STUDIO OBJECTS: BOX OF STRAIGHT RAZORS

This may seem like a grim topic, but straight razors have been incredibly useful to me for decades of  studio practice, and I felt inspired to celebrate them for a moment here with you.

These razors are super cheap, super sharp, and very dangerous. I wouldn't want to shave anything on my body with one! They have one dull edge and one sharp.
Technically, it’s a collection of objects, but a very specific kind of utile presence in my studio nevertheless.
I use these razors all the time for:

• Scraping paint off of a glass palette
• Getting something unstuck off the floor
• Cutting a piece of string
• Smoothing down a wall
• Prying a staple up
• Beginning a cut in fabric
• Scraping away debris from a surface
• Cleaning a window
• Opening a box taped shut
• Cutting paper off a roll in one fell swoop
• Cutting plastic sheeting down
• Removing a mar from a piece of rag paper.

Essentially, any kind of precision work to cut, open, scrape, or sever - and I am seeking one of these 'flat sharps'. This makes the studio not a great space for toddlers or bare feet or curious kids because usually, there's one somewhere on the floor, and I am happy to have it that way because then it's fairly easy to find one! This is the prerogative of an artist, a great freedom, and a small hazard. I keep the old ones along with the new because they still work and also because disposing of them properly is tricky. Most of them live in the box they came in, which amazingly costs like $4 or something, and they generally do the job of a pair of scissors without the extra handle parts or the two-blade aspect. It's a direct, sharp cut, and I find that incredibly useful.

Are there small, powerful, easy to overlook items around you that are worth celebrating too? Please share here  if you discover one.

Also, I have a razor related tip for you:

Please don't ever dispose of a razor by throwing it directly into the trash. This may be obvious but if not, it's so that the powerful sharp edge doesn't tear through all manner of garbage and the bag itself, or the handler of said bag. Instead, put it into a box and tape that box closed, or tape it to a piece of cardboard, completely covering the blade edges. Or, suspend it in a folded piece of tape wider than the blade in all directions, so that it's held in place, like it's in a the middle of a sticky folder. Ideally, this goes into something else like a box because the tape still might bend and tear, re-exposing the blade.

OK! on to less cold, hard and sharp topics!!