SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: TSANG HAO REN

STUDENT ID NO: 0315753

TOOL SELECTED: SHOE POLISH BRUSH

WORD COUNT:

ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: NARRATIVE ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 14TH NOVEMBER 2013

The tool I had chosen is an object you can find in lots of houses but not

all, most people knows about it but do not think or give a care about it, it’s an

item you don’t see every day but possess, something that you don’t really give a

care or attention to it, the Shoe Polish Brush.

At first look, you would probably notice the brown wooden handle and the

black brush just as I do and then I would noticed its rectangular shape. The

brown handle had a wooden texture on it just like the one you see on a tree

trunk, while the brush had deep dark black hair that actually shines white easily

when reflected with light, that means it is really black.

As I look closer, I could see each strand of the brush are stuck, probably

glued within the wooden part of the brush in a uniform method. On the wooden

board, 48 small holes are drilled in with 12 on the length times 4 on the width.

Each holes have a lot of strands of brush tightly put together, so much that it is

hard to count them. While on the rectangular wooden part of the brush, there are

two large surface, the handle and the part where the brush are glued. The hairy

side of the wood is flat while the handle is curved nicely.

When I first held it, it actually felt lighter than I thought, considering the

wooden handle. Unfortunately, that gave me a feel of low quality wood since a

good quality wood are usually denser and density is greatly affect by weight. The

next thing I felt is the woody texture of the handle, it felt a bit fake, like the

patterns are printed on it not originally from the tree. The temperature was what I

feel afterwards, it felt cooler, not cold but just cooler that the room temperature or

my body heat. Then, I move on to feeling the brush. The brush the face of my

palm to feel the stroke and it felt rough. The brush is thicker and also rougher

that those toothbrush and paint brush I usually touch. It actually hurts if I apply

force into it like a light scratch to the palm.

The smell of the brush is odorless, I thought it would have a light stench of

a new item like a new book but it has no smell on it whatsoever, not even shoe

polish smell since its unused. I did go take a sniff at my old brush and it stinks of

heavy shoe polish smell. I then proceed to knock the handle on any surface

around me and I could hear that familiar and distinctive sound of the wood, like

any typical “knock” sound u hear when knocking a door but slightly light sound.

The brush gave a totally different sound. When you brush it on any surface, you

can hear the also familiar brushing sound any brush make. The sound is

definitely deeper than those of the toothbrush or paint brush, closer to the sound

that brooms make when sweeping the floor. It should be because it has thicker

hair compared to the toothbrush and paint brush.

So what are the functions of this shoe polish brush? As the name has

already stated, it helps brush and polish a shoe but that is not all, it has lots of

other function especially the ones like other brushes could do. Obviously,

brushing your teeth is not one of it, but it could totally sweep your desk or even

scratch of stick and dirty stuff of most surfaces. Basically, it could do what most

other brushes could do even painting, but the art might not be as good.

With this, I felt that it can do more than it looks. This is one tool that people

judge too much by its looks. If you observe instead of just seeing, you would see

a lot of potential in other things as well.