tool tuesday: spinny

Another "tool tuesday" and another tool! Many thanks to Laurie Boisvert for submitting the account of her rocky start with spinny, her engraving block. And check out her amazing jewellery at this link: http://www.shiny-objects.com/index.html

Here is the story of spinny. I bought an engravers block in San Francisco after falling in love with one while using it for week in a stone setting class I was taking. I love it for its simplicity; it does two things: clamp and rotate. That's all. But it does it perfectly and gracefully. I refuse tools which force awkwardly adjustments; I don't have three hands. But the block and I had a tough trip back home. It's so heavy it caused my bag to weigh 44lbs and threw me off balance going down the hotel stairs (at 3:45am - damn early flights); I came home with a giant bruise on my arm from hitting the wall corner. On the plane I bought the world's worst muffin so I'd have a toonie [a Canadian two dollar coin] for a luggage cart at Pearson [Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto]. Then during transport it crushed all the made in SF chocolates I brought home for Bill; it smashed my contact lens solution bottle (which contains hydrogen peroxide), the broken plastic pierced the ziplock bag and solution seeped over my beloved purple cowboy boots discolouring one. I forgave it all; perfection is hard to find.

Next week's post needs a tool so don't hesitate to share one (or more) of your favourites!