fanciful devices: 11/2012

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.

11/28/12

Coupla Notes.

I have to reiterate. You gotsta go here and read this interview a nice lady did of me. She got me actually expressing shit and stuff.
Next, I forgot to share this ring:

This is Love.

Is good? No is good?

Tangent: there was a toddler in Target holding up a key lime pie yogurt waddling after his mom going, "What has in it? What has in it?" And I swooned. Am I the only one that can be taken down by adorable grammar?

Speaking of adorable, lemme share some spaztic shmanimals with you, just in case you were feeling down->

Also, readbetween found me this no-rhythm having boid->

If you aren't sure if birds can really dance, shut up->

And finally, these babies are up:
The Beauty. Scarab and Flower Assemblage Pendant. Rustic Shabby Aqua Mint With Ceramic Art Bead.

On the Lip of Insanity. Rustic Dark Assemblage Tassel Earrings With African Bone.

Where No One Sees You. Rustic Coin Assemblage Earrings.

The Beauty. On the Lip of Insanity. Where No One Sees You.
In Your Light. Cosmic Iridescent Earrings with Roman Glass and Patina.

One Whole Heart. Pale Rustic Shabby Asymmetrical Assemblage Earrings.

Untie Your Wings. Cosmic Iridescent Assemblage Earrings.

In Your Light. One Whole Heart. Untie Your Wings.
The Lover of the World. Cosmic Iridescent Assemblage Earrings.

Your Heart Begins to Dance. Rustic Iridescent Assemblage Earrings.

Light and Shadow. Cosmic Iridescent Vintage Tassel Earrings.

The Lover of the World. Your Heart Begins to Dance. Light and Shadow.
Weeping. Cosmic Iridescent Eye earrings with Lampwork and Labradorite.

Kiss the Ground. Rough Raw Garnet on Chunky Ring.

Let Go of Life. Rough Raw Gemstones on Chunky Ring.

Weeping. Kiss the Ground. Let Go of Life.
Where you fear to Live. Rough Raw Gemstones on Chunky Ring.

Notorious. Rough Raw Gemstones on Chunky Ring.

The Prisoner. Rough Raw Gemstones on Chunky Ring.

Where you fear to Live. Notorious. The Prisoner.

Damn. I been busy.

11/27/12

Haven't been slacking.

In case you were concerned that I'd been remiss during my remission.

Ha! Made a funny! Here's some teeny Roman glass. And patina razzle dazzle.

Here's some eyeballzez. I'm thinking of calling it something along the lines of 'teardrop something something.' Cuz of the drop shaped, er, drops. And I'll put something esoteric and awesome in place of the 'something something.' Impressed?

Look here. The thingies that look like very colorful versions of double ended silver pins with a torch-rolled ball ends? *pant pant* Guess what they are!? Body jewelry! Each end unscrews and I can't wait to see what I do with them next. Oh and enameled matchsticks that Numinosity just sent me out the flippidy-floppin' blue. I KNOW!

AND here's these amazing black and metal beads I got from my trade with fancylinda (supply shop here) and these amethyst pretties Sparrow sent me. Are they real amethyst or glass? Cuz they're all faceted slightly different which makes me think they're real stones.

Here's some bones. Big brown and bold. Craig Furguson is talking about testicles on tha teevee and suddenly these earrings are looking sorta odd to me.

Here's some with vintage icing tips. Thanks Sparrow!

All kinds of iridescent goodies in a dark v. light pair, thanks fancylinda!

So these have some pink beads and a couple glass headpins by Numinosity. I grunged up the beads with some blackish and some goldish stuff. Also these hammered bangles were ever so green, so I toned it down with some pink alcohol ink. Then I sprayed the whole thing with sealant cuz if not they'd've exploded.

Also bought a butt load of chain tassels if you couldn't tell. I cut some strands and connect those extras lengths to some other chains so you end up with a whole whatever. Then I connected little bits to the ends, then everything comes out all wonky and unbalanced and I have to redo it all and I remember why I stopped using these damned tassels.

Here, Numinosity matchsticks and headpins, fancylinda tube beads and rhinestone ball, and buttons from my button haul. Even the triangles they're on were a freebie extra from some findings I'd ordered. Who needs a whole complicated trip to Uruguay? Also the 1st earrings were these same triangle freebies but I hammered the crap out of them.

(OK, I traded with fancylinda, it's not like they were just free.)

Here a scrap from Sparrow, a gorgeous scarab from BHClaysmith. And a little plastic flower in aqua. I love mounting things on metal with a few holes and wire. On the one hand I feel like a real pro mounting things, but then I also feel like a cheater cheater pumpkin eater doing it so fast.

And I used memory wire to make it extra strong.

Some resin stuff. Here the sun was going down, so the light was dismal. Around THREE o'clock here in Chi-town.

This one is all resin all the time.

I had to go in and remove all the yellow highlights you get from indoor lighting.

Oh so remember I was looking through some old stuff? It made me nostalgic for the pure grunge primitive things I used to make before all the shimmers. So I made this monster. That's a real dragon tooth...

But back to the shimmerz.

OK, now there's like zero light so these coming up they don't look as sharp as I'd like. Here I buffed out a brightish metal color, though with a brushed finish, not shiny.

On these I did go for the darker patina.

Also I'mna torture you with two pictures of each ring because they look so different from each angle.

Like above and to the left.

This one is very rough.

I had sprayed them down with matte spray to get the shiny off the resin and the stones themselves lost all character. So I spent all day polishing them down with baby oil an generally driving myself crazy.