Tuesday, July 1, 2008

tool tuesday: beloved file

Happy Canada Day! And welcome to "tool tuesday!" I’d like to thank Jo Horswill for submitting a wonderful account of her file with a beautiful quote from her husband about the way tools enter our lives. Here’s what she had to say about her favourite tool:

Here is a pic of my beloved file. It's certainly not the most sophisticated tool in my studio, but it's the one I love the most! It was given to me by Warren, my husband. This is what he told me. "You never seem to buy a file, they just appear from somewhere, are given to you, or you just find them." It's a lovely old rusty file with a 'W' stamped on it by my Warren. Its wooden handle is smooth as silk, from the most beautiful patina it has developed over many years of handling and use. It seems to fit in my hand so well, is a good size for me and feels balanced. I use it to file the edges of my copper plates after I have etched them and before printing. The edges need to be filed on an angle so as not to cut through your printing paper as the plate passes through the pressure of the press. I do like to ponder on whose hands this file has been held by, all the different projects it's worked on and who's toolboxes it's lived in. I know one thing, it has always been reliable and does a great finish on my plates, I think it's happy living with me...