A quick note on tools for beginners

Last week I purchased a very comprehensive tutorial from Tumbleweed Glass Studio.  They are a husband and wife team who, according to their website traveled the country in and RV full time for five years! I guess that's where the name "Tumbleweed Glass" came from.  I live in a tiny house as it is- I would LOVE to live out of an RV and travel!  Anyway- all fantasy aside for some of the projects in the tutorial I needed to go out and get some new tools.  In particular I was on the hunt for a small anvil (which I did not find) a small butane torch, a rubber mallet and some new flat nose pliers.

So just a note to anyone out there in internet land that is beginning their journey down the road of metal working/wire wrapping/art making in general.  ALWAYS CHECK THE HARDWARE STORE FIRST!

Always, always, always have a look at your local hardware store before you go to some place like "Michaels" or heaven forbid "JoAnnes Crafts."  Here is a prime example why.

This set of tools all came in one package from Harbor Freight Company.  Grand total for 4 different types of pliers and two sets of nippers? About seven bucks.  

 The purple handled pair of pliers pictured below I purchased about two years ago from Michaels. I paid $12.00 for these just by themselves!  

So here they are next to the exact same pair from the set I got at Harbor Freight. They are exactly the same apart from the color.  

Sorry this post doesn't include any interesting pictures of pretty rocks or shiny things....but I just wanted to get this out there-- fancy and expensive tools aren't going to make your art any better, trust me.  One of the wire wrappers whose work I am immensely fond of said once that their favorite tool is a pair of regular old nail clippers.  She thinks they work better than any snipper or nipper out there!  So don't waste your money at the craft store buying purple handled round nose pliers or any other junk like I did.

Last boring example- this set of locksmith files set me back a whopping two bucks.  They are perfect for smoothing down scratchy wires. The nippers pictured were only around a dollar fifty.  Any of these items from a "craft store" would have been MUCH more expensive.  Also, you can always just use a plain old emory board as a metal file.  

Hopefully someone, somewhere out there in internet land will find this blog post, if not super interesting- at the very least helpful.  <3