A Change of Pace

Back to the Studio today for maybe the third time in a week.  The last bunch of times it was mostly to continue coloring a saint proof, and I had thought about doing more of that today, but I had more pressing issues.  Turns out tomorrow is the first day of my next woodcut class series in Belmar.  No surprises expected, but there is still work to do.

I had received a box of supplies last week, much of which was ordered for my summer classes, such as some new woodcut tools.  These are more of what they call their "standard quality" tools, not as expensive or carefully manufactured as their superior tools (which I use for my own art).  However, they are a good value and still much better than anything else sold in stores (which is almost nothing these days) and I have been using them for this class for several years, adding a few more year by year, to meet the requested needs, or to replace ones that need it or have gone missing.

The tools come with long wood handles, which users are expected to cut to their preferred size.  In fact, they send instructions for how to best measure for this.  I usually cut some of them down, and leave some longer, so students in the class can find what works best for them.  I find that the shorter size fits the hand better and is easier to cut with (the more expensive ones I use come much shorter than these).  So today I cut a bunch down to an easier size, 6 or 7 of them, a mix of blade types and sizes.  Couldn't find my coping saw, so I used a keyhole saw.  Forgot to bring any sandpaper with me, so the job was eventually finished at home,  smoothing out the ends of the handles while sitting on my front step.

The other task up at the Studio was picking up the wood I had stored there, such as that piece of birch  the tools are sitting on in the above photo.  If tomorrow goes as expected, the tools won't be used, just shown, but I will need the wood, which I will cut down into blocks and distribute to the students.  Stuck it in the car for now.  I have more than enough for blocks suitable to first projects, and if that runs low, I can get more.  Meanwhile, I also verified that my saw is in the back of my car, that I have spare blades for it, and my straightedge ruler for measuring.  Everything else I need it inside my apartment and I'll start gathering and loading the car tomorrow.