Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tool Tag!!

Lance, from Crescent Hill Designs, tagged me to show my tools. (Oh boy, am I glad I cleaned last night!!!!!!) Anyway, below are the main tools I use, which are my clay tools. They look a little ragged, but if I sat in water the majority of my life I would look like this too!! When working I leave them in water to prevent clay crust build up on the tools. Besides the wood set, I also use a bone tool to work the clay in corners and to smooth surfaces out. The needle tool is a real popular tool for me too since I love to poke holes in things.



Below are a set of dental tools I use for the really detailed areas (eyes, mouths, etc.), a plastic knitting needle with lovely rounded yet pointy ends, a weaving needle with a rounded end, scissors and tweezers to pick up and hold small pieces.


I'm embarrassed to show my poor palette knives...one is from the 1970's and the other is only about 2 years old, but heavily used, plus a pot scraper...not a ceramic pot scraper but a kitchen pot scraper I use in the same way. I have 3 of them from pampered chef and I will never let them out of the studio for domestic use!!! I use all three for smoothing the clay surface.



Below are the workhorses, a multi-tipped screwdriver, pliers, needle-nose pliers, wire cutters and jewelry loop pliers.


A rolling pin...I work a great deal in the slab technique with the clays so I have a rolling pin specifically designated for clay use only.
Some of my brushes. I use synthetic and natural bristle brushes to paint on canvas and the sculpture pieces I make. There are also 2 measuring tapes on the left side of the lazy-susan brush holder, pencils, pens and sharpie markers. I didn't photograph it, but one of my new tools is a true color bench light. I can now paint with greater confidence at night that what I am seeing is the actually color I will see the next morning in daylight. That is a priceless in my book!!!

Now I think I am suppose to tag three more people so I am going to speculate on who Janell and Ann might pick and try not to duplicate:
1. Sheila from Pieces of Me
2. Kim from Kim Hardt Originals
3. Christy from CC's Whimsies

Happy creating
Laurie

13 comments:

Kim Hardt Originals said...

O.k. Missy! I will do so! Thanks for the tag! This is a good tag. It's fun to see what other artist's tools of the trade might be. Mine are not near as wonderful as yours.

You will have to wait and see.

Kim

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, I better go and rinse off my tools. The true color lights are awesome. I am embarrassed to say that I own 5 Ott lights, all collected or given to me over the years and I wouldn't take for them.

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Thank you for being good sports about this. I think Lance is clairvoyant because I had just cleaned my work space the night before or the turn around for the post would have been LOOOOONNNGGER!
Anxious to your tools ladies!!

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Anxious to see your tools is what I meant to type. I'm working with http stuff right now and "me wee brain" doesn't like it!!
Laurie

~Tonya said...

SO clean and neat Laurie. I have been tagged too. It looks like a HURRICANE hit my work area...

So mine may take a bit to post.

Blessings,
~Tonya

And I can relate on the HTML stuff. I don't much like working with it either :)

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Tonya...it is making my hair hurt!! I just did a bunch and didn't save...you know the rest of the story!!! Lance timed my tool showing just right because everything was clean, which happens, well lets just say infrequently. HEE HEE!!

I'll hop over to take a peek!!

Tracy Nuskey Dodson said...

Wow, you sure have a lot of tools! My work area is ALWAYS a mess and I never clean it unless I absolutely have no more room. I don't feel creative in a "Neat" space. Thanks for sharing your tools and work space. It's nice to see that most of are slobs at heart!
Tracy

Christopher A. Klingler said...

I need one of those paint brush caddys.

Have a great weekend Laurie!

Chris :)

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Chris, love my paint brush caddy and it keeps me from dumping out my old container looking for that one particular brush. Not nearly as hard to find what I am looking for.

You think I have a lot of tools Tracy?...you should see my old college roommates studio! She built on a number of years ago for her looms and it is like Martha Stewart designed the space and furnished it. Studio envy here!!!

Lance said...

nice tools! where might I get my hands on some of those dental tools? They look very helpful.

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Lance,
I got those in Phoenix a couple of years ago at a swap meet some friends took us to. I use the cured tip all of the time on faces...you might check on line to find something similar. These were less than $10 if I remember correctly.

Marie Patterson Studio said...

Thanks for sharing pictures of all the cool tools you use. I'd be ashamed it I had to show my space right now....hehehe!

vintagepaletteart said...

I want to come and sit and watch you create Laurie. You sure can create magic with those tools of yours.......=D!

*Lori