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.

11/5/10

2 more

The Written Word.
The Written Word. Men's Rifle Cartridge and Pencil Pin.

These are my manly items for manly men.
Well, for artsy men at least.
Or for manly women! Like me....
Opium Wars. Mens Antique Clay Pipe and Rifle Cartridge Pin.

Opium Wars. Mens Antique Clay Pipe and Rifle Cartridge Pin.

Opium Wars.
So 2 more items will be going up tonight. So just relax ladies!

11/4/10

3 up

MAN! Photos sure are prettier than scans. Though thanks, you guys, for all the sweet and postive feedback. Makes me so happy. It's so awesome to find and do and love the thing you're good at.
Eons of Consequences. Assemblage Bracelet.

Eons of Consequences.
Eons of Consequences. Assemblage Bracelet.

Epics Unbegun.

Lover of the Demented.
Lover of the Demented. Fossil and Assembled Blacks Necklace.

Makin' Machine!

2 bracelets and some earrings:

Instead of resting as I should have, I ended up making all day. Big surprise, I know.

But loooooook! Neat stuuuuf! So what if I'm feeling like a big sack of shit?

Brooches:

I always overdo it when I start to feel better, and then I remiss. As in remission. Though that instantly makes me think of cancer and I don't even have a cold. I'm just wore out, as my Southern hubsicle would say.

Gotta admit, it's a whole lotta stuff.

These are all in my recent simpler style. One thing about simple, it sure is a lot faster.

Maybe it just feels faster.

Oh! Did I tell y'all? I talked to my boss and it's official: after new year's I'll be working half as much as now. I think we all know what that means. Oh yeah baby! I'll be hermeted away at home, busy and happy in my own little world. OUR world, a world of beauty and joy and the internet. (Where the horrific things my students describe happening in Mexico never happen.)

11/3/10

Mail Call

I'm taking the day off and already feel much better after a good night's sleep. Thanks for the well-wishes.

Some pix here b/c I love to post to me bloog! And because I'm fiddling with ps elements instead of making stuff.

Got these crazt alien beads from stillpointworks. Unlike anything I've ever seen.

These cute old buttons came in the mail today in a lovely origami box. Don't we etsians always go overboard w/packaging?

From cre8evehot, and they were a steal.

And I know, the last thing I need is more buttons. But the deals you stumble upen make you feel that not buying them would be a crime against... your stash? capitalism? etsy?

And in this beautiful little package (which was much prettier intact but I couldn't control myself) I got all these fabric buttons!

They're from blacksheepyarns. When I saw the return address on the package I thought, "What would I have possibly gotten from a yarn store?" Don't you love forgetting what you bought and then getting to open it up like a surprise gift? Cuz no one knows what you'll like the way that you yourself do!

Including this pair of faux fur mamba-jambas. Ahhh, lovely!

Feliz Dia de los Muertos

La Calavera Catrina- the elegand skull, the stylish dead.

here

This is how José Guadalupe Posada poked fun at the hipster ladies of the age. Soon, those show-off fashion-plates will be as dead as the rest of us, he seemed to say.

here

"Calavera Oaxaqueña" by Jose Guadalupe Posada (1910)

I've come to realize that Mexicans have no idea how cool and quirky Americans think Day of the Dead is. "Death can be funny. Death can be a party!" A woman said to me yesterday, explaining the holiday. "It hurts us when our loved ones go, but we know they're still around, so we can tease them a bit. We know we'll end up the same soon enough." Talk about memento mori.

Jose Guadalupe Posada.

I met some really cool people yesterday volunteering for get-out-the-vote yesterday. But I got sick. I was freezing and underbundled, so when I got inside I warmed up with half a cup of coffee and then I couldn't get to sleep til 6:30 this morning. Never again! Caffeine after 7 pm will not tempt me again!

11/1/10

WIP-it

Here's some thaaangs.

I didn't do any Halloween related posts, and I love Halloween. Love costumes. Halloween crafts are never overly cheesy to me, I adore them. I'm terrible at doing things related to times....

Y'all proly tired of seeing this star guy, but he's turning into something.

Here's some stuff I gots from Spirited Earth. And the ones on the raffia were freebies! Thank you grrl!

I'm trying to show the wonderful texture they have. I often have a bitchy superego saying not to do cute things or trendy things, but fuck it, these owls are awesomesauce.

This one you just wanna rub like a worry stone, it's so nubby. (I think I overly de-saturated it, it's a glorious amber.)

Here are the earrings I'm sporting today. They're from SacredCake and they're wonderful! I never had post earrings, they're so comfortable and don't swing around like danglies. Plus- look at them! They're cut steel antique buttons. Drool....

Today I did a get-out-the vote all around Pilsen, the Latino neighborhood. Cuz even the legal among us 'spics tend not to vote. And the entire time I was putting flyers under windshield wipers and sticking up posters and chatting w/some really cool Mexicans, all I could think was the line from cuteoverload "Vote vote vote like a baby stoat!"

Plus I realized how crappy the windshield wipers on my (mom's) car are. Even the most modest of neighborhoods' cars had better wnshldwprs. Oh, and I was totally underdressed for the weather and now I'm like compensatorily feverish.