My fingers still have it!

[jesse_the_k]

My fngers are still working well enough to detect tiny measurements.

I’ve been cranking out jewelry like there’s no tomorrow. I’m still open to giving finished work to someone who’s willing to document it before selling it on.

Anyway, I’ve been using a lot of beading needles. My needle box was a disaster, so I decided to sort things out. Beading needles are very thin — they range from 0.30mm all the way up to 1.20mm.

Luckily MyGuy spent four years on-and-off working at Beloit Corporation, which made paper-making machinery. (The off was spent learning how to be an engineer in a co-op program.) He’d saved the beautiful micrometer which easily read .001mm from his days in the shop.

Micrometer in hand, I began to sort through my needles. Within ten minutes I was able to distinguish needle size by touch — I stabbed them into a foam board in groups of like thickness, and double checked that I hadn’t put a 0.30mm in the same place as the 0.45mm

My fingers can still feel 0.15mm!

In an earlier life I worked prepress, setting type and pasting up camera-ready copy. Because it was a budget outfit, we printed up our own layout sheets — for business cards and such — on 60# copy paper. The type and photostats were on photographic paper just a hair thinner than the layout sheets. I used a sharp Xacto blade to do paste-up, and quickly was able to cut through the waxed-up photostats without touching the layout sheet.

Comments

[sonia]

So cool! Thanks for sharing about your finger sensitivity and skill!

[jesse_the_k]

swaggers her fingers

[sonia]

Oh yeah! And the perfect icon as always.

[gloss]

That is so cool! I mean, just the fact that you have such a precise micrometer is awesome :D but both your current deftness AND your old job are so, so cool.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks! I tried to capture the beauty of the micrometer but my photog skills failed me.

Humans can do amazing things!

[yourlibrarian]

My that must be fine detail work!

[jesse_the_k]

I thought so at first, and by the end of three hours of needle sorting, it was easy as slipping on a banana peel. Bodies are amazing.g

[sovay]

My fingers can still feel 0.15mm!

That's really cool.

[jesse_the_k]

'tis cool.

And also, after all, surgeons make tiny slices and watchmakers mesh tiny gears and humans are actually really good at little motions.

[esteefee]

that's way cool, buddy!

[jesse_the_k]

...thanks

it's also a nice testament to my good surgery and diligent PT.

[esteefee]

worth all that pain and effort. now just don't overdo it!

[firecat]

Fascinating and delightful!

[jesse_the_k]

:D :D :D

[agoodwinsmith]

Yay! To have - and still have!

[jesse_the_k]

Amen.

[susanreads]

Wow! I doubt I could distinguish a whole 1mm by touch! What a cool job you had.

[jesse_the_k]

I certainly didn't expect to be able to do any of this -- I'm delighted by what my body can still do.

[luzula]

Very cool! I measure micrometers sometimes, by way of shuttling a microscope image into the computer and then using a program to measure. But I've never tried it with my fingers!

[jesse_the_k]

I was amazed it was possible.

I'd assumed the difference would be more sensible to the eyes than the fingers -- back in my graphic arts days I would proofread mouse print -- the tiny type on the back of bank forms and leases detailing all the legalese. It was commonly set in 4 pt type, which is really really tiny.

Some things never change -- the terms and conditions on most web sites are still presented in tiny print, even though there's no space considerations preventing them from making it readable.

[luzula]

Some things never change -- the terms and conditions on most web sites are still presented in tiny print, even though there's no space considerations preventing them from making it readable.

Ha, you wonder if they actually want it to be read.

I think my most committed micrometer measurement was when I really wanted to measure the cell size of a moss (before I got my current method), and I pricked my finger in order to get red blood cells, of known size, to compare them to. : )

[jesse_the_k]

As the kids say, that is so metal!

[starshipfox]

The skills involved in setting type and creating layouts before it was all computer-based fascinate me. I did a lot of hand-made posters and hand-made fonts as a teenager before I learnt that all graphic design is computer-based and lost interest!

I went back to look at your beadwork -- beautiful!

[jesse_the_k]

Aw thanks for your kind words.

The font and layout details fascinated me, too! The high point was learning how to create drop shadows using the process camera -- it required at least three exposures and I can't remember the rest and the internet is useless because it wants to teach me to apply drop shadows with software.

There are definitely still hard-core printing enthusiasts who continue working with metal and wood type. Recently saw an fascinating documentary called The Book Makers -- maybe a library has it? (I think of Eire has the true beginning of beautiful letters thanks to the Book of Kells.)

[starshipfox]

Love your icon! :D

The drop shadows sound amazing. Thank you for alerting me to the documentary -- it looks gorgeous, and I'll definitely see if I can get my hands on it. I am very interested in printing and the possibilities of short-run presses. I follow some poets -- especially Thomas A Clark, whose work I wish I could link you to, but is very not online -- who do really interesting work with type and lettering, making books that can be sort of visual puns or are very precise engagements with the white space of the page and how that reflects nature. I love the care and craft that goes into preparing wood or metal type, and the feeling of printing something is amazing.

I don't think we can claim the beginning of illuminated manuscripts, but the Book of Kells is certainly very beautiful. I used to have a free pass to go in, and would visit regularly because they change the pages that are on display every few weeks!

[jesse_the_k]

is jealous of your access to the Book of Kells

Christopher de Hamel's Meetings with Medieval Manuscripts is as close as I'll ever get. I was stunned by its detailed perfection compared with eleven others.