Outcome

I knew I wanted to make a grip for one of the hand tools that I frequently use. However, most of the tools I use like my screwdriver, hammer, and pliers are already designed in an ergonomic way and adding a grip to it would more than likely make it less comfortable for me. The only tool that I have a problem holding is this really tiny allen wrench key that I use frequently for screwing and un-screwing small set-screws on my robot. Making a clay grip for this key would be perfect because all I would need to do is make the most comfortable grip possible and then just slide the key into it once I finished forming the grip. First I drew some sketches to generate ideas for this grip.

I ended up concluding that the only thing that mattered to me for this grip is how comfortable it is. The best way to achieve maximum comfort is to start with any arbitrary glob formation and then squeeze it directly into the grip shape. 

This ensures that the grip is completely custom to the shape of my hand and also my natural grip shape. After squeezing the clay enough over and over the grip started to take its natural form. 

After I was content with the overall feel and shape of the grip, the only thing left to do was to smooth out any rough patches. I used a flat paddle to do this and it was the only clay tool that I needed to use for the entire process. Since my grip is very custom to my hand, I knew the only tooling necessary would be at the end of the process to smooth out certain areas and to make any overall aesthetic adjustments.

 The pictures below shows my finished grip.

I was very pleased with how the grip turned out. It makes working with the allen key a lot easier. This is for sure something that I will use for a very long time and I’m glad I invested the time to make this grip.