fanciful devices: 03/2013

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.

3/29/13

Another Patroness Box

A large priority box, packed. Thought I'd share the madness. With her permish of course.

Did I just say "permish"? All the pretty beads have rotted my head.

Those things on top are ear cuff thingies. For earrings that hang off the back of your ear like so: Spike Ear Cuff Long Chain Tassels Ear Cuff

There's a bunch of them.

This one's tiny.

This one's huge. Heavy as anything, and, as if that weren't enough, it has boobs.

OMG, a whole treasury of mind-boggleage from my biggest bead crush, greybirdstudio.

Here is a huuuuuge ...let's call it necklace. Though it could perhaps be a belt or wall-hanging. Or a beam to hold up a roof.

Now you're going to see some Roman glass. It's not all the same strand that I move around to include in various different pix. It's all different strands.

Thing is, when my patroness likes something, she gets as much of it as is available anywhere.

She's a kook! But she's my kook, and it's because of her I get to play with this stuff.

But to answer someone's comment somewhere- no she has no time limits/demands. She suggested I put it all in a garage to get it out of my sight while it marinated or something.

OMG, non-tribal things. That's a boulder opal teardrop there on the right.

Super beautifulnessthat I have to figure out how to balance with miles of chunky beads.

I'm thinking of making one endless wrap with every chunky bead that you'd just wind and wind around your neck and then carry around for some kind of strength training. Or religious penance.

Like these. These weigh a ton. I can't imagine what to even do with them that wouldn't be somehow cruel.

What's in this mystery ball?

It's a ton of little buddhist amulets. I used a bunch of these in a series I made a while back...

Seek the Holy Guide. Gypsy Tribal Buddhist Reliquary Assemblage Necklace.

The Spectre of My Heart. Buddhist Reliquary Gypsy Tribal Assemblage Art Necklace.

Of course, I soaked the plastic frames in oxidizer for like a week first. (For these pix I googled 'fancifuldevices buddhist' clicked on 'images' and went on quite a nostalgic trip just now...)

Wacky clay skulls.

Crazy druzy and prayer vessels.

Tons of heavy bronze.

OMG, what are these amazing double tooth things below? Squee....

But these painted flowers on these heavy beads are to die for.

Here's some kind of fat fingers of fuzzy flamingo-colored floof. I'm finding it fluxomming to figure fitting phrases for such flowery findings. Fix me, friends! Aw, forget it.

Look- chunky little Happyfallouts!

Ancient bells and glitteries.

Look, each one of these was in it's own individual bag (ignore the apatite bits all over). These are tiny but original Roman glass beads. I feel like... they're too precious for me to be fucking with.

And finally... I've already made something with this honker!

Here it is not quite fitting in that perk-a-rific valley. This is why I got a new, less boobular lady.

But she needs a skin treatment. No one likes plain plastic.

Wow that looks different against black.

Also today I made something using only parts from the previous box I'm still not done with.

All these big complicated components make it look like I did a lot more work than I did. I'm ok with that.

So that's my theengs. You're probably thinking you're jealous but also relieved it's not you, hu?
Oh, if you wanna see some amazing finds, go to Numinosity's Uru-haul post. Upon seeing it, my heart cried out, "Those should be my bits!" I'm so jealous I'm thinking of never allowing another maker into my little country again. Cuz of course you need my official permission to go.