35 Makers Show Us What They Do With Their Favorite Tools

Tools don’t make the maker, but boy, they can be fun to use. Recently we asked you to show us the tools and materials that inspire you to create. From pile drivers to plastic bags, 3D printers to antique chisel sets, more than 200 makers shared stories and photos of the tools and materials they use to produce work they’re proud of.

Some tools featured here are one of a kind, either custom made or handed down through generations, while others can be bought at a local art store or were intended for uses much different than seen here. Regardless, they can all inspire us to appreciate what goes into how things are made.

1. Tool: Plastic shopping bag
Product: Faux-finish walls

Darrell Hale, of Fresh Coat Painters, shared a “tool” that many people would never think could help with home improvement: a plastic bag.

His company used shopping bags to create a leather glaze texture for a client who wanted her walls to have a Western theme. To achieve the look seen here, “simply smash/wad and use it on a glazed wall,” Hale says.





2. Tool: Lulzbot TAZ 4 3D printer
Product: Conceptual sculptures and installations

Artist Leisa Rich constructs her art pieces using a variety of media, including 3D-printed material. Here she shares a photo of one of the tools that makes this all possible: her Lulzbot TAZ 4 3D printer.

This series, called “Ladies of the Night,” uses 3D-printed material, wood, recycled rubber, embroidery floss, a recycled Mary McFadden designer dress and acrylic. Rich sewed, hand-embroidered and 3D printed the components of this series.


3. Tool: Foreclosure map
Product: Quilt

Artist and former urban planner Kathryn Clark used her favorite tool, the map, to craft a quilt series that vividly reveals how housing foreclosures are affecting neighborhoods across the U.S.


With the data she saw on the RealtyTrac foreclosure maps, Clark used linen, cotton and embroidery thread to create what she calls “ragged and tattered” quilts. The foreclosed properties are represented as holes in the quilt.


4. Tool: Laser cutter
Product: One-of-a-kind metal decor

Marcin Stepski personalizes furniture, light fixtures and vintage appliances (next photo), using this laser cutter to cut intricate details with perfect precision.





5. Tool: Hollander beater
Product: Paper made from plant fibers

Paper artist Claudia Lee made this light sculpture from paper of her own creation. The sculpture is a low-relief casting on industrial metal. Lee works in all facets of handmade paper production. Some of her pieces involve spinning paper thread, stitching paper and fabricating light fixtures out of it.

Her favorite tool, called the Hollander beater (next photo), turns plant fibers, including flax and iris leaves, into paper pulp.The Hollander beater runs the fiber around an ovoid ring filled with water, and a beater wheel pulverizes the fibers at a single point along the ring to a usable pulp. The pulp then forms the paper.





6. Tool: Vintage metal bookstand
Product: Drawings

New York City illustrator janiacnyc was pleasantly surprised to find this vintage metal bookstand for sale on eBay, as it turned out to be the perfect size to hold smaller drawings. When not in use, it can be folded flat and put away. “I don’t think I could do without it,” janiacnyc says.


7. Tools: Draw knife, rasp, finger plane and knife
Product: Hand-carved canoe paddles

The four tools shown here help Kent Lund carve intricate, often themed, wooden canoe paddles.

The draw knife, shown on the left, was his father’s from the 1920s. It’s pulled, or drawn, across the wood with both hands to carve. The pointed metal tool next to it, the rasp, is from France, and this tool helps shape the paddles. The finger plane, a tool typically used by luthiers — makers of stringed musical instruments — carves a rib down the center of the paddle blade. The knife helps Lund create geometric shapes in the paddle handles. And there’s another tool — the No. 2 pencil. “I can’t do anything without it,” he says.





8. Tool: Plasma cutter
Product: Precisely cut metal fence

Bsgibbs shared a few favorite tools from a recently completed project. He used the plasma cutter shown here to cut an artistic and irregularly shaped top on a steel fence. You can see in the background of this photo where some of the fence panels have already been cut.


9. Tools: Chartpak ad markers
Product: Colorful, vibrant landscape drawings

Landscape designer Zach Hammaker, of ZH Design, shared that Chartpak markers are his secret to bringing landscape drawings to life. He also has a lot of fun with them. “In a time of technology, sometimes a throwback to the handcrafted is a much-needed breath of fresh air,” he says.





10. Tool: 1943 Northfield band saw
Product: Handcrafted wood furniture

David Hurwitz relies on heavy-duty tools to help him craft his one-of-a-kind wood creations. Shown here is his American-made Northfield band saw, made in 1943 and originally intended for use in a California navy yard.

“My furniture designs incorporate a lot of curves, so the rough forms start out on the bandsaw, followed by many different steps of carving, shaping, sanding and finishing,” Hurwitz says.


11. Tool: Homemade Vac-U-Form
Product: 3D PVC panels

Sometimes when you can’t find the tool that will make what you want, you just have to make that tool yourself. That’s what architect Ray C. Freeman III did when he wanted to have 3D panels made for his house. He built a 24-inch by 24-inch Vac-U-Form-like tool using barbecues for the heating elements and a shop vac for suction. Everything else he pretty much invented. You can see one of the finished panels on the floor next to the machine in this photo and lining the ceiling in Freeman’s house in the next photo.








12. Tool: Custom hammer
Product: Stone sculpture

Angela Treat Lyon carves robust, figurative sculptures out of stone with the help of her favorite tool: a custom hammer with a shorter handle to better fit her hands.

Her favorite stones to carve include black calcite and misty green soapstone. This piece is made from seafoam-green Montana soapstone.


13. Tool: Pile driver
Product: Secure foundations for coastal homes

The team at Blue Sky Building reminded us that sometimes the most important tools are the ones that allow the detailed work to follow.

Deep pilings beneath the homes they build on the coastal Southeast U.S. form solid foundations so that the homes and all of their details will survive for years to come.


14. Tools: Carpenter’s bench by Ulmia; Swiss-made and Flexcut gouge chisels
Product: Hand-cut stone sculptures

Artisan David Jackson is a sculptor who also specializes in conserving and restoring tansu, traditional Japanese storage cabinetry. His German-made carpenter’s bench and his gouge chisels cover all of his carving needs.





15. Tool: BuildClean air scrubber
Use: Maintains clean air during construction

Just like a tool that holds other tools is important, so is a tool that cleans up after tools. Roberts Construction says the BuildClean air scrubber is the company’s most important tool during construction; it helps keep homes clean and safe by removing contaminants that might be in the air through a filter system.


16. Tools: Diamond drill bits
Product: Glass and copper wind chimes

Tim Kline of Coast Chimes goes through lots of diamond drill bits when he cuts beach glass to make glass and copper wind chimes, something he’s been doing for over 20 years.


This creation by Kline features copper wire wrapped around three pieces of blue beach-style glass.


17. Tool: Telescopic tripod with 1-ton chain hoist
Use: Moving heavy landscape objects, such as boulders and trees

Landscape elements can be heavy to install or remove, and the team at Living Space Landscapes has crafted a tool to help with that.

Taking inspiration from Japanese garden designers, who have used tripods to move boulders for centuries, they repurposed this one originally intended for rescue operations to set boulders, pull out small trees and move heavy objects in spaces where other heavy machinery can’t fit.


18. Tool: Woodworking clamps
Product: Furniture that fills a house

Sal Ortega says that of the tools a woodworker can have, “one can never have too many clamps.” He would know, having spent the past couple of decades remodeling his family’s home in Salem, Oregon. He and his wife, Geri, did everything from building furniture and cabinets to placing tile and installing windows.


Ortega built this sliding barn door using materials he already had.

See the Ortegas’ house featured on Houzz





19. Tool: Kreg pocket hole jig
Product: Farmhouse table

Houzz user Vera Kitchen is excited to have discovered the pocket hole jig, a tool that makes it easier to drill pocket holes. Professional furniture makers use this tool, but homeowners can drill pocket holes too.

Read more about pocket hole joinery


20. Tool: Rigger watercolor brush
Product: Watercolor paintings with detail and texture

Artist Jill Poyerd showed us one tool she uses for adding detail and texture to her watercolor paintings: the rigger brush. “I have a handful of favorite brushes that I use when I paint, but my favorite is the rigger brush, with its long, thin bristles,” she says.


Poyerd painted this river birch winter scene on 300-pound archival cotton rag paper.





21. Tools: Gränsfors Bruks hatchets
Product: Hand-carved wooden spoons

Deltondog uses these hatchets, made by Swedish company Gränsfors Bruks, to create the rough shape of hand-carved wooden spoons. “I have been carving spoons for something like 40 years, and I am finally starting to get the hang of it,” says deltondog.

Deltondog works primarily with cherrywood, because it is easy to carve and tends to hold up well.





22. Material: Gold leaf on glass
Product: Custom hand-painted signs

Though we’re excited by new tools and new technologies, oftentimes it’s the heritage techniques that really draw us in. Roderick Treece, of Custom Glass Signs and Mirrors, applies gold leaf to the back of glass to create one-of-a-kind hand-painted storefront signs.

Here is a sign Treece made for a Ralph Lauren store in New York.





23. Tool: Custom loom and porcelain fence insulators for card weaving
Product: Handwoven instrument straps

Houzz user tracesmomcheryl took up the ancient art of card weaving, but ended up having problems keeping all of the strings in place with the proper tension. She solved the problem by hanging porcelain fence insulators, used to fasten electric fencing, at the end of each individual string. She took her inspiration from Japanese tama weights, used in kumihimo braiding, but found these for a fraction of the price.

Here is a finished instrument strap. Tracesmomcheryl says that sometimes these straps can take up to 38 cards per weaving.


24. Tool: Potter’s wheel
Products: Bowls, plates and other dishware

Kimberlytaylor’s husband crafts the pottery that she designs and sells to benefit their nonprofit, The Grow Hope Foundation. For him, she says, the potter’s wheel is the most important tool for making.


Open shelves display the pottery that kimberlytaylor and her husband sell for their nonprofit.


25. Tool: Venetian plaster trowel
Product: Interior walls finishes

Judy Bernier is the owner of the company Podzook, which manufactures and sells unique backyard sheds. She says her favorite tool is the Venetian plaster trowel in an elliptical shape. It’s essential for finishing the pods’ interiors, which are also spherical.


These pods are designed in the U.K. by Archipod and built in Maine using locally sourced materials.





26. Tools: Running pliers and grozer pliers
Product: Geometric glass art

Heather Hancock, of hhmosaics, creates geometric glass art pieces and installations. To bring her ideas to life, she relies on her running pliers (red handles) and grozer pliers (green handles).

This graphic mosaic tabletop by Hancock is made of glass and grout and framed in metal. It can also be hung as wall art.


27. Tools: X-Acto knives
Product: Art pieces featuring intricately cut and rolled pieces of paper

The X-Acto knife is one tool that will find its way into most, if not every, toolbox at some point. It’s affordable, and its size makes it easy to maneuver in tight corners and help with the most detailed work.

Pzimm14 uses a variety of X-Acto knives and other quilling tools to create intricately rolled and cut paper shapes (next photo).



This quilling art piece features pieces of paper that form the five Great Lakes.


28. Tool: Grappler truck
Product: Live-edge wood furniture

Refined Elements specializes in making furniture using live-edge wood. The grappler truck allows the company’s sawyers to easily move 3,000- to 5,000-pound logs around a yard. A wide-throat saw mill cuts 55-inch-diameter logs into slabs that are then made into furniture.

A finished dining table (next photo) takes over two years to complete, starting from when the log is selected, then milled and kiln dried.

URL: 35 Makers Show Us What They Do With Their Favorite Tools http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-25633.html