There are some things that people do automatically start stroking: spoons. I work very hard to avoid making an exact repeat. There are some lovely spoons out there that look handmade but are not. Take a look at the “family resemblance.” All the spoons and spatulas look graceful, smooth, and well designed, but there is very little individuality. Of course, I am not in the spoon business. I don’t have to turn out thousands a year to keep my enterprise solvent. I may make a few hundred if I’m doing shows. That quantity allows me to play around. I am looking for designs with excellent utility, well balanced, looks attractive, and feels nice.
To see and to feel are complementary senses. As a society, we tend to emphasize the visual at the cost of feel. That can be a mistake.
Boatbuilder Ralph Johnson drove this home to me years ago. We were planking a small boat. He asked me if the plank I had just finished shaping was fair. Based on my vision, I replied that it was. He just smiled and asked me to close my eyes and walk down the plank while I ran my thumb against the edge. As I progressed, I felt every rough bump, dip, and ding. In boatbuilders’ jargon, it was not genuinely fair.
Seeing may be believing, but feel will give you a less biased second opinion.
I wonder if a lot of it is the fact that we are taught by our parents to ‘look, but don’t touch’, particularly at the store for example. Although I don’t hear it as much as I once did. Now, with the virus, touch has become really touchy.
I hadn’t thought about the virus ( I’ll dope slap myself). You make several really valid points. Thanks!
Kids have it right though–they are very tactile, and brutally honest and non-judgemental and accepting of everyone, and then we, as a society, come along and corrupt them. It’s too bad, really. We have a lot to learn from them.
Oh & beautiful spoon by the way!
Thank you!
As I get older, my eyesight is not quite what it used to be. Two years ago I broke down and got some eyeglasses. The ophthalmologist said that my vision was perfect, other than for the fact that I couldn’t focus. It was more than a physical diagnosis, for when I finally donned the specs, I found my mind focused better as well. We have to rely more than what our eyes tell us though. I learned through someone I thought I knew that I didn’t necessarily have to look at something to diagnose a trouble. That in listening and by touch I could discern so much more, if I instead focused on those senses. It helped me realize how easily I believed the deception of my vision. Anyway, thank you for this. I love your stories.
I’ve also loved your posts, and look forward to more of them.