4/30/2022 The importance of good toolsI have always felt it important to have good tools for the things I do. This includes good quality kitchen tools, garden tools and of course good quality tools for making mosaic art.
Good tools for mosaic making became especially important when the carpal tunnel in my predominant hand became very painful and kept me from doing what I love. When I first started making mosaics, I quickly identified the best quality pair of wheeled nippers for cutting glass. I took the time to become very proficient at cutting glass with my nippers and took a lot of pride in the fact that I was a purist in that I only relied on my nippers to make all the cuts necessary for my work. Then in 2019 I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel after going through several months of pain in my hand, arm and neck. That was a game changer for me and I immediately sought out additional tools to take some of the burden off my hand. The first new tool I got was a glass grinder. The grinder allowed me to fine tune the pieces for my mosaics and relieved some of the work from my hand. I still cut all my pieces of glass but I no longer had to "fine tune" them with the nippers. The next tool I got is what is called a "cutters mate". This is a scoring tool that is attached to a base with an arm and it allows for strait cuts as well as curved cuts. It's awesome! Of course I needed running pliers to break the glass that had curved cuts, and so I got a pair of very nice running pliers that work very well for this. (I already had a pair of running pliers for straight cuts) And, the last tool I invested in was a ring saw, though I don't use it nearly as much as all the other tools. Bottom line, is good tools are important! |
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