fanciful devices: Hearts for Haiti

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.

1/22/10

Hearts for Haiti

Sometimes, I hear about these celebrities dropping $1 million on Haiti at one go and I feel disheartened. Will my small amount make any impact at all, considering those donations, considering that just to fly the teams in, just to put a bandage on it must be super expensive.... Maybe at this time I should be donating to help free Malaysian child prostitutes?

Well, despite these questions, the least I can do is donate a necklace:

Go to etsy's Hearts for Haiti page to see all the items for sale.

To learn more about how to stop child trafficking, go here:

To read "Youth in lawless Haiti at risk for sex trade, slavery, murder", a double whammy of my worst horrors, go here.

2 comments:

Kerin said...: Whoever you decide to help your small amount definitely makes an impact. Especially by offering something that was made with your own hands. I believe that good intentions and love fly out far ahead and begin to change things we aren't aware of long before the money arrives. Perhaps it sounds silly but I really do believe that.; 1/23/10, 10:30 AM
fanciful devices said...: Thanks for your lovely comment. I know lots of people believe that, and I get it. But I'm also from a 3rd world country and I know that you can have all the good intentions in the world, but that 80% of the world population still lives below the poverty line... On the other hand, so much good has been done. On the other other hand, the better the living conditions, the higher the population grows, the more we destroy the earth.... Aaargh! Well, we've always been at the verge of some crisis and we're still around, so I need to chill...; 1/24/10, 3:23 AM