Shaving the old fashioned way!

shaving brush
Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

The shaving saga continues! I’ve now finally listed in my Folksy shop http://www.folksy.com/shops/SteamPunkGlass some shaving brushes to go with the razors I’ve been making!

This created some interesting problems to resolve, I’d have got some underway sooner if it wasn’t for the sudden DOH! realisation when I made the first prototypes. I basically made a larger elongated marble with one flatted edge to secure to the brush, forgetting that the top of the brush has to be flat too to allow the brush to be stood up when wet! DOH! The alternative was making a stand to go with it, but then that’s a whole new headache for another day. The downside is that flattening distorts the design a little, so I’ve put lots of dichroic into these to give a real sparkle to the shaving experience! On the outside I’m getting the hang of the real value of using boro colours as I’m getting better and bringing out some of the metallic effects of this wonderful (and sometimes frustrating!) glass.

The only brush blanks I can find so far are Badger hair, I wanted to also offer a synthetic alternative but it seems wet shaving using a brush is a dying art and they aren’t made. In fact the badger ones are discontinued as well, and from the dust on the boxes looks like they were made a long time ago! I have to admit I do use an electric razor in the mornings - when I’ve not had enough coffee to be able to find my elbow the idea of putting a sharp blade to my face seems like asking for trouble! However when I have more time or am going out special I do drag out a manual razor and get a ‘proper’ shave; I figured there must be blokes like me who do this and would like something to make the whole experience a little more ‘special’ when I devised the idea. It certainly evokes a by-gone age of elegance when people took time and trouble to do things like this well, of old barber shops and men with handlebar moustaches – or is that just me? I certainly remember my Dad having an old brush that was worn nearly down to a stump before he got himself an electric razor – which I recall then always broke a few months later and he then spent most of his mornings trying to clean or get to work! Sometimes the old fashioned ways really are better!