Crafters Corner : Review of the Best Pick Up Tool

Crystal Katana and tanto

Hi crafters ,Dr Sonia here with a product review post that is an exciting post for me as I get to introduce you to two awesome tools which Shalini has brought to India post CHA 2016.It is the Crystal Katana and the Tanto which have been getting rave reviews from crafters all over the world and being recommended left and right by jewelry makers, papercrafters and DIY ers!
Ok what exactly are the Crystal Katana and Tanto?
In simple language these are "pick up" tools to help pick up any tiny teeny embellishment such as pearls, sequins , tiny rhinestones etc .And so these tools make your crafting easier, quicker and more fun!!
If you are like me you must have marvelled at how crafters use tiny pearls so extensively in their projects making beautiful eye-catching lattices and borders and wondered how they had the patience to work with those fiddly little embellishments!
Well you don't have to have super nimble fingers or the patience of a saint or wrestle with tweezers or chase runaway flying pearls!

These awesome tools were invented by Kellie DeFries who works extensively with Swarovski crystals and has used the Crystal Katana to completley cover in crystals some crazily huge stuff such as cars, whole dresses to name a few
Uses of the tools
To easily and quickly pick up and release tiny embellishments such as

pearls
beads
sequins
rhinestones
crystals
tiny bits of paper etc

Video Demonstration of the Crystal Katana

-to pick up small pearls and rhinestones
Steps

Apply tiny dots of glue on the places you want to stick your pearls/rhinestones to
Pick up tiny pearls using the wax tip of the Crystal Katana
Touch the pearl onto the glue dot- the pearl will release immediately
Optional- move it around or press it using the chrome metal end of the Crystal Katana !

Crystal Katana Instruction on its packet

In this video my little girl helps me to demo the Crystal Katana for you....Please do forgive the little errors that inevitably creep in !
If videos are not your cup of tea...keep scrolling down ...I have tried to take step by step pictures
Features of the Crystal Katana

Crystal Katana

The Crystal Katana has a lightweight wooden body with a special wax tip at one end and a chrome metal end at the other end

Crystal Katana

The Wax used is specially formulated and said to be much superior to normal wax as it leaves no residue on the pearl/crystal it picks up - an important consideration for professional jewelry makers working with crystals

Crystal Katana wax end

One big advantage over competitor pick up tools is that both the Katana and the Tanto quickly release the pearl/rhinestone when it is touched to a glue drop.
Before I got the Katana , I had bought a Silhouette pick me up tool which is super for quickly picking up tiny pearls and beads but refuses to let go of it once it picks it up...requiring additional effort of using some other tool to release it !
The Chrome metal end can be used to firmly push the pearl/crystal etc into the glue or move it around to get a perfect positioning!
The metal end itself is a two in one tool with two diameter tool options.

Crystal Katana

It can be unscrewed like a pen tip and you can store the thinner pointed nib inside and just use the larger diameter tip - an important feature for jewelry makers who play with teeny tiny crystals and larger crystals/beads !

Crystal Katana

The photo above shows the Crystal Katana with its fine needle tip attached

Crystal Katana

On unscrewing you can see the two types of tips possible

Crystal Katana

You can store the needle tip inside the body of the Crystal Katana

Crystal Katana

And screw on the large diameter metal tip if you want to work with larger crystals/ pearls etc

Sharing a few simple projects to show you how the Crystal Katana works

2. Working with small round pearls

Crystal Katana

If you like working with beads or other tiny embellishment the bead funnel tray is a nice investment...it has a screw on cap which you can open once you are done to put away your glitter/beads back into the bottle.

Funnel

I lined the funnel tray with a piece of foam so that my pearls don't run away too much!

Funnel tray

Sharing pictures from a Collage Clay Faux Cake I made

butterfly

With the Katana it hand it was easy to add tiny pearl bodies to all the butterflies on my project!

A thin line of Tombow glue - prefered Tombow mono multi over my usual Fevicol mr in this setting as I wanted to work quickly and wanted a strong long lasting adhesive.Tom bow is nice and tacky and the pearls won't fall off easily.

Crystal Katana

Gently picked up a pearl using the wax tip of the Katana

pearl on katana

See how the pearl stays stuck to the tip.

wax tip

On touching the pearl onto the glue on the butterfly , the pearl is easily released from the wax tip

chrome end

If you want to fiddle around with its position you can use the metal tip end

butterfly

Yes easy peasy without struggling with clumsy fingers and flying pearls!

butterfly

One more butterfly dressed up....Such a lovely touch a few pearl add on isnt it!

Butterfly

Added lots of pearls on my collage clay cake using the Crystal Katana and you can see the full project here : Faux Rainbow Cake

pearls

3. More uses- Making or repairing hair accessories and jewelry with pearls and crystal

Hair clip repair

Some of my favorite hair clips had lost some tiny crystals and pearls and I had been postponing even attempting to repair it till I got the Crystal Katana !

Crystal Katana Use

Used jewelry grade Modpodge wonder glue and the Crystal Katana to repair it and now they are as good as new!

Crystal Katana use

4. Easily and quickly adding pearls/sequins/rhinestones to a project

5. Nail art - sticking on tiny rhinestones and sequins to a small area

nail art

The Crystal Katana is extremely popular with nail art artists and you will find innumerable videos on you tube about its use in nail art.

Being a surgeon I dont grow nails and mostly even avoid nail polish for that matter as that is what we have been taught in medical college! But my daughter is one girly girly child and you can see the nail art she created using the Tanto

What is the Tanto ?

Tanto

The Tanto is the economical version of the Crystal Katana .
Features of the Tanto
It looks like an eyebrow pencil
It is lightweight and easy to handle without stringing your hands
It is made of wax and works as well as the Crystal Katana in picking up tiny embellishments

Tanto

There is a protective lid on the tip so that you can store it without damaging the soft tip
You can actually sharpen it just like a regular pencil when the tip blunts
It will last a looong time!
The difference with the Crystal Katana is that the Tanto does not have a metal tip to move around and firmly press the pearl/crystal onto your project
Here is my daughter's nail art using the Tanto