My Grandmom (mother’s mother) always used to say in Tamil ” Kaithozhil ondrai kathukol, kavalai unnakillai othukol”…it means if you learn to make crafts or any other hand work you will always have something to do in life and your worries will be few and far.
Such wisdom and I am really glad that I listened to hear and developed my craftyside. When I first learnt to thread beads and make simple jewelry from my college friends, I never really thought that one day, it will become my job and career. Even when I started making jewelry for sale in 2008, I only thought of it as a stop gap measure and was in the feeling that I will do this until I find a better job. I never even bought any tools at first and worked for the first 2-3 months only with a pair of scissors (1) and an Awl (2). Slowly when that became difficult my mom got my a plier (3), normal by hardware standards yet, huge my jewelry standards. Ofcourse it didnt work out, but I managed. Even now I use it when I need to hold metal while cutting or hammering.
The next plier that I bought is my favorite pair of nose pliers (4) – from a Gypsy couple near the Besant Nagar beach. I saw the wife make great earrings and I felt a little jealous. I wanted such a plier too but since I was visiting from Bangalore only for a day, didnt really have time to go to Paris market. When I explained my predicament to them, the husband offered to sell a pair to me for Rs.220 as he had got it custom made. It was a little on the higher side, but I bought it with joy.
My next purchase was a cutter, after a another 2 months – a nipper from an electrical store (5). For Rs.35 one pair works for 1-1.5 years and is a good bargain and I am using my second pair now. Then when I started taking classes I realised that I need extra pliers and really wanted to check out ones available at local stores. The pliers and cutter (7-8) are for Rs.25-30 each but the cutter is bad. The pliers might not look good but makes great loops. Also I use it as my fire pliers – to hold stuff that I want to burn/singe or fuse. As there is no coating in it, its perfect for that.
2.5 years into the Jewelry business, and I still didnt have a round nose pliers…lol. I could just not find it locally, So I thought of ordering it from US and my Cousin who was always supportive of my passion agreed to buy it for my, but he couldnt find it in local stores. So I asked him to buy a crimp pliers instead and he got it from Micheal’s (9). I do use it, but most crimps available here are normal and they work work only if you press them flat.In the due course I also ordered a ring mandrel (10) and a single line acrylic bead board from Fire mountain gems. The bead board comes in handy while taking classes as you can pre arrange everything on it.
Then I went o Delhi, last January for Abhushan and I got a needle file (10). Dont we all underestimate its use? Also since I learned Crochet there, I dug out the Crochet hook (6) no.11 I bought in my college days and started using it
The next purchase was of course supposed to be a round nose pliers, but it turned out to be a Chain nose pliers (12), Precision cutter (13) and a brass brush (14) – all for Rs.350 and then this year…when I finally had a chance to get a gift from US I chose a multi step loop forming Round nose pliers from etsy (Euro tools) and had it shipped to my aunt’s place( Ya, I know, I was being economical & Greedy there!!) (15). It was a difficult to use in the beginning and the wire would keep slipping but then once you get a hang of ti, its really great. You can not only form loops, but also making different shapes (round, oval, tear drop and heart) with wire. It is also good for reshaping Jump rings after you close them.
Then my latest purchase and normal doming hammer and block (16-17). If you remember my previous posts then you would remember how I used issues of vogue as my block. It worked quite well, but I finally found the energy to hunt down the jewelry tools supply store in Sowcarpet and buy it. Maybe I will buy a Doming block soon.
So that’s basically the story of my tools, of how, I searched for and bought, each one of them with love and care. Apart from these, my tool draw contains a set of tooth picks for knotting and resin work, a fire needle, fine needles and Scoth Brite scrub pad for cleaning wire. In the beginning, when I had no idea of where and how to buy Jewelry making tools, I thought they were expensive and well out of my reach. So I bought only 1-2 a year.Since I have finally got a hang of it, if anyone wants the names or addresses of these stores, please contact me and I would be happy to give them to you.
Even now I dont really use all these tools all the time. Like a always say, a beginner requires only a pair of good pliers, cutter and scissors each. The rest of the magic is in your hands!!
Cheers
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