Everything that we do with our hands start first with the mind. The hands are not working by themselves, from their own, but are instructed by the mind, the thinking.
The word handy, for example or the expression handy person, or the word handyman relates to people working with their hands, being skillful with their hands. Yes, but the hands would never accomplish anything without the mind who is telling the hands what to do and how to do it. The mind who is telling the right hand to use a pencil and draw a line and telling the left hand to grab a ruler and telling the right hand to take a pencil and to mark some dots on a piece of paper and align the ruler from one dot to the other one and is giving the information to the right hand to draw a line and to make a certain pressure on the pencil toward the ruler to stay along it while moving tower the other dot, to make a sharp, straight line. The mind calculates the angles, make addition of fractions of inches, convert them if needed, example : If we have to add 3/8 of an inch to 2 inch and ½, the mind converts the 2 and ½ into 2 and 4/8 and adds the 3/8 and it gives the total  of 2 inch and 7/8. The mind erify its calculations to see if there is no error and then uses the hands to take such and such tools to perform the job. The mind is coordinating all the muscles of the body to pivot, move forward or backward, grab a tool and all these muscles work like a symphony to move the body graciously and perform any task. Everything starts with the mind.
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The mind has the capability to learn, to grab new ideas, new ways to perform a job. It gains experience. Il looks to other ones jobs, observes them and picks up their tricks. It files the information somewhere and reminds it. It developps new skills, it reads, it searches for solutions to problems. Imagine some ways to do it, sometimes 2, 3, 4 different ways to solve the problem. It has the falculty to think. It searches for ideas.
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The human brain is a super sophisticated calculator. For example, it looks at a stairway that we have to climb, it is calculating the heights of the steps in a fraction of second just by a quick look and it places the first foot exactly at the right place on the first step and automaticly is coordinating all the muscles of the body to work together to lift the body on this foot, keep the balance perfectly and moves the other leg and foot on the second step. It is not only a business of legs and feet, but all the muscles of the body are involved at the same time, everyone playing its rôle and doing its part simultaneously or exactly at the right time. Every muscle is controlled by the brain and stops exactly where it has to stop and moves exactly in the angle needed, making a rotation, pivoting or doing what is required by the brain. It repeats the same process for as many steps there are to climb and everything is done with no hesitation all in a very regular process. No false move, no mistake. All is done smoothly with no problem.
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The brain controls for example a foot and a leg and can make them pivot at 90 degres while the rest of the body remains basicly in the same position if required by the mind for some purpose. There would be a lot more to talk about it but it is just sufficient to make you understand that crafting something with the hands is even more related with the capabilities of the mind than from the members, but of course, if you don’t have hands it is very difficult to perform some nice artwork (made of some material), but there are some artists who don’t have hands and they perform beautiful paintings with a brush between their teeth or their toes. Again, the brain is telling the body what to use and how to make it, and sometimes when your 2 hands are full of material you use your leg to close a door, or your elbow to push it or any other part of your body that can give a hand (otherly said, your leg play the rôle of a third hand, or even your mouth many times is holding a piece of paper or something else. The brain and the rest of the body are a wonderful machine, alltogether but all starts with the mind.
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Florent Beauchemin
My email address :
florent@montrealminiatures.com