Self Portrait No. 1

I have been neglecting by blog lately. Such an easy thing to do.  Sharing a picture here and there from my phone, a quick link on twitter, a reminding note on my facebook page that my newsletter is out announcing the latest update, falling down the pinterest rabbit hole - that is where my interwebs time has been spent.

Then I read a few really good blog posts from others and think, "Why am I not doing that still?"

Mom and I went to the bookstore today. There is something truly special about going to a bookstore with someone else who is perfectly content to sit on the floor with a coffee and look at craft books for a solid half hour. It had been a long time since I had found any inspiring books. Like Thomas Mann's new book Metal Artist's Workbench: Demystifying the Jeweler's Saw. Now I was broke mind you, so looking was all that I could do, but my favorite part in this book was that each featured artist had an accompanying picture of their benchpin. For the non jeweler readers out there, this is what a virgin bench pin looks like.

They take a helluva beating as they are one of the most used tools by a metal worker and consequently show wear for the acts that are most performed on them. Sawing in the wooden part, lots of hammering on the metal part.  Such a spectacular self portrait of each metal artist. It inspired me to take a photo of mine and share it, my own self portrait.

Mine is often the most handy place to clean up metal with steel wool (awful!) which causes the holes that were drilled in it (I will never drill on my pin again after taking a class with Joanna Gollberg who pretty much said "it is naughty, don't do it, crap will get stuck in there!" she was definitely right...) to become filled with the icky stuff, but it makes it mine I suppose. Little nicks I've used to guide my blade when cutting, larger nicks where I absently mindedly was sawing both metal and wood, and the whole thing delightfully dirty. Novice mistakes, missed hammer blows to the steel, the lever to tighten it that never stays in. I love my benchpin.