fanciful devices: Hello My Dear Bloggees

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.

1/24/12

Hello My Dear Bloggees

Turkoman. Rustic Tribal Dangles with Ceramic Art Beads.

Turkoman.
A while ago I decided these weren't finished for some reason. Now I've decided they are. Who knows the mysterious mind of the artist. The lazy, lazy artist.

Belphegor. Rustic Gypsy Hot Pink and Black Chocker with Fossil and Opal.

Belphegor. Rustic Gypsy Hot Pink and Black Chocker with Fossil and Opal.

Belphegor.
I'm working on this new series which was partially inspired by a lot of contemporary high-end art jewelry from here.

Belphegor. Rustic Gypsy Hot Pink and Black Chocker with Fossil and Opal.

So I decided to make these redonkulessly big Turkoman/Afghan beads into bold and simple pieces.

Belphegor. Rustic Gypsy Hot Pink and Black Chocker with Fossil and Opal.

I had to hang the pods a bit low since their thickness would make them stand out awkwardly against the collarbone neck chest area place.

Blood Drinker, Heart of Flame. Rustic Gypsy Choker Afghan Turkoman Metal Talisman.

Blood Drinker, Heart of Flame.
Here's one that can be worn with the dangle bead toward the front or tucked in back.

The hammered copper strip is actually bezel-making wire which I never ended up making bezels with. Burnishing, man- pain in the ass!!! And rivets. No, they're not a pain in the ass, I'm saying the strip has rivets. And not articulating very well.

Dwell in Memory's Delights. Bold Antique and Contemporary Choker with Enameled Tribal Egg Bead Talisman..

Dwell in Memory's Delights. Bold Antique and Contemporary Choker with Enameled Tribal Egg Bead Talisman..

Dwell in Memory's Delights.
This was too bright, so I sanded it so it would be able to hold on to some acrylic paint. And used the black... i cant... sentences....
ggggggggghhhhhhh.....

Dwell in Memory's Delights. Bold Antique and Contemporary Choker with Enameled Tribal Egg Bead Talisman..

And also, some less expensive neckpieces= good.

The Orphaned Mind. Asymmetrical Found Object Dangles with Decoupage and Gold Foil.

The Orphaned Mind.
What else? Some earrings. I'm still on my gold foil kick. Just give me time to mash up some more tin.

The Good in You. Asymmetrical Dangles with Ceramic Art Beads.

The Good in You. Asymmetrical Dangles with Ceramic Art Beads.

The Good in You.
And some more asymmetricals with beads by happyfallout. All I have to do is just find some pieces that combine without matching, find some way to connect them and bam. Done.

The Good in You. Asymmetrical Dangles with Ceramic Art Beads.

You guys. today I had a juice with oranges carrots collard greens parsley beets ginger and half a lemon. I got such a health rush from it I practically peed myself.

Here's what I'm working on.

I also received some crazy mail love from SacredCake. So much stuff in fact that I was unable to arrange things for cute pictures.

I was just randomly pulling things out going "I wonder if I could foil this? How would this look with gold foil?" And yes, that is a little sheep and a pink piggie. Wonder how those would look with gold foil?

<--So these are from amth13, whose shop isn't called amth13.

Guys- you should all make your user/blog/etsyshop names the same thing! You see how that is logical, yes? So when you comment that name will come up and then if someone links to your shop, or if your shop appears in a treasury I see, the name will ring a bell and I'll click on it!

Yes? Guys? Cuz as lovely as all your various names are... it's called marketing people! Brand identity, baby.

Oh and here are these totally bizarre metal toggle buttons shaped like bamboo sticks that came in the pack. They're so silly it's kinda magical.
Petra (also not her shop name!) also sent a crazy bag o' loot, but I just got it, and I was too lazy take more pix. Maybe tomorrow.

14 comments:

Skye said...: Wow, someone's getting pampered with all these boxes and bags of goodies to play with! lol Can't wait to see what you do with that lamb and pig.. because..I know you'll do something with them ;)

btw... you almost peeing yourself from the health rush had me almost cleaning my monitor with coffee-spit >.< lol; 1/24/12, 7:03 PM
Jackie said...: OMG, what an awesome amount of goodies, that's a lotta LOVE!!

Your necklaces are pure awesomesauce!!

I'm FunkyTrunk @ etsy
don't know how to change it here.
...Jackie xo; 1/24/12, 7:42 PM
Beatnheart said...: The good karma truck seems to stop at your house a lot...
Now if anyone wants to send me stuff it's Beatnheart.blogspot or Beatneart etsy... This week has been fantastic ... Lots of new pals from the fun kids in this hood... Thank you for all the time and effort u have in Miss; 1/24/12, 9:10 PM
Sacred Cake said...: you're gonna need a HUGE lot of lax to age soma those redonculously huge beadcaps....but I was imagining all the stuff you'd make as I was packing it...please pass along what you can't use! (I know you will)(shipwreck does wonders with all kinds of stuff!) xo to you shipwreckdandy!
xo to you too Fanci...I lurve ya. You know I do.; 1/24/12, 9:28 PM
Sacred Cake said...: CRAP. I can't blame that one on my pinky...besides, its kinda funny, but i meant JAX,
not LAX and this weird configuration was from my bum pinky, which, as you know, has its own mindset...; 1/24/12, 9:30 PM
Numinosity said...: Was thinking of you today while I was at the trinket vendor at the ghat on the Ganges looking at all manner of theengs... Thinking WWFDD? What would Fanciful Devices do with this? The nice man added about 200 or 300 years to the age of each item so I would pay more so I guess I shouldn't be too insulted when he guessed my age to be 65 instead of 55.; 1/25/12, 1:29 AM
Petra Carpreau said...: What a looty week you're having!! Gorgeous thingies you've got there. I love the leeeetle sheeep - can't wait to see what you do with her.
Those Afghan beads are scrum diddly dumtious! Blood Drinker - always such great names, how doooo you do it!
Have fun with your stashes.
Said, not-shop-name, Petra-Jewel Identity!!; 1/25/12, 10:40 AM
shibui said...: I was looking at all your loot from everyone. What nice friends! I did a double take on the loot from sacredcake. On Monday, I was down at our local reuse place and I brought home that exact same tin that is in the picture! It is destined to be cut, punched and domed this weekend.

I really like your gold foiled fish lure earrings.

Have a great day.
Shibui; 1/25/12, 11:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Glad they arrived safely, can't imagine how much stash sacredcake must have! Loving the fishing tackle earrings. Girls love a bit of tackle...running...; 1/25/12, 12:38 PM
martinisfor2 said...: OMG fanci, you have out done yourself once again with your new creations!!! one of these days i will be lucky enough to own some!!! i was dancing over to your site to favorite them before i even got to to see the the box of loot you received!!! you are one lucky gal! i receive loot from two friends back home, but not as exciting as yours. i drool over it and begin designing in my head before thinking about what you will do with your glorious imagination!!! looking forward to see!
xox, LuAnn @ martinisfor2 on etsy; 1/25/12, 1:03 PM
Janet aka anvilartifacts said...: What a treasure trove! What fantastic things are you going to make with that plethora of yummy? Loving the gold, texty stuff. Oh yeah, wasn't there some dialogue about your "boob" earrings awhile back? Hahaha sure there was.
Ok fanci, what's the deal with the filigree? If you all don't know about this, a few posts ago, miss awesome here, posted a pic of some papered filigree that I went absolutely crazy for. Sweet incredibly awesome sent them to me!!! For a gift! Just because she's a generous wonderful person! Thank you sooo much, fanci! Love them.!!
But in the interim, I tried the paper filigree myself, on the exact filigree you see above. Um, cept mine looked nothing like that! Not even in the same universe of results. I remember you said you used your fingers mostly to get the filigree pushed into the nooks and crannies. So my question is this, do I really have to have your actual fingers to get these great results? Apparently so! Now I know, it's those fanci bionic hands that are the necessary ingredient to turning out cool stuff, time after time. You never cease to amaze! :); 1/25/12, 1:58 PM
richelle said...: Ah, what a great idea! You should definitely send leftovers to shipwreck dandy!; 1/25/12, 8:30 PM
Flotsam Tide said...: Those large Afghan bead chokers are cool, they remind me of old weapons... maces.. that's it. Collard greens... going to have to try collard greens... hmmm; 1/26/12, 12:17 AM
neshuma said...: Child, you are ~ h i l a r i o u s ~, you write gorgeously, and your artistic brilliance knows no bounds.
Further, you deserve blessings for your care of your artwife Sparrow (whose healing gets a shot of good karma
right here and now. My sistahs, do send it!)

Now, as I've joined the fan club and pilgrim my poverty-stricken but nonetheless design-awed eyeballs to
your Etsy cave (as you so wisely link to yourself there), an examination of the description of Belphegor
is in order. Y'all see hot pink anything with an opal or fossil? Just thought I'd bring that to your
attention. Because it is FAB--and, well, it's just a marketing thing, yo.; 1/27/12, 8:40 AM