getting a grip

Here I am, midway through the season, feeling the pain. Thumb pain. This is not carpal tunnel. Maybe carpal thumbal? The pain is right at the joint of the thumb into the padded part where, I assume, all sorts of tendons and stuff are. Anyway, see how easy this looks:



Can hardly do it. It is caused by hours and hours of using this tool....



Ah, the bone folder. Indispensable tool for book binders and anyone in paper arts, generally. It smoothes and burnishes and folds and helps you handle paper. I cannot work without it. Sometimes it gets lost in the chaos of my studio, hidden in a pile of paper scraps or under one of the other tools I never put away when I am finished. I have found it in the pocket of my jeans, in the glass of brushes. I don't know why, I'm sure I had a reason at the time. But when that baby is missing I am lost and nobody rests until it is found. But every task you do with it, involves applying pressure with that thumb. By July, I am usually unable to open a jar or hold a quart of milk. By August I am on an Advil drip.

The problem is exacerbated by an addiction to the computer game, Zuma



I am willing to sacrifice only so much for my art.

Interesting note: While researching on the web for home remedies for bone folder thumb, I found that there is a common malady these days called "blackberry thumb" which is not about fruit, it is caused by obsessive texting. Fortunately, I have an iPhone. Phew.

So, I work for an hour and then take a break. That seems to help a bit. The hard part is not playing Zuma as break-time fun.