Photos, courtesy of my sleepy restlessness.

6/12/11

Two for the road.

What, you say, two more? Weren't you supposed to lay off lefty? Clearly I have issues.

The Cats Eye Nebula.

The Phage.

So my dad invited me and husband out to sushi to celebrate my upcoming surgery (tomorrow! eeeeee!!!). I hadn't had sushi since my right hand operation. Now, I've always taken ridiculous pride in my chopstickage, but yesterday.... It was like my hand couldn't obey instructions! I was actually embarrassed that folks would think I was a po-dunk who didn't know how to use the sticks instead of the worldly chick I think myself to be. I couldnt get the sticks to come together- it's like my muscle memory was lost. And it even hurt. So frustrating! Deliciously, scrumptiously frustrating!
CorvidDelights wrote: "No worries I am sure that you'll resume your ninja chopstick skills after your second surgery." To which I had to answer: "Unless lefty starts inexplicably slapping my face each time I go to take a mouthful, my 2nd operation will have no effect on my eating."
Really hope that doesn't happen.

6/11/11

Wait, one more.

Now I really am done til after the operation. Really. Mr. Lefty is on strike. Negotiations with the trade unions have stalled.

The Titanomachy.
I've also lowered some prices and it's already netted me a few sales from non-regulars. By far most my sales are to regulars. Looks like rolling my finished products in cocaine was a good decision after all.
(And to answer your query Stregata, I wore the cuff yesterday to try out how strong the bone was. It's the magic of e6000- I banged it around, put on and removed my jacket several times, and went about my day without even the slightest hint of loosening or tiniest sound of glue cracking. Also, the bone is a lot stronger and smaller than it looks, it doesn't seem to get hooked on anything and the bronze ring keeping it in place is rock hard. Your concerns are legitimate, I do want to make things that last forever. )