"Life imitates art..."

Aristotle once postulated that art imitated life.. mimesis.  It governed the majority of the artistic ideal in Grecian art.. then in Roman art..  Certainly we've seen that in Second Life, many times over.  What we find aesthetically pleasing, we create and repeat.. often to the extreme in SL.  (Disproportional avatars, anyone?) 

But Oscar Wilde held forth a different view.  In his Decay of Lying, he put forth that "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life".  I've always found Wilde's points of view far more interesting.

In my real life, I've always been fascinated with toys.. wind up toys, wooden ones, music boxes, clocks and have always found I enjoyed mucking about with tools, miniature things, trying to build stuff.  I'm not terribly great at it, but when I joined Second Life, I made MY second life about the things I love.. and am fascinated by.  Woodworking, mechanics, clockwork, automata.. music boxes.  I try to create the illusion of little mechanical workings.  Toys that roll around, are held;  Music boxes that animate, beg you to touch them;  Furniture that looks crafted.. That's been my goal.  But only because I so desperately want to be the sort of person who actually does that.

It's a lot harder than it appears.  I don't have the tools to create metal gears, or EDM machines to cut out special cylinders for music boxes.  All I have is a drill, a coffee table and .. a need to create stuff.  So when my best friend pointed something out to me and said "You could make music boxes out of that.", I snickered and said.. "Yeah, you could."  

Then he looked me in the eye and said "YOU could make music boxes out of that."  

As he would say, "Light Bulb".

A month of it rolling around in my head, researching, talking to a clockmaker/repairer/honest-to-god-artist/owner of a local clock shop, I made my first music box.  And I enjoyed it so much.. I made another.

And another.

The Gran Habano music box.

This was the one I called the Gran Habano music box.  It still had a handful of tobacco leaves in the bottom. It also sold yesterday, on Etsy.  To someone I don't know (it seems silly to mention that, but it's dreadfully important).  It does play Unchained Melody, just so you know that was dreadfully important.  Choosing the right box for each movement.

Casa Magna music box  available here on Etsy.

This one is still available, and.. interesting story behind the movement.  I had no idea what the song was.  I thought it was quite beautiful, rising and twisting with a slight minor influence.  I even sent out a cry for help to all my friends because not knowing it was driving me crazy.  It is Ave Maria by Charles Gounod.  Which sounds a bit different from most because it follows the chord progressions of Moonlight Sonata.

Alec Bradley music box   available here on Etsy.

The only music box so far to have feet.. these are brass, and the movement winds from the bottom.  It's also got a ring key, instead of the normal T shaped one.  That allows the ring to move so it doesn't interfere with whatever the music box is sitting upon.  Lara's Theme from Dr. Zhivago seemed a much more appropriate choice for this box.  It still smells faintly of tobacco.

Perdomo Exhibición music box   available here on Etsy

This box was one of my favorite.  It is just.. shaped so prettily.  So, I put Gounod's Ave Maria in it, seems to suit the more gold and rich tones of the finish.

I joined Second Life to find an expressive outlet for some of my creativity.  I didn't expect it to spur me to learn more.  I can honestly say, now Capalini Fine Furnishings actually DOES sell music boxes.  In real life.

heh, how bout that?  Life does imitate art.

Please visit Framed Bird Sings on Etsy to see more of my artwork and to keep track of what new music boxes I'll be adding in the future.

Thank you.
C.Capalini
aka L. Hall