fanciful devices: What are you up to?

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.

5/9/11

What are you up to?

Me? Oh just checking the carburetor.

That's what I tell Mr. Hubs when he asks what I'm up to. I'm all, What do you think? I've suddenly taken up home auto repair? I'm making jewelry of course! That's all I ever do.

I don't even know what a carburetor is, fer crissakes.
Oh these 2 are soon-to-be cuffs made from an old leather bookmark, a souvenir from Chile.

Here a little embossed eye on some found filigree...

I'm thinking of leaving the leather as-is because of the wonderfully primitive flowers painted on. Gosh I love these kinds of things! A scuffed-up old leather bookmark! Where else but in Uruguay could you find such an odd treasure?

Here's what I wasted all of Friday with- this unnecessarily complicated hammered and riveted chain length. Curse you missficklemedia! It was her gorgeous black chain that got me wanting cool round artisan linkage.

Animal Sacrifice.

And I just listed these...

Occam's Razor and the Multiverse.

And this mamba-jamba.

Oh yeah, you're getting the big ol' pictures for this.

I worry there might be just a tad too much going on here- what with the already quite involved focal AND secondary focal...

But what the hell, lately I've been getting such fan mail as has me oh so overly confident with myself and my every instinct. Though you know how after big successes artists sort of repeat their own formulas? I'm thinking pop stars here. Anybody? Know what I'm talking about? Anyways.... Yeah, can't get too pleased.

Occam's Razor and the Multiverse.

You know, it's been a while since I thanked you all for the comments. I really love to get them, they're extremely validating. And the funniest one so far, from steufel: "Aluminium beware! she is coming after you:-)" Had me giggling my tush off. It's funny because it's true. No, really- the fancy chain I made? Aluminum links!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Oh wow, I LOVE the two cuffs! Especially the bookmark/eye one. I think you should leave the flower pattern on it exactly as is. And I think I should start saving up some money for a future purchase!; 5/9/11, 7:13 PM
~Debi said...: Love the cuffs!; 5/9/11, 11:46 PM
stregata said...: I'm still trying to understand where you 'wasted' Friday - looks like time very well spent to me. And Occam's Razor... is perfect! And absolutely gorgeous too - just sayin!; 5/9/11, 11:52 PM
Tina said...: The double-wrap necklaces in this post and the last one are so damned badass -- and I'm loving the bookmark cuffs.; 5/11/11, 12:02 AM
Penelope said...: You're like me- you think time is wasted if you haven't made 1000 things!

My Mum comes into my studio of an evening and says 'what have you been up to today?' and I wanna say 'oh I went to the moon and organised equal rights for reindeer.' Cause seriously, what do I do in this room? Every day? All day? OH YEAH make art!; 5/11/11, 4:31 AM