tool tuesday: tracing wheel

I am not a sewer. At all. I learned how to attach a button when I was a Brownie and retain that skill to this day, but that's about it for my functional sewing skills. But I am fascinated by sewing tools and I do own a tracing wheel. My tracing wheel has serrated teeth on a wheel attached to a blue plastic handle. It makes slotted perforations as it is pushed across a piece of paper or fabric. Its primary use is to transfer marks from paper to paper or paper to fabric, often using tracing paper as a guide. This is not a tool I use often, but I do love its shape, its preciseness, and its cog-like qualities. I use it to make even perforations in Japanese paper to mark where I will sew the paper. I usually make needle marks freehand because I like the uneveness, but every now and then I will require marks that are perfectly even and my tracing wheel allows me to do that. I also use it to make texture marks on metal tape for collages. And I'm sure, as time goes by, I will use it for other purposes as well. If you have your own tracing wheel, what do you use it for?

By the way...tool submissions needed for future "tool tuesday" posts! Honour your favourite tool!

tool tuesday: wood carving tool

Jo Horswill has generously submitted another of her tools for "tool tuesday." Last time we met her beloved file. This time it's a Japanese wood carving tool which carves many a wonderous thing! If you haven't checked out the soulful work of Jo Horswill go now! Here's what she had to say about her wood carving tool:

This is a Japanese wood carving tool. Not the most expensive tool in the shop, but it certainly works very well. I use it to carve into cherry wood blocks, maple wood blocks and lino for printing. Carving wooden printing blocks, gives me such a warm and peaceful feeling. I always hope these feelings reflect in my prints. This little tool carves through wood like butter. I even love the little shavings it creates along the way, and often save these for 'other projects'. I love it when you come across a hand tool that works almost like a natural extension of your own hand...

That's what this carving tool feels like when I use it.

Thanks so much Jo! Bloggers...keep sending in those tools! We have an open spot for next week's "tool tuesday!"

tool tuesday: spray bottle

Another opportunity to highlight an interesting artist who loves her tools! Check out Jeane's blog, art it, where you will be treated to a video tour of her studio and see this particular tool hanging about. Thrilled that you are participating in "tool tuesday" Jeane! Here's what she had to say about her trusty spray bottle:

About ten years ago I was making a video of an artist in residence at a local art center here. She was painting a mural and she had a spray bottle attached to her belt. She used it constantly. I thought, hmmmmm. I think I'll try that. I use acrylics and the spray bottle seemed a good idea. I had this old Shaklee bottle under a sink so I filled it with water and have never looked back. I actually didn't realize how much I counted on this little bottle until my art partner, Lisa Johnson and I were teach an art class last year. We had a huge supply table filled with everything you could think of. As I started to demonstrate, I realized I didn't have my spray bottle. It felt like someone had cut off one of my arms! This is my "absolute can't do without" tool. I spray my paints, I spray my work surface, I spray my fingers, I spray my brushes, I spray my paper towels (my second can't do without tool). It's my fav.

tool tuesday: spatula

Another "tool tuesday", another tool. This time from an art school buddy of mine, Lesley. An educator and mixed media artist, Lesley makes conceptual art using non-traditional materials. And sometimes using non-traditional tools! Here's what she had to say about one of those:

Lately my favourite tool is an angled spatula, typically intended for cake decoration. I have no problem re-inventing the function of tools as a means of experimentation, often with really pleasing results. To that end, I’ve been ‘icing’ Styrofoam cakes with various wall compounds to appear as if iced like a traditional cake. This is the initial construction step of my latest sculptural works. The fact that I’m using building materials blurs the lines between cake decorating and renovation and the traditional roles of male and female therein. The spatula has the right amount of control and spontaneity to muck about in order to achieve a look that isn’t too contrived. The fact that I’m a cake decorator as well helps me push the techniques beyond buttercream. I find that using a familiar tool as a jumping off point to play around with some not-so familiar materials is a comfortable point of entry for creative exploration.

Thanks Lesley! Bloggers...I am in need of a tool to feature next tuesday. Send me a blurb on your most valued tool and it will be honoured in these pages!

tool tuesday: hand tools

As artists, we often feel that our tools are part of us and in this week's "tool tuesday" that sentiment has a literal significance. Many thanks to Marlana, doer of many things, for her unique submission this week. Learn more about Marlana on her website, Fortune Workshops, and on her blog. Here is what she had to say about her most precious tools:

My favorite tool is this pair of hands. They work quite well separately but they are at their best together. I got them 57 years ago and I am amazed how much they have changed in size and appearance over time. Right now they are stained, calloused, tanned and warm. In the winter they are pale, soft and cool. In the last 10 years or so they have gradually become covered with veins, wrinkles and “age spots”. They will probably last for another 30 years or so even if they get too worn out for the really heavy work they have been used to for many decades.

Here is a photo of my favorite tools resting on a cashmere sweater. Their main function is touching/ feeling/ sensing and they do not work well in soapy hot water or icy liquids, so I protect them with rubber gloves. I need industrial strength garden gloves when they are used to rip weeds and roots out of the ground or to carry wood and rocks.

Why I love this pair of tools? It would be easy to take them for granted because they are always there for me. Thanks to Kate’s Tool Tuesday submission request, I was inspired to write an ode to these hands. I love them for their ability to create a bridge from my inner world of imagination to the outer world of reality. My hands are never at war with each other. They can think for me when I am confused, self repair with time when burnt, cut, or bruised and I’ve been told they can heal.

There is not enough room here to tell you what I do with these tools. One day, I promise, I’ll write a book about it. They are so incredibly multi-purpose and versatile that I need them for just about every waking minute of the day. Wow, what would my life be like without them? Yes, I could use my feet for some jobs and my voice for others, but they are just so perfectly crafted for my needs that I would be an altogether different person without them. As a child I had nightmares that my hands were swollen like balloons and I couldn’t do a thing with them! However, I will be happy to place my hands in my lap one day when they are retired from active service.

Here are some of the things I make with my favorite tools: bouquets, cakes, clothes, collages, cookies, drawings, gardens, gestures, hairdo’s, headstands, journals, love, movies, paintings, photos, presents, sandwiches, sculptures, suppers and rock walls.

tool tuesday: scribe?

I was thrilled when Kathy Van Kleeck from Washington State sent in her submission for "tool tuesday" because not only is her tool's story a fascinating one, but I had the opportunity to see her beautiful work in PMC (precious metal clay) and to discover her great blog, waking up. She is now on my sidebar. Visit her blog and check out her post of July 29, 2008 for a peek at more of her tools and her wonderful workspace. Here's what she had to say about her treasured tool!

This is by far my favorite tool. I'm a PMC artist and have been for over 10 years. This tool - I'm not even sure what to call it, maybe a scribe? - was included in the original PMC tool kit that was sold by Rio Grande. That would be either late 1997 or early 1998. It's a wonderfully versatile and seriously basic design and, quite obviously, was hand-made. It gets into teeny cracks and crevices and smoothes and burnishes and scribes and gouges. It has a wonderful weight and feel. For years I wondered about its origins. Rio Grande just doesn't sell tools like this. The original tool kit was a bit of a hodge-podge. PMC was a brand new medium - nobody really knew what people would need or want to use. Through the years I've taught workshops praying that no one would steal my treasured tool. It was always stated early on in the class - "see this tool? It goes missing and there's going to be trouble!" Finally, last year I decided to track down my tool's origins. For some reason I was talking to the head PMC person at Rio and after trying to describe it, asked her if she'd ever seen another tool like mine. She was fairly new to PMC and had no idea, but why not contact Tim McCreight who was the original head PMC dude and liaison between the manufacturer and the distributor. I sort of know Tim - I did my certification workshop with him back in 2000 and I've emailed him several times with technical questions. So, I emailed him with the image attached and got a quick response.

Turns out my beloved scribe was made by one of his students back in '97 as a small money making project. Tim suggested the fellow forge out about 150 of these scribes to be included in the first tool kit. It's forged from a steel welding rod with adhesive gauze wrapped around it. The original gauze disintegrated years ago and it's wrapped with the second generation which is now in need of replacement. I don't teach workshops any longer, so I know my tool is safe. The current gauze is pretty much gobbed up with PMC and stretched out and fraying - but the tool itself is unchanged, beloved and held close.

Thanks so much Kathy! Bloggers...keep those tools coming!

tool tuesday: tile nippers

It's Tuesday again and that means tools! In my last post, the colourful and cheerful mosaic work of Melissa Davidson was featured and now we get to meet the tool that literally shapes these beautiful pieces. Her nippers! Here is what she had to say about her favourite tool:

When I’m in my mosaic studio, my nippers are an extension of my right hand. They shape the glass or ceramic tile to the size I need. Some people use double wheeled nippers but I like my trusty side biters, as some call them.

Thanks Melissa! Bloggers...keep those tool submissions coming!

tool tuesday: bone folder

I love my bone folder. I use it for creasing, scoring, smoothing, burnishing, and working materials into tight corners. I use it to score paper before tearing it. I use it in bookbinding to make nice crisp creases in my pages. I burnish with it when I'm doing an image transfer. I probably use it for a lot of other things which I can't remember right now. It's a versatile tool. It has a polished surface and feels smooth to the touch. It has a beautiful shape. It's light and fits into my hand nicely. It also fits easily into my pocket. I love my bone folder. And it loves me.

tool tuesday: behold the humble tweezers

It's "tool tuesday" again! And today I shall honour my humble tweezers, much-used and much-loved. Often working on a small scale, I use these tweezers for picking up wee bits and pieces for my reliquary assemblages, getting tiny things out of tight places, and plucking the odd sliver from my delicate hands. These particular tweezers are corneal tweezers purchased for $11.50 from one of my favourite tool stores, Lee Valley. I like Lee Valley because I like to support Canadian companies, they have good quality stuff, and they really know and love their tools. You can tell by reading the loving catalogue descriptions they bestow on each of their tools. This is their blurb about the corneal tweezers: Designed for delicate corneal excisions, these surgical stainless-steel tweezers are tipped with notched teeth that intersect for an extraordinary grip. Ideal for delicately removing elusive slivers, plucking errant debris from fine finishes or retrieving small things from near-inaccessible places, they are manufactured with finger grip holes along the flex-steel arms for outstanding control.

Experimenting with placement of a small silver bead in one of my remnant reliquaries.

Dipping into my little box of treasures.

Very useful for picking up my new favourite things - tiny Christmas light bulbs salvaged from an IKEA string of lights purchased at a garage sale. They are rather bug-like and remind me of small fireflies. I have a plan for these!

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!

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...

tool tuesday: awl right!

Happy St-Jean-Baptiste Day (only celebrated here in Quebec)! I was reading a post on ro bruhn's blog where she mentions (and proudly shows off) a wonderful array of screwdrivers and a dremel bit kit that her husband bought her. We artists love our tools! The boyfriend of an artist friend of mine gave her a dremel tool on their first Christmas together and she was positively overcome with emotion (and that could be one of the reasons she ended up marrying him). As a wedding gift, I gave them a gift certificate to Canadian Tire [hardware store known to all Canadians!] and a roll of duct tape and they were thrilled! Another artist friend of mine practically salivates when she describes in detail the newest metalsmith tool she has acquired. I am regularly seduced by all kinds of tools I see in the hardware store or metalsmith journals or artist books, and half the time I don't even know what they are meant for. We are attached to our tools. We have relationships with our tools. We have favourite tools. Sometimes we use our tools in weird and unexpected ways. I thought it would be fun to keep Tuesdays aside to highlight tools. I could certainly wax poetic about my own favourite tools but it would be interesting to hear from others. Please email me a photo of your favourite tool and tell its history, why you love it, how you use it, what you make with it, and anything else you'd like to share. I will try to post one tool every Tuesday...in all its glory. Spread the word! Below are my collection of awls to start things off (and may I apologize for my terrible awl pun in the title...I couldn't resist).

"Awl: A pointed tool for making holes, as in wood or leather."

I hadn't realized that there were so many different types of awls. The one on the far left is a carpenter's awl. The two with the silver handles are craft awls, often used in scrapbooking, although I use them for preparing paper for sewing or wire insertion. The cheapo awl with the red handle is a tailor's awl and purchased in a fabric store. The other two are made of sturdier stock and are possibly bookbinding awls. I bought the one on the far right for that purpose.

This is my favourite awl. I found it abandoned on the side of the road so I took it back to the studio and gave it a home. It's a perfect size for my hand, has a sharp point, and is rusty. I love it for these reasons and for its mysterious history. I use it mostly for piercing paper but it's always on hand for any poking, prodding, prying, scraping, jamming and all-around puncturing needs I may have.

These are two artist trading cards that I made using washi paper, thread, and...you guessed it... an awl!