Resuming our tool box tour from an earlier post, I've assembled the next top dozen tools that will go to the island with me when I become marooned. (And if it is one of those islands inhabited with third tier tarantula eating has-beens, I'm so not going there!)From the upper left corner:
1. Portable hole punching cradle, to punch sewing holes in signatures, for use on the road
2. Teflon folder for black and other dark color papers, to prevent unsightly shine
3. Two-ended scoring stylus, when a thinner, cleaner score is needed than I can get with a bone folder
4. UFO hammer, for setting eyelets, hammering tiny nails, and beating errant materials (like thick corners and tight coptic stitching) into submission. Quite possibly the world's coolest hammer. Comes with three interchangeable heads. Bang bang, Maxwell!
5. Paper knife for slicing parent-size sheets of paper quickly and neatly
6. Reverse grip tweezers, to grab and hold those things in areas too small for fingers
7. Spring dividers, to take the pain out of measuring all those equal distances
8. Bulldog clips, for holdings covers and signatures together during sewing. Note these are not owl clips which will leave a wretched permanent crease in your papers.
9. Quilter's ruler for quick, easy cutting of paper pieces without a lot of tedious measuring
10. Japanese hole punch (and selection of bits), to make clean, accurately sized holes anywhere on board, paper and leather
11. Golden needles, sturdier than their silver counterparts and easier on their eyes and mine
12. Graduated awl, for enlarging areas such as punched holes. Never use this to punch sewing holes in your signatures unless you want different results each time.
I can hear the next question formulating in your mind even as I write this: where can I find all this bounty to call my very own?
The teflon folder, paper knife, and dividers are from Hollanders; bulldog clips from Staples; scoring stylus, quilter's ruler and golden needles (made by DMC) from Jo-Ann fabrics and crafts; Japanese punch and bits (go ahead, get them all!) from Bonnie's Best Art Tools, reverse grip tweezers from European Papers. My UFO hammer came from Thomas Mann, but I no longer see it on his website so try Otto Frei. Graduated awls can be found at jewelry supply vendors, bead shops and shows, and hardware stores. I made the portable cradle from a Scrabble board using directions from my very first class with Shereen LaPlantz. Most of these and other resources are listed at right so you can embark on yet another shopping frenzy for the perfect tools!
