ARTS & CRAFTS

Any way you want it. This cast aluminum wire jig for jewelry-making measures 4-3/8" x 1" x 5/8" with (4) 1” x 1/4” steel pegs, semi-circular and triangular bending points, slots at 3/32",1/8" and 3/16" wide, plus one with a small divot to one side. Includes mounting screws so you can stick it to your workbench. Not into jewelry? Bend your own fishing hooks, S-hooks and soft metal strips.  

Teensy tiny brushes for cleaning teensy tiny tubes, airbrushes, spray guns, tattoo equipment, nozzles, etc. Think miniature bottle brushes. You get a set of (5) brushes: 1/32", 1/16", 3/32", 1/8" and 3/16" dia. All have nylon bristles, are 4" long, and are on a slip ring so you won't lose them.

This set of (6) tweezers is as useful as it looks daunting. The (6) stainless steel tweezers vary in size from 4-1/2" up to 7". Two of the tweezers have serrated tips one is inverse, one has a slide latch and the others are straight flat tip. The set comes in a clear front plastic carrying case. Good for model cars, planes or hard to reach splinters.

Maybe a little eclectic for an artist with a single style, but perfect for one who's still searching for himself. Or for any hobbyist. There are no (2) brushes exactly alike in this set of (15). They all have natural bristles, color-coded wooden handles and metal ferrules, but they range from fairly fine to 1/2" wide, and 7" to 10" long. There are at least (3) different kinds of bristles, and they are round, blunt and pointed. A nice variety, and a very nice quality for this price.

Pop one of these roughly 1-1/4" dia stones into the toe of a sock, smash it with a hammer, and be the first person ever to see your real-as-Nature-makes-it geode!! Ninety percent of them have the familiar beautiful white crystals inside. Formed by volcanic action, they are found all over the world, but ours are from Mexico. There is no way to tell from the outside if they have crystal centers, but we will send you two just to raise your odds, and we haven't had a dud yet in our stores!! Much much more fun and satisfaction than buying one already cracked.

And we did it ourselves with this self-healing cutting mat. It's hard rubber and no, we don't know how it heals itself, but it does. Measures 11-3/4" x 8-3/4" x 1/8" thick., it's marked in 1/8" and 5mm increments and 1/2" squares, with lines for 45° and 60° cuts.

These are the so-called miracle shears. They were designed for use by paramedics and others needing quickly to cut wire, light sheet metal, or other tough stuff that might stand between them and their quarry. They are normally demonstrated cutting a penny in two. Which they will do. But not as a steady diet. Let's dispel a few myths. While these are Pakistani stainless, we're not talking any miracles in manufacturing. They are good for their purpose, and real handy to have in the old tool box. But their purpose isn't making pennies into 5-mil pieces, and you will twist or break them at about the same time you find out that you've done the same thing to U.S. laws! For sheet metal or wire or fishing leaders or tin cans or whatever, be our guests.

And you can’t lose. Really. Five bucks buys you (4) good quality artists’ paint brushes, 5” to 12” in length, from an extremely assorted collection. You’ll get sable, nylon, ox hair or camel hair, long or short, very fine to very wide, round to flat, in sizes from very fine to very wide, all from Duro Art Industries in Chicago. Gives you something to look forward to.

..my sweet engravable you. Safeguard your stuff with this little battery-powered engraving pen. The 1/16” dia head vibrates to let you inscribe your ID on stuff  that might otherwise wander off. Surprisingly effective for a lightweight tool. Measures approx 6” long x 1” dia and works on metal, wood, glass, plastic, leather and more. Runs on (2) included “AA” batteries.

This all-purpose scissors is the favorite of everyone at A.S.&S.: Pat uses his to cut and strip wire. C.J. uses his to slit the tape on packages. Mary Ann uses hers to open bags of pretzels. It's 6-1/4" long overall, with a very sharp 2" stainless steel blade and large, comfortable handles. It would sell for $9.95 retail if it was new, but it was used for one day to cut cloth in the assembly plant of a major car company, then discarded. Quality control is a wonderful thing.

Whatever you call them they are super handy. Used for suturing, these are carbon-steel straight-locking needle holders, 5” long with narrow serrated 7/16” tips. And yes, you’re permitted to use them for other stuff if you’re not a surgeon. (Or even if you are a surgeon, actually.)

The secret is ceramics. This newly redesigned 5-1/2" long precision cutter has a ceramic point that's as sharp as an X-actly knife, stays sharp 11x longer than steel, never rusts, is non-conductive, non-magnetic, non-sparking, chemically inert and is easier to maneuver in intricate cutting patterns. Cuts paper, card stock and more easily while being finger-friendly. Pencil-style ambidextrous durable nylon handle with a textured anti-slip grip and no-roll oval design has a cap and now features a replaceable blade. A boon for crafters, and a blessing for junior crafters.

And we do mean micro. Sizes #61 to #80 (yes, that is twenty different bits) which are from 0.013 to 0.038 inches diameter!! The big boys sell a set of similar bits (carbon steel, like ours) for about $30.00!! Maybe theirs aren't from China.

Prick tiny bits of gunk from nasty places with these U.S. made hardened stainless steel dental tools. But please don't use them for dental work. They are slight seconds, and some may have been re-worked which only matters to teeth. Trim excess glue from models, place a barrel on the deck of the ship-in-a-bottle, clean a rasp. If you need the strength and durability in a tiny pick, you need these tools. We have an assortment of the sort you've seen laid out on your dentist's tray. We'll pick (3) different ones for you.

Just the one, actually, but it’s been sliced in half so the pair is perfectly symmetrical and mighty pretty. Although ammonites have been extinct for 65,000,000 years, we’ve got their approx 1” dia fossils for you. Our each is a book-matched pair of polished ammonites fossils of a single critter halved and polished to a bright symmetrical shininess. The colors vary from light tan to dark brown and we’ll pick because we have impeccable ammonitical color-shade taste. And yes, they’re just screaming to become cuff-links or earrings.

You've come to the right place. Here's a humongous version of the always popular pink eraser. Ours is 3/4 of a pound and 6" long x 2" wide x 1" thick. The top says "For Really Big Mistakes" but that, not surprisingly, rubs right off if you don't like it there.

About 30-40 highly polished stones, all shiny, translucent, or brightly colored, ranging from 3/4" long to 1/8" long. Great for mosaics, jewelry, or aquariums.

Take these (250) little translucent beads into the sunlight and they burst into assorted colors faster than you can say "assorted colors." How do they do it? Well, they're UV-reactive, that's how. Mostly pink, purple, rose, yellow and cream and they fade to a nice pearly color inside. Amaze your friends at picnics. Beads measure 5/16" dia x 1/4" with a 5/32" bore. Come with classroom application notes.