Unfavorite Tool -- Now Favorite!

Lea Zinke · #1 2010-10-06, 11:34am

Don't we all have tools on our bench or in the studio that just hangs around, gathering dust??!! I was just too lazy to ever photograph this one and put it in the GS.

Now, I'm sooooo glad I didn't -- the arch is perfect for making bones!!!!! (or the graceful neck on an urn, I'm sure a million other things now....lol)

Post your tools that you ALMOST got rid of, and now re-purposed you use every day!!!

Ari'elle · #2 2010-10-06, 11:54am

How cool! I've never seen that one before, do you know what it's called? I think most people will get rid of a tool before they sell or trade their older glass colors but I'm the opposite. I very rarely trade or sell my tools but I'll trade old/oddlot glass in a heartbeat if I'm looking for a particular color, lol.

Lea Zinke · #3 2010-10-06, 12:05pm

Good for you! I rarely sell glass, only because I hate the process of weighing it, banding it, wrapping it, taping.....well, you get the picture!

I literally have had this for years, don't recall what it is called, or where I got it! But it surely is coming in handy now that I've found a purpose for it!

StephBonniwell · #4 2010-10-06, 1:31pm

I think it's called a Mickey Marver. A great tool!

Ari'elle · #5 2010-10-06, 1:36pm

Thanks Steph! Hmm, now I'll have to go looking for it, I'm sure I'll find some excuse to get one, lol!

squid · #6 2010-10-06, 2:14pm

It's a Mikey Marver (no c) - I love mine!

StephBonniwell · #7 2010-10-06, 2:46pm

Squid, do you know whom it's named after? I've seen different spellings which is why I ask. AS has it listed as "Mikie Shaper", for example.

Lea Zinke · #8 2010-10-06, 3:07pm

Craig at Arrow Springs always names new tools after whomever requested it or suggested it to him, we can always hope Donna cks in here & clears it up!!!

Squid, meant to ask, what do you use yours for??? (I literally never picked this up before shaping bones this week!)

Chuckie · #9 2010-10-06, 5:01pm

I love my Mini-Mikey! I use it most when trying to straighten out tube and barrel bead ends. The tapered tip is perfect for pushing small amounts of glass up close to the mandrel, then I roll it to the flat edge to finish off the bead ends.

squid · #10 2010-10-06, 5:22pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by StephBonniwell

Squid, do you know whom it's named after? I've seen different spellings which is why I ask. AS has it listed as "Mikie Shaper", for example.

I don't - I bought mine in a class so I didn't even know for sure Mikey was right until I googled it

.

squid · #11 2010-10-06, 5:25pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lea Zinke

Craig at Arrow Springs always names new tools after whomever requested it or suggested it to him, we can always hope Donna cks in here & clears it up!!!

Squid, meant to ask, what do you use yours for??? (I literally never picked this up before shaping bones this week!)

I use it to flatten the stamen in the middle of my encased florals after I dot them with clear. The angled end is perfect for it. The graphite is really high quality. Since I started making florals I have been using it more and more things.

Dasi · #12 2010-10-06, 5:36pm

That is my very favorite tool!!!
Makes great vessels...

KJJames · #13 2010-10-06, 5:42pm

Thanks a lot Lea! Just what I DIDN'T need! Another tool to put on my wish list! LOL!

I just picked up a new leaf masher and as always said to DH, "I'm good now. I won't need a new tool for a good long time." He just looked at me and and laughed like yeah right Ka. I know you better than that.

I'm going to wait a few weeks before I will admit to him that I am adding a new tool to my next purchase...

Lea Zinke · #14 2010-10-06, 5:54pm

Haha, Karen, to think that up til this week, I would've been happy to give it away!!! Wait 'til you try it, it's da'bomb!

kirrakat123 · #15 2010-10-06, 5:57pm

Hi, I have one & use it all the time. Great for shaping. I also use mine when
I am laying down stripes or encasing to push down the ends of the lines that
always want to stand up. I just heat that section & push down with the tool.

Donna Milliron · #16 2010-10-06, 8:23pm

Yep, it's called the Mikie Shaper.

Craig (Arrow Springs) watched a video on vessel making and saw a carbon rod tool and realized he could shape one better than in the video, so he made it - a very long time ago. He was trying to convince Mike Frantz to carry it and Mike just kept saying he was already carrying too many tools - so Craig said if you buy them I will name it after you - so Mike bought some adn Craig named it the "Mikie Shaper". Then Mike sent one off to China and had it copied and never bought more from Arrow Springs, but I believe he still calls it the Mikie Shaper.

That's the true story.

It's a good tool! Here's a link to the original Craig designed: http://arrowsprings.com/html/shaping_tools.html

Donna

ElementalsDesign · #17 2010-10-06, 8:30pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by squid

It's a Mikey Marver (no c) - I love mine!

I agree with Squid (no 'c') ..but I just came across mine the other day while I was setting up my glass working bench again (yayy) and wondering if I should offer it up in the garage sale.. I've made a couple of tools that I seem to prefer so mine is still pristine.

Ambivalent still, though, as it's a gorgeous tool and I am afraid that, about a week after I sell it, I'll find a reason I couldn't have ever lived without it and then what will I do???

~Rachel

Lea Zinke · #18 2010-10-07, 1:53am

Hey Donna, thanks for stopping in! Hope this thread brings some buyers for the ORIGINAL tool to you!!!!

Now that I've seen your pics, looks like mine is a copy

, hmmmmm! Dang.

Ofilia · #19 2010-10-07, 6:06am

OMG, now I ALSO want a "Baroque Shaper" too

! Thanks Donna, for chiming in. Always nice to know the stories, first hand, from the source. Long time no SEE

!! Damn... when you have "tool addiction", it's just too hard to stop, isn't it?

Pat · #20 2010-10-07, 7:09am

It's like my favorite tool. It all chipped and used. I use it to push the clear on murrinis upside down. For pushing in dots. For cleaning up bead holes. Yikes I just love that thing.

ElementalsDesign · #21 2010-10-07, 7:57am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ari'elle

Thanks Steph! Hmm, now I'll have to go looking for it, I'm sure I'll find some excuse to get one, lol!

Ari'elle.. I might just have to list mine in the Garage Sale since I have never used it.. it's still brand new.

I have found myself partial to another graphite marver entirely and am not about to change naowww!

Interested?

~Rachel

lenora · #22 2010-10-07, 8:03am

I have a rule that I don't sell tools. I always end up regretting it.

ElementalsDesign · #23 2010-10-07, 8:07am

I have a rule that I will never end up homeless (I just KNOW I'd hate it!) ...so tools, I'll sell.. (but not very many ;} I hear you there, Lenora! <smile>

~Rachel

Lisi · #24 2010-10-07, 9:52am

That was a great reason to keep that tool! The bone bead is fantastic and I would love to see you make more!

I've had to sell almost all of mine or starve, never mine the mortgage not getting paid. Too bad ya gotta eat! LOL

I have a few tools that I will never ever sell - a press that was gifted to me several years ago from another member because she saw that I sold all of mine in desperation. (I sold 8 presses that time!) Another gift is a set of frit crushing tools because this member said she didn't need extra and wanted me to have it. Then there's my Coon Valley brass masher, and my newer tool of his, a custom squeeze with two sizes.

Those I will never part with, no matter what. It's not about the money there. Two were gifts and the other two I will never be able to get again. But of course, I do regret the fact that I have bought a lentil press three times, sold them, and never really learned how to make those kinds of beads. One of the reasons I make only tabs and roundies, but I'm happy with that.

2kids&atorch · #25 2010-10-07, 10:57am

I don't have a pic, but I love my dental pic. Just a plain ole' stainless steel pic with sharp, angled head. Perfect for EVERYTHING. That, and my straight razor.

greywillow · #26 2010-10-07, 1:15pm

I've got a 4-sided brass former that I'm trying to love...if I can ever figure out exactly how to use it. I keep thinking I'm just going to sell it, but then I know that if I do, I'll probably kick myself for it later. It has a rounded barrel roller side, a long "v" side, a tapered "v" side, and a long squared side. It makes me feel stupid right now, but I have a feeling that it may eventually end up pretty useful. I can hope!

Kristi

Lea Zinke · #27 2010-10-07, 1:35pm

Hey Kristi, try this -- take one afternoon to play with it. Try each different side. Try it with new glass that you're trying to "figure out". Try it with new frit that you're trying to see what reaction you get. Little experiments.

Sometimes the beads are ugly, I mean UGLY. Destined for the fishbowl ugly. But sometimes they're ok. Those go in the sale basket. BUT SOMETIMES, YOU COME UP WITH A WHOLE NEW STYLE.

I love the playdays -- I just got some new glass today from a Garage Sale transacion, played all afternoon with it,can't wait to see how the experiments turned out!

Most of all, have fun!

disneymama · #28 2010-10-09, 1:25pm

My Osabin lentil shaper fits into this catagory. I got it to make lentils, but I never got the hang of it so bought a press and put the graphite shaper away. But now I use it all the time to smooth beads into shape.

LisaF · #29 2010-10-09, 2:01pm

Jenny -
Don't get rid of your Osibin lentil shaper. It is perfect for shaping beads like this. Cynthia Tilker showed us in her class and I have used it more than any other tool since then. I love it!!

Art of Hand · #30 2010-10-09, 3:22pm

I use 3 tools with almost every bead.
1. The best ever is my surgical scalpel blade tool. The steel is so thin, that it cools down quickly. Press down anything from shards to shaping and shifting glass to the end of the mandrel when I want to cover a base bead made with crappy clear glass.
2. The base of my graded button press. I use it to measure the footpath width with almost all my beads.
3. My el cheapo ice thong parrallel press.
I love my marver, but I only use it when I make a tubular bead.
I have a really brilliant pokey tool, the one end is bend at a 90 degree angle. I use that to drag the glass on my large disk beads.
I have used my brass shaper only a few times. It does not even do the job properly when I try and strike glass. It normally ends up as a glass rod rest ...
I have one other press, and for my life I cannot make a lentil. Once every 6 months I try again, but nada.
I have a cool brass press to get a uniform flat bead, but honestly - my parrallel press does the trick.
I have one funny brass tool, that I got gifted. To this day I have not figured out how to use it.

And that is all the tools that i have. Too few to sell ...