Thursday 7 October 2010

Just a big old tweeze

LO done at the Wight Craft Circle Crop last weekend - the nearest to grpahic you'll ever get from me...and way, way too much handwriting!!
Up to a handful of years ago, I eschewed the use of anything but my fingers for applying foam pads, gems , fiddly bits, or when holding the sticky backed item above the card while I eye-ball the often jaunty angled location. Now I use tweezers. I think as a result of age-onset-crappy-eyesight. But whatever - now I love 'em and wouldn't cope well without them - specially in a fast moving workshop environment!
In terms of every day tools, I think they're a bit unsung. I think also that loads of us use them and so none of us notice them particularly, which is probably a sign of their success. And they say a lot about us too. There is a group who use the sort of tweezers that might make you shudder. Yes - all of you who are, or have worked in some medical professional capacity. Slipper Lady for example, has a large pair of tweezers that she accidentally (and often) calls 'forceps'. She is an ex theatre nurse. Lady Nurse has a pair almost as long as her pencil case and very angled at the end - you can so imagine her using them to hold 'bits' of people. Seriously!
There are tweezers that disappear to a point - anything I try to pick up with this type just pings across the table and makes me say rude things. But they are favoured by many - in my experience, the 'many' in this case are the crafters who do precision and stitching and exercise care and caution with every move.
Then there are the left brainers - you know the ones - they do perfect graphic stuff and like clean neat lines and can get their heads around any puzzle. They use the tweezers that work the opposite way - the 'squeeze to release' type. I have never coped with these at all. Imagine!
There are the crafters who have more than one pair and have tied a cheerful ribbon round the top to identify them at workshops - generous and not too worried about tweezer intimacy. And see, you can get that. Tweezer intimacy. The tweezers I use are metal, about 4" long and have a rounded angle at the 'picking' end. Not an outstanding piece of design, but they do a great job for me. And just like a good fountain pen, they have become mine and I know the best way to hold them and angle them and blahdy blah. So I'm the one that has two pairs - you can borrow my other pair, but I won't be in a hurry to share the silver ones. I know what is says about me. But I'm more interested in what your tweezers say about you.

28 comments:

Traceyr said...

I can't use tweezers :( I can't get to grips literally) with them hahaha

:)

cheryl said...

I hardly ever use tweezers,so not sure what they says about me,brilliant layout just love it love cheryl xxx

Sheilagh said...

I'm cack handed, tweezers and I do not mix,wish we did...

Love your layout;)

Sheilagh

Sue said...

lol Julia
fabulous post i am a tweezer users like yours they curve at the end, need em for sticking gems etc, couldnt do without them now.
Gorgeous layout, i don't ever write on mine my handwritting is awful, lol.
Have great weekend, sue,x

Ann said...

Tweezers? I think I have three pairs but as I never use them they haven't seen the light of day in ages! I probably wouldn't be able to track them down if I needed a pair.
My eyebrows are a mess!

misteejay said...

I have a pair but they rarely come out of my tote - I'm more of a poky tool girl LOL

Toni :o)

Annie said...

Yep I'm a tweezer user. I use them to thread some of my machines....couldn't do it without. Mine are about 4 1/2" long with a bent end....and like everything else they hang where I need to use them and God help you if you borrow them and don't put them back :-)
A x

Anonymous said...

Mine are pink and bent at the end - but yes I have two and the ribbon is on the others which anyone can use. What I cant get is those people who use them to take the paper off DST . I can't manage that , it has to be my cheapy yellow knife!! LO is great - nothing wrong with your handwriting. Your kids will love it that you 've put something of yourself on there.
x Tricia

Luna Art said...

I have a pink crafty pair that I cannot use and a cheapy siver pair from boots that I use all the time for sticking down titles I have cut out. I cant use them for gems, I can't pick them up, so use my craft knife! Love the LO, that was the one we were all admiring at the retreat!

Alix said...

nooooooooo tweezers are too fiddly for me...i'm a pokey tool and a jaunty angle kind of crafter...love, love, love your LO !!!!

Carmen said...

Er... I use the same ones I use on my eyebrows. You don't half know it if there's a bit of sticky glue on the end when doing them I tell thee!!

What does that say about me? Skinflint? Mucky mare? I can't be without them as still being a disgusting nail chomper I find it hard to get the back off DST and pick up fiddly bits. Yep - £1 job from the chemist for me *g*

Carmen said...

p.s I love your page and have always loved your handwriting :P

Cardarian said...

Huh tweezers! I use them mostly for picking things up as age evolving arthritis (especially in the mornings) doesn't allow me to pick small things up! They are always on my desk - a very bright yellow color so I can see them in any mess on my desk!
Don't critisis your work - your LO is lovely!!!
Hugs,
Cardarian

kelly said...

Never use tweezers!!! to much hassle and makes thing more fiddly. Love the LO x

mckinkle said...

I stand here infront of you ladies to admit, nay confess, that I too an addicted to tweezers!

I am totally unable to make a card without my trusty pair. Once I almost had kittens when I thought they were 'lost' only to find them lurking in my make up bag! (yes, this work station transforms into a hairdressing salon and beauticians desk at the flip of a mirror!)
What a HUGE relief that was when they were found!

Thanks Julia for helping me to air my problem with the group. Any help would gratefully be accepted.

Keryn x

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I'm not a tweezer person. I find I can't grip the tweezers, so why bother. I bought one once. It lasted until I set them down and lost them. I may try again after your post, but will have to buy some, first. And any tool that needs to be squeezed to release is a tool I can live without.

I really love your layout. It is graphic, you are right! But it is also (like the spread says) 100% original and just like YOU!

akilli melek said...

so there is finally a name for it...yup, looks like I'm a left-brainer. Love my squeeze to release tweezers. Makes perfect sense to me....cant concentrate on lining up and holding tight at the same time. I do use my pokey tool for taking off the backing of foam pads though, tweezers just dont cut it there.

Sarah said...

I have a pink pair that live in my tote and rarely leave it. I know that using them would make life easier when it came to positioning fiddly bits but I'm generally too impatient to get 'it' on the page/card/whatever to dig them out.

Kathy said...

I've started using my tweezers more often - mainly in an effort to tame those teeny tiny gems and other twiddly bits. I've got the very pointed ones but find those darned gems do tend to ping! I think I need to investigate alternative pointy ends. so to speak!

airing cupboard crafts said...

no tweezers here, I use the end of my craft knife. Love the LO it's fab x

donnalouiserodgers said...

oh thank you for the laugh - mine are Bog Standard Tweezers .... except... the end 'tweeze' is at a right angle to the er, stem? (bit you hold) so with reading glasses on and tweezers in hand with item grasped/tweezed - you can see EXACTLY where that essential 2mm embellishment is being placed on the vast 12 inch by 12 inch work...I Am NORMAL....

Dx

Hope and Chances said...

Tweezers are on my list to buy... I'm determind to give them a go! :-)

Liverpool Lou (Anne) said...

Ooh real silver? Mine are 5" long curved at the end. But Chrissie (Simply One of a Kind) bought some fab ones recently at a great price so I'm going to get some. I only use mine occasionally in papercrafts but often use them for stuffing my dolls, but I also have a pair of 'forceps' for that job. I really need a stuffing fork 'cos you can get tiny bits of stuffing in things like doll fingers, but am going to make my own ;-) Fabulous LO, love the colours and love the writing.
BTW no story with the sock creatures. When I made the fist one Craft Chris asked if he was going to have a wife and I was already making another. As I gave him a girlfriend I thought it only right and proper to give them names :-) Dancy Dinmont just popped into my head for him and Mrs (though mine's Miss) Knucklfunty is a name my sister used for people many years ago.
Anne xx

Rosie said...

Made me laugh! After mangling my fine point curved tweezers my using them for all sorts of nefarious purposes, I finally found some new ones I love! They've got ... wait for it ... non-stick ends!! Love them. Is that top picture you, if so you look lovely!

Anne said...

Yup !!! a tweezer girl too !!! Long and straight to the point for cradfting and like Wipso use the bent end ones when threading my sewing machines ----- would take forever without them , especially the overlocker, which alot of you will know you have to perform internal surgery to thread up !!!!
Anne xxx

Paige said...

I'm not big on the the press to release type either I get a bit muddled and keep dropping sticking things! I think my need to use tweezers stems from when I used to have my nails "done" all the time and was never able to pick anything up. It's cheapy Tesco make Tweezers for me they are by far my favourite and i have about five pairs of them!

CoventryAnn said...

Hate to tell you but as a biologist my tweezers (aka forceps) are from an old dissecting kit, and have, in a previous life, been used to mess about with the insides of various creatures :o..... although that was 20 years ago now, so I think they might be clean!!

Sarah said...

Fabulously entertaining post. Tweezers are indeed a personal and highly strategic item. So, be-ribboned tweezers now??? Felt naffed off by certain ladies who wouldn't even let me brush along side their TH scissors when I was a beginner. Still faffing with my fingers at the mo - although gel nails are pushing me closer to tweezerdom, except I then get waylaid by starting on my brows...
Just wait - in 6 months time we mortals will be having to contend with the likes of the TH Multi-tasking Super Grunge Never-ping Magnetic Rotating Diamond Cut De-luxe Model (just $78.99 - Matching socks pre-order only).
Sarah