Monday 13 February 2012

12" of cold hard steel



I love my scissors. Freshly sharpened, ready to cut. They look tiny all lined up here but I use 12" shears and each of these is a different weight and balance and used for when I am cutting different fabrics. My new favourite is the blue handled ones on the right, they are heavy in the handle and cut through layers  and layers of fabric with ease, they're for doing the heavy work. The pair next to the blue handled is my oldest pair, the pair I moved up to from the old 10"ers, they are light and sweet but have been sharpened so often that the bumper (that's the little knob between the handles) has had to be ground down. The second pair from the left are heavy in the blades and I am still getting used to them and the pair on the left are my everything/everyday pair.
Over the years I have moved up from 8" scissors to 10" and then took the leap to 12". Sizes does matter and when you get the muscles strengthened up in your hand and forearm a beautiful pair of scissors is a fabulous extension of your arm. A bit like wielding a sword of power. And most of all a really good pair of scissors should be able to be sharpened and sharpened and sharpened. There is none of this stupid sprung scissoring for me, no plastic handled 'ergonomic' shamozzle, I want the type of scissors that could be passed down through the generations (if I had one to pass them down to).
I have some lovely 12" scissors sitting here that I have been meaning to pop in the 'Queens of Craft' store. I really should get around to doing that at some stage but I wasn't sure if people would be interested. You need to train up to a 12" and I wondered whether I should get some smaller ones in as well- 'training scissors' if you like.
Looking around my studio and home I seem to have scissors everywhere. All good full metal ones.

1 comment:

  1. Pene Scissorhands, I would love the Cottage to stock scissors. I want to have my OWN pair for fabric/paper/wool projects that are mine, my own, precious....

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