Last month, I arrived at my Friday night pottery class complaining of hand pain. I had spent that afternoon trimming pots that were a little too dry, and all the joints in my right hand ached from gripping my trimming tool so hard. I said that I wished OXO Good Grips would make trimming tools. The best idea I could muster for making my tool handles wider and softer was "ace bandages." But Alan Dowdy had a better idea.

"Pipe insulation."

"What's that?" I asked.

A few days later, I spent a whopping $3 in my neighborhood hardware store on a package of pipe insulation, which is basically a tube-shaped piece of foam. It's perfect. Some of my trimming tool handles fit snugly inside the tube without any fasteners. For tools that have skinnier or wider handles, I made lengthwise cuts in the foam to make the diameter smaller, or allow it to open wider, then fastened them on with rubber bands. I've been using these for over a month now, with no pain! I get excited when I think of all the wear-and-tear I just spared my hands from, over the next 20 years or so. That $3 bought me so much more foam than I needed, so I brought the rest into my Friday night class, and we all made our trimming tools more comfortable!

(Click here for Sometimes Pottery Hurts, Part 1)