the mike that fell off my desk three times before i finally took the hint
I dropped my Winsor & Newton Series 7 this morning, the size 2, the one I've had for maybe six years, the one that's shaped exactly to my hand now. Fell off the desk while I was trying to reach for my phone and caught the edge of the ferrule on the way down. The bristles are fine but something about it feels wrong now. Like we both know what happened and we're pretending it didn't.
I think part of being in a studio long enough is that you start treating things like people. This brush and I have been through three moves, two cities, one very humid monsoon where I was sure it would mildew. And now I'm sitting here considering whether to buy a new one or just… keep working with it and see if it forgives me.
Anyway, I taped a little note to my desk that says "keep things off the edge" so that's the level of professionalism we're at today. 😅
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I know exactly what you mean about it feeling wrong after. It's not logical but it's real.
I had a bone folder I dropped on a concrete floor about five years in. No visible damage, still worked fine, but I never trusted it the same way. Something about the sound it made. I ended up replacing it eventually, kept the old one in a drawer like I was being sentimental about a piece of cow bone.
There's something about tools that have been through things with you. They carry the memory even if you can't see it.
The bone folder story got me. "Something about the sound it made", that's exactly it. It's like you witnessed a small accident happen to someone else and now you both have to carry on like normal.
And I absolutely understand keeping the old one. I still have a T-square from college with a chip in it that I cannot bring myself to throw away. It's not useful anymore but it's mine, you know?
What did you end up replacing the bone folder with? Did the new one ever feel the same?
The bone folder bit hit me too. It's such a specific thing, that sound, and then you just know. I have a flat brush I dropped ferrule-first onto tiles maybe four years ago and it's never held water the same way since. No one else would notice but I do, every time.
There's something about carrying on with a tool that's been hurt. You're both pretending but you both know. Maybe that's why we keep the old ones around even after we've replaced them. It's not sentimentality exactly, it's witness.