fanciful devices: Three new guys.

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.

4/18/16

Three new guys.

From the Past.
After obsessing about tassels I saw popping up all over etsy, I made my own out of little clay beads from Mali and a matte gold cap from Turkey.

Also the tin I used to back up this carved piece really added to it. And there's a couple beads by JBDRusticOrganic, are you sick of hearing me mention him yet? Dude he uses transfers of his own art to decorate his beads though.

So I listed this guy and it sold right away which makes me super happy. Since it's gone I thought instead of listing and blogging just two more pieces, I'd do three.

The Mystery.
This one uses a Jesus and a tribal earring with chasing and repousse which I've turned into a ring. Both of these of course from my recent lovely inheritance haul.

This is a fun soldered chain section because it uses different kinds of links so it looks very cobbled-together.

Now that I know the wonder of lariats, I just can't seem to go back to regular necklaces.

Elixir.
Here's something different for me- thin and delicate, what?

Like an extreme in my minimalism trend or something. Soon they'll all be invisible. Oh yeah I've been making lots of invisible stuff this year. It's all I'm motivated to do lately.

The gorgeous sterling ... tea pot? ... is also from my inheritance haul.
I already have my next update of 9 pieces photographed and edited.... And I'm still not done listing these! Two more bracelets to go. I'm getting really fast at picture taking and editing.
What's up with you guys? Is anyone out there super motivated and inspired lately? Write me and describe what that's like...
And now, gorillas.
animals excited monkey exciting gorilla

I guess they really like break dancing.

And being goofy and freaking people out.

But mostly they just really like break dancing.
afvpets animals dance dancing spinning

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: That's not Jesus, it's St. Jude, Patron Saint of hopeless cases. And will you stop with those ugly primates. There are so many more appealing animals out there.; 4/19/16, 7:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Don't you remember the woman who had her face ripped off by a chimpanzee?; 4/19/16, 7:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Just came back from my morning exercise during which I remembered numerous incidents of chimps ripping off cojones, in one case an infant in China. BTW, I like your St. Jude piece best of the 3.; 4/19/16, 8:15 AM
autena said...: Geez! Kinda harsh there. But never mind that stuff. I love those beautiful lariats.; 4/19/16, 12:42 PM
Feeriee13 said...: Gorgeous necklaces, as always!! The tassel that you made out of little clay beads, so awesome, looove it! I'm thinking about stealing your idea for a pair of earrings...if you don't mind? :) So inspiring. It's not going to look exactly the same, of course. How can one not like gorillas?! They're super cute!!; 4/20/16, 1:04 PM
gretchen said...: Mx cranky pants needs a snickers.
(Mx - I heard on the news it's a new word just added to the dictionary and means both Ms. & Mr. -who makes up this stuff?)

I love that little teapot and the other lariat necklaces. The tassel is wonderful all by itself even without being part of that uber cool necklace.
If anyone responds with a way to get super motivated, I'm interested, too!; 4/22/16, 1:44 AM