TOOLS OF MY TRADE

Of course, my favourite tools are my hands, but most people wouldn’t recognise that term. When the word “tool” is mentioned, the majority will conjure up images of marching hammers (oh that’s me and The Wall, Floydie thingie again!) or buzzing electric drills. As I am a lamp worker meaning is manipulating glass tubing and rod in the flame then my day-to-day tools may seem primitive. A pair of tweezers which on a good day might also include a variety of sizes. Actually, that’s a lie as although I own many, I only use a couple different sizes. A big pair and a small pair. I do use some carbon rod and hexagonal shaped carbon reamers also, but tweezers lead the pack on popularity.

I keep all my tools in a box (ouch!) which I am sure many on seeing that arrangement would have consigned the contents to a bin. Most of my tools are over forty years old. Why would I change them. I went fancy once and invested in a digital calliper to replace my four callipers each with a different defect. Digital rubbish as first time a bit of hot glass went near the readings became so erratic, I called for an ambulance!

I do have a glass knife, that’s a knife for cutting glass tubing and not a knife made of glass. Glaziers use a wheel but us glass rodders well we favour the more aggressive blade. These can be fixed in all sorts of handles. Mine is secured using sticky tape to a burnt piece of wood. I have loads of other glass knifes, some with metal or plastic handles and some with no handles at all. As long as it does the job who cares. That goes for all tools, they just exist to work, and they are not meant to live in their own right. There serve me and I just use them but never throw them away. Yea, yea I know one has to care for your tools as they wont last forever but actually, they will last forever. I mean they aren’t human, right? They can’t die so they are bound to outlive any owners. Can’t understand people cossetting tools and worshiping them as if they were gods! I know some people have spent all their profits on tools and then wonder why they can’t heat their house or eat. You can’t eat tools!

Ideally, I would love to work with just one tool and that’s the flame. To me spending time, holding a piece of glass in the flame, and shaping it using gravity is pure bliss. certainly, no fads and certainly no CADs! Thing is the more tools you use then the more things you can blame when things go wrong. I like the sense of being almost “up plugged” and acoustic creating. Better then being un-hinged I feel. Its this sense of feeling that’s important. Sure, you can’t shape hot glass with your hands like clay on a potter’s wheel, but you can say use bits of wood, any old bits of wood which burn and smell and makes your eyes water, so you end up nearly blind with the smoke bellowing around the studio. Ahhh pure bliss. Heaver really is Hell in disguise. I mean they have so much better fires down below. Someone told me they thought I had a fire in my belly because I had energy and was passionate. I am but not about tools.

I walk around DIY shops thinking what this and that is. I like it that the tools are all green coloured and can relate to the connection as my tweezers are silver colour but actually stainless steel. My carbon tools are black and although a cool colour I get black soot all over may hands. Enter another tool, the heat resistant glove. Can gloves be termed tools? I don’t know but my clan motto is “touch not the cat without thye glove.” So true, especially if it’s a hot cat!