fanciful devices

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.

1/4/10

Bye bye babies

To be an artist you must be willing to murder your babies. Or sell them. Here's the 1st page of my sold listings. I'll miss you guys (sort of)!

Breathing Art

This treasury is by the Bead Aerie and features my Calla Leg Vase Necklace, which I just just blogged about here. So I guess my improvements were successful after all.

On a whim I typed "tribal punk" into etsy and I discovered this amazing artist.

Heart of Metal is still relatively new, but I still think she should have more than 3 sales.

Maybe she's making newbie mistakes like not renewing often enough.

Her prices are very reasonable.

Of course I'm assuming it's a she.

And when you're assuming you make an ass out of uming.

Gorgeous, though, no?

WIP

I just had it explained to me- WIP means work in progress. So here's a quick scan I made of my piece for Steam Machine.

1/2/10

More Before and Afters

I improved this gal, here's another.

before

and after

Much simplified. I don't know what I think about it, though. And also much better backs on these.

before

after

And so on.

before

after

Also, I realized I'd never posted this gal,

which I made along with my soldered pieces.

However, I only have these 3 pictures.

Hopefully, it's enough, although taking pictures has become a lot easier since I discovered the light in my bedroom.

12/30/09

Newly Discovered Shop Love

I've just discovered rubypearl. Here's some eye candy.

Not only that, she has this amazing blog. It has nothing at all to do w/her makings, it's just her writing. Two separate entries MADE ME CRY. It's been years since I cried, I think. But mostly, she's crazy funny. I've just been reading for the past couple hours. It's been so long since anyone spoke so engagingly to me and not about making.

Yeah, I think I'm going to just say making from now on. Art is too much, crafting too little, making jewelry is too little and too exclusionary. Arts-and-crafts sound like summer camp. When people ask me what I do and I have to say "art jewelry" I always let out an inner Ugh. What if I went with "recycled art jewelry?" Too much? "Wearable art" needs to be shot. "Recycled narrative jewelry" is fun in that it engages the idea of the story-mood a piece evokes, but it would only lead to the inevitable "What the hell is narrative jewelry, you pretentious ass?"