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.

12/28/09

New things, questions.

Winterbirds- simple but quite sweet, I think.

Newly posted in my shop. I found a way to take pictures in my bedroom which has no curtains right

now. Natural light falls right on the bed! Oh joy.

Hippocampus (that means seahorse) - too much fun w/the stripped ribbon!

Dandyism. Another of my vintage tin bezels folded around a thick piece of glass.

Stolen from a Tooth Fairy. Detail.

I may have gone way over the top w/this one, just carried away in the fun of it. See:

Stolen from a Tooth Fairy.

Perhaps everything from the focal to the viewer's right should be done away with and massively simplified. And then I'll have to take all new pictures! Waaa!

Ever so slightly more subdued with a similar optical-lens-over-a-single-cup-of-a-muffin-tin-reliquary-focal:

Celestial Verses

I like how it cracked when I was torturing it into shape, and the fact that all the things inside are loose, so they shake around. Oh, I should mention that in the description.

Cenerentola.

Alliteration. Found Object Choker.

(see- knob+nail, bell+button, key+coin! Alliteration.)

Hearken.

3 comments:

Klaudia said...: Congrats on your new items! I love all of them and the photos are also very cool!; 12/28/09, 10:59 AM
fanciful devices said...: Thanks so much for your comment! I had no idea folks were reading this blog! lol.; 12/29/09, 3:58 AM
fanciful devices said...: Thanks so much. The photos are thanks to the newly discovered light in my curtain-less bedroom. Meanwhile, I've been sleeping in my husbands bedroom. Yes we have separate bedrooms! And no, there are no problems in our marriage- other than the fact that he's a goofball.; 1/4/10, 8:57 AM