fanciful devices: 09/2016

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.

9/15/16

Back from Tute Land

So now I have all these cute little resin bezels to play with from making my tutorial.

All the Daughters.
I just think these are dreamy.

Plus I made a lot of tiny ones in the tute which are great for earrings and smaller things.

Sultana.
Like the little brooch below. Oh and I stumbled upon a lot of sweet old poems to use in naming them, the kind of stuff you saw in high school English then forgot all about.

Music when Soft Voices Die.
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory—
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

Naught but Love.

Like a hermit poor in pensive place obscure
I mean to spend my days of endless doubt,
To wail such woes as time cannot recure,
Where nought but love shall ever find me out.

-Sir Walter Raleigh

I really love how easy it is to make little trinkets from these bezels. Kind of the same with most of my tutes- after you hand make the focal it doesn't need much more to be a satisfying piece of artisan joolri

Passage from the Other World.
You who do not remember
Passage from the other world
I tell you I could speak again: whatever
returns from oblivion returns
to find a voice
-Louise Gluck

The chain in this one is a viking knit cord that I had made custom for me by an etsian I found here. I ordered her special dead soft raw brass cuz they usually only make them with non-tarnish wire and y'all know how much I hate shiny ol' non tarnish or plated anything.

That big bumpy champaign-colored cab was a gift from TeapotsandTelephones. I set it on a completely non-fitting oval bezel for a sort of eye effect. I freaking love setting things in bezels they were not intended for. Why do I love it so much? Idk- it looks handmade and rustic I guess? It brings attention to the mechanics of the way a piece is put together, just like having clasps in front does?

Dark Night.

Thanks also to teapots for the jonquil chain segment. Look at the little wonky rounds 💛💛💛

Diana the Hunter.
Bugs me when people call this goddess the "huntress." Unnecessary gendering. Is what that is.

In personal news I'm still feeling good! Woo-hoo! My doggy Bingo sure is getting old and frail and limpy though. He's 14 after all. Mr. Devices worries about him 24/7 but I think he just likes to. Did I tell you guys how glucosamine/chondroitin gave us our puppy back for at least a year though? Anyone out there with old dogs go get you some. You need a high dose but it's a miracle really.

Mother

OMG how much do I love these teeny Ethiopian heishi? New obsession, they are everything. (That's something the kids say now: "It's/They're everything". I spend too much time on tumbler and know way too much about what the kids say now.)

And finally, on the resin report:

Earring Inspiration Kit.
I realized finding these co-ordinating elements was all I really wanted to do and nothing further. So I'm selling them as kits.

Bracelet Inspiration Kit.
I found way too many things to go with the bracelet kit though. But aren't they cute? I'm selling them for not very cheap though cuz screw it the bits are all really special. Like here the faux druzy, I painted it to combine with the colors of the bracelet connector.

In non-resin-related news:

Thaumaturge- a Worker of Miracles.
This is it! My last big chunky blue/green lariat. Uses ancient Roman bell and a couple pieces from my Inheritance haul. Like the drop that looks like half a mine? It was a clip on earring I soldered to a piece of brass I cut out.

This is actually one of two lariats I made upon request of a buyer. Well, she wanted one but as I made it, it evolved into two. The other she's already purchased:

So I finally used up all my big chunky blue/green supplies and it's a relief. There's still a bunch of things in my red pile I need to make but yeah.

Metanoia.

Check this shit out- that cord is a cloth-covered electrical wire cord for renovating antique lamps!! I found this shop and had to buy a bunch of 1 foot segments. I mean, they're thick you can't use them for lots of things but sheesh I just love them.

Plus that scarab is from a poison-ring-style clip-on earring. For when you want to store your poison powders right at your ear lobes. It and the dual turquoise cab segments there are Inheritance haul.

Next, non-resin related earrings.

Compassion.
Torch enamel drops by 4Ophelia, other bits from inheritance haul.

Mother and Child.
Like these bits! Even the sterling leaverbacks. Except not the celluloid flowers, those I just bought on etsy.

Petrous.
Oh these are some polymer experiments that I had abandoned but then I looked at them again and decided I liked. The rounds are coated in a layer of semi-translucent clay through which you can just make out these shiny silver Angelina fibers.

What else?
I was finally able to list three of the necklaces I blogged about last time.
The Coming Day. Colorful necklace with chunky art beads and horse brass.

The Coming Day. Colorful necklace with chunky art beads and horse brass.

The Coming Day.
Pregnatress. Art lariat. Locket and tooth Victorian tribal assemblage necklace.

Pregnatress.

Winterfield.
And that's it for now. See y'all on the flip side.

9/5/16

OMFG it's a new tutorial!

I thought the day would never come guys. Guys! I'm so freakin' exited to share my new freakin' tutorial:

It's called Rustic Resin. Hoooo boy we got alliteration in the title I'm gonna pee my pants!

Here's some pages from this FORTY-TWO PAGE MOTHERFUDGER to prove that I'm not lying.

As it says in the listing description this bad boy has 254 photographic images to be found within for your visual perusal and if there's 254 photos in it you know I had to take and edit three times that many. And OK, no, not edit but still.
And here's some of what we'll make:

And you can follow this tute even if you've never ever resined in your entire stupid life!

When I say 'stupid' of course you know I love you very much, but I'm excited here so why you gotta make it all about you, hu?

Now you might expect to pay ten thousand dollars for 42 pages with 254 photos and lots of words connection them all logically and nary a typo in sight (thank you Sparrow) but for a short time you can have all this for just one easy installment of only TWENTY THREE DOLLARS.
Act now and you'll even get the knowledge that somewhere far, far away I'm squeeing in delight with every sale I make.
OK that's not very good. How about a coupon for %15 off the cover price because you bother to come visit me on my blog even now that blogs are no longer what the cool kids do? Enter code FIFTEEN and you'll get the dang thing for less than an Andrew Jackson! For non-Americans that's a $20 bill so since you don't have those available in your country you'll have to draw me a picture of Andrew Jackson. But not now that you have the code! What?

(If you don't enter the code in Apply Coupon Code before checkout I cannot give you the refund afterwards. I mean, come on. Have some self-respect.)

This offer is only available for the next 24 hours though. Cuz I said so! Maybe I'll offer another similar code on Instagram later though. Cuz that IS what the cool kids do and I have to reward my followers there for being so cool.
What else?
Oh I got the most amazing package from SnalFriendsPost. It's TeapotsandTelephone's new paper shop and no my package was not so amazing because she's a friend, this is what you actually get from the shop for tiny money!

Which speaking of tiny- look at this mini ephemera kit she sells. It's all authentic and old and amazing. I want to just stick it all on to a canvas and frame it and hang it up to admire. That lamb garland was less than two bucks and it's ten feet long! Look at the labels! And the smiling tape!

No seriously. These are actual photographs and real vintage labels. No idea what Imma do with these but I just couldn't resist.

I also got a tin of these seals she makes herself. They're too much. These I'll use in packages.

So anyways go buy the damn tute, I put my blood sweat and ... no tears but there was sweat one day when the sun was shining straight on me and I was too focused to move. And I cut myself really bad once in the kitchen when I was trying to quickly return to the tute. And there have been tears, like a while ago with my Frankenboob when I was feeling so bad I actually didn't mind the idea of dying. So yeah I poured my goddamn blood sweat and tears into this! Not poured but there were bodily excretions in relation to this, how about that? Like once I shat myself while -- Kidding! I haven't shat myself since last month!
Jeez I just realized I've never shat myself since being potty trained. If that isn't eulogy-worthy right there, idk. And here I thought I'd rarely accomplished anything.
Just re-reading this spastic blog post has me exhausted.