Carbide Inserts and Rings

A dense collection of carbide inserts, rings, and other small machining pieces fills the center of my dad’s wooden workbench. Triangles, circles, squares, and long rectangular pieces overlap one another, creating a jumble of shapes that I loved looking through and arranging.

His garage was filled with specialized parts like these—things he understood immediately but that I often couldn’t even name. After he died, bringing them into my studio gave me a different way to know them. I could slow down, sort through them, notice their shapes and worn surfaces, and spend a little more time with the things that had been part of his everyday life.

Part of Donna Dufault’s Tool Project, a collection of 19 black-and-white still life photographs created in 2002 using tools from her late father’s garage.