renaissance poisson

*nod*. and i think that sewing is considerably more difficult; my first sewn project didn't look anywhere as good as this. but i share this odd mental block; as long as i haven't put my own hands on something, i can't quite believe that one might do that, and without having gone to university for 4+ years. :) i had pretty minimal instruction, though i had read up some on techniques, and it impressed me how quickly i got a feel for the power of the grindstone, and the movement across it. i don't have the zen of it yet, but contrary to some other things i've learned (sewing!), i can feel the edges of it.

the coolest thing for me is that i can actually go out there and collect this kind of material, not too far from where i live. which means i can create beautiful things with stones as much from scratch as anyone would want to these days (i don't have any particular desire to smelt my own ore. ok, i lie. i do have such desires, but i restrain myself. most of the time. just today i was thinking about how to build a cheap crucible furnace :).