I heartily appreciate both utility and beauty. Useful objects that are also beautiful bring me joy.

I'd never heard of sashiko until my therapist suggested I try it as a meditative practice. I loved the idea, and really like the look of the traditional patterns I've seen, so I gave it a try. I like it well enough to keep doing it, and made myself a sashiko thimble using a quarter, some scrap fabric, and a hair elastic.

But I find drawing grids to be both very difficult, and tedious enough to be a barrier.

So now I'm making a stencil. I've taped a piece of graph paper to an old thin plastic cutting board; the kind you can roll up, and I'm punching holes through it at the corners of the squares with an awl. I expect this would also work well using paperboard (the sort of thin cardboard cereal boxes are made of) and a regular needle.

I think making some of the tools I'm going to use is a helpful way of committing to the practice, so I'm more likely to keep doing it than if I just bought commercially available ones. Also, I get to enjoy making the tools.

Making the stencil is tedious, but I'm very pleased with myself about the idea, and I'll be happy to have an easier way to draw grids.

#Sashiko #ToolMaking #Embroidery #VisibleMending

Cameron Koczon how Fictive Kin’s product development starts with “a Seinfeld” - an app that does nothing - and ends with a polished core experience.

📻 Tune in: https://interfacecafe.com/designing-tools-cameron-koczon/

#ProductDesign #UX #ToolMaking #Software #Podcast

Designing Tools is Awesome: Cameron Koczon, Partner at Fictive Kin

Fictive Kin’s Cameron Koczon on understanding the foundational impact of design.

Interface Café

#SGU #TheSkepticsGuideToTheUniverse
The Skeptics Guide #1061 - Nov 8 2025

Quickie with Bob: #Nanotech #Cancer Drug; News Items: NEO #Robot, UN #Climate Report, Human #Toolmaking, Worst #Panspermia #Headline Ever, AI-Powered #Wound #Healer; Who's That #Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Horse #Evolution, Stranded #Taikonauts; #Science or Fiction

Webseite der Episode: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu

Mediendatei: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/skepticsguide/skepticast2025-11-08.mp3

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe | Weekly science podcast produced by the SGU Productions llc. Also provides blogs, forums, videos and resources.
After using the new shooting grip for a while, I decided to add another modification to protect the palm of my hand from chafing on the hard edge of the iron.
#woodworking #toolmaking
Why do monkeys waste time on frivolous activities rather than cooperate to make tools and build industries?
#monkeys #primates #animals #animalbehavior #toolmaking #industry #zoology #timemanagement #animalintelligence #monkeyintelligence #animalpsychology #socialbehavior #wastingtime

Result of yesterday's work: three hand planes with five additional holes for the shooting grip. (On the Veritas Low-Angle Smoother I was able to re-use the existing hole for the grub screw for lateral blade adjustment.)

It's much more comfortable than without the grip on all three planes (but quartersawn oak is still a pain to shoot 🙈)

#woodworking #metalworking #toolmaking #HandToolWoodworking

Herb chopper make from scrounged up steel the blade is made out of some old cultivator tine
And the handles are made out of some hickory tool handle scraps
There’s something deeply satisfying about turning discarded materials into something useful again.
One of my favourite parts of forging is foraging.

#blacksmithing #reclaimedmaterials #handmadetools #upcycleddesign #herbchopper #toolmaking #scrapmatalart