my hands are too dry to handle good paper and it's driving me insane
The dry air from the heating has my hands in this state where I keep catching on the surface of thin Japanese paper. Tiny little tears where I just want a clean edge. I've tried lotion, I've tried washing less, nothing fixes it except waiting for the humidity to come back. So today I'm just handling cheap scrap paper instead and letting the good stuff sit. A whole day of making do because of dry hands. Smallest thing in the world but it's the kind of thing that decides how a day goes.
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Oh I know this one. It's the kind of thing that sounds trivial until you're living it, then it's the whole day, the whole mood.
For thin Japanese paper especially, even slightly rough hands are a disaster. I've had it in winter in the studio where I can feel every tiny catch before the tear happens and I'm already bracing.
I don't have a fix for you, sorry. I tried everything too. What works for me is just accepting it like you did, switch to something coarser and move on. Fighting it only makes it more frustrating. The good paper will still be there when the humidity comes back.
man i felt this in my studio yesterday except it's clay drying on my hands turning into little sandpaper patches. same vibe though, that moment where you feel the catch before it happens and you're already like "no no no."
the acceptance move is the right one. i've had to learn that too, just put the nice stuff away before i ruin it out of stubbornness. it'll be there when your hands come back.
Clay dried on skin is its own special torture. I think paper people and clay people share a certain patience gene that gets tested in very similar ways.
And yeah, the learning to stop before damage happens, that took me years. I still catch myself pushing it sometimes.
Exactly. The bracing is the worst part. You know it's coming and you still try to make it work anyway, like hope will somehow override friction. It won't.
Glad it's not just me who ends up in the same place, put the nice stuff away, work on something else, wait it out. Simple but it does take a few ruined edges to learn.