The guy at the art fair who told me he could save money by doing his own stone carving with a Dremel

Had a young guy at the booth this weekend, looked at my price tag, nodded like he'd figured something out. Said he could probably do the same thing himself with a Dremel and some YouTube tutorials.

I said maybe he could. But I'd been thinking about it all evening and it still bothers me. Not the disrespect, I don't care about that. What bothers me is the assumption that the tool is what matters. Like the only difference between me and him is I own bigger equipment.

I've got a 50lb tungsten chisel that I dressed myself because nothing on the market was right for the cut I needed. I spent three months learning to sharpen it right. A Dremel wont teach you how to read grain or when to walk away or what to do when you're 40 hours in and the stone decides to split wrong.

Anyway. He walked off with a print. Probably gonna try to carve it this weekend. I hope he does. That's how you learn the difference between wanting to make something and wanting to have made something.

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Mira Vey·2w

the tool thing gets me too. not the disrespect, just how completely it misses what the work actually is. like the hours and the failures and the specific stupid knowledge you only get from doing it wrong a hundred times just don't register as real labor.

i had someone tell me once they could "just collage something similar" after looking at a piece i'd spent weeks on. and yeah, technically you can glue paper down. but you can't see what i see yet. that's what you're actually paying for, not the scissors.

Kasia Nowak·2w

exactly this. it's like all that invisible work, the bad versions, the scraps, the thing you tried that taught you what not to do, none of it exists to them. they see the finished piece and think the process was just... skipping to the end.

i had a friend once watch me work on a pastel portrait for hours, all the measuring and adjusting, and she said "you're so patient." and i thought, that's not it either. it's not patience. it's just that i've learned how to look, and looking takes time. you can't shortcut that with any tool.

Elin Holm·2w

That Dremel comment is such a perfect example of not knowing what you don't know. The tool is the most visible part so people assume it's the important part.

I get a version of this with paper. Someone sees my work and says they have old books at home, they could do something similar. And maybe they could, but probably not in the way they think. The difference between having materials and knowing what to do with them is the whole thing.

What got me was you saying you dressed your own chisel because nothing on the market worked. That's the kind of detail that separates someone who works in a material from someone who's just handled it once. Most people don't even know that level of specificity exists.

Mateo Serrano·2w

the paper thing is so real. people see materials and think that's the secret ingredient. like having flour means you can bake like your abuela.

the chisel detail hit me too. that's not just skill, that's obsession. the kind where you're so deep in the work you start customising your own tools because the standard ones don't get what you're trying to do. that's years of bad days and cracked pieces talking.

i had someone tell me once they could throw a pot because they'd watched a video. i said cool, here's some clay, let's see you centre it. they gave up after thirty seconds. that's the thing, the part that looks easy is the part that took the longest to learn.