Hand made
When isolated by the camera, objects can lose their identity. When I was much younger, CFCY used to have a contest; each week a lovely monochrome image of “something” was shown to the viewer, and we were asked to send in “what”. Through a macro lens, you can fool many people, particularly in a world where the television is new and still very mysterious.
I’ve always left hand tools around the house – if you don’t rigorously put them away, they tend to get “left around”. I’ve neither encouraged nor discouraged the children playing with the tools; rather, I’ve just loudly rebuked all responsible when I can’t find the “tool of the moment”. And perhaps most importantly, I’ve allowed my sons to choose their own career paths.
Here is an image taken earlier today. I’ll not identify what, exactly; it might be one of my initials, or some secret device destined to save a budding McGyver. The only fact needed is that it represents the first work taken home from son #2’s new life in a technical world, and deserves notice.
To put this in perspective, the only piece of technical work remaining from my course in “shop” is a sugar scoop, carefully etched with an awl, cut with heavy shears and soldered using a real iron (heated in a furnace) with some lovely acid paste and lead solder. As far as I know, the scoop is still in service; not because it was of superb design and craftsmanship, but because my mother loves me dearly. And no, I don’t have any pictures to prove that, either.
