Showing posts with label tatting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tatting. Show all posts

Sunday

Box Elder Tatting Lace Crochet Picot Hook


On this tool, Dave used a size 6 (1.80 mm) steel crochet hook inset into a stem he turned from dyed box elder burl. He usually uses smaller hooks, but this single hook happened to show up in an order by mistake. The overall length of this tool, which is currently up for auction on Ebay, is 4 ½ inches.

The Stylized Swallowtail Butterfly Tatting Shuttle


Fresh out of the studio is another of Dave's upcycled tatting shuttles. This shuttle is 3 1/4 inches long by 1 1/8 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick, and has been adorned with a stylized Swallowtail Butterfly using pyrography (burn etching). Beeswax was used to finish each shuttle.As always, this tatting shuttle has been initialed and dated by Dave.

More photos of this tatting shuttle can be found in our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop.

Thursday

The Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Tatting Shuttle


Sometime back we fitted new wooden blinds in our house and we ended up with slats left over. Since we often like to “re-purpose” things we find, Dave made some lightweight tatting shuttles out of the extra blinds.


This shuttle is 3 1/4 inches long by 1 1/8 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick, and has been adorned with a graceful Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly using pyrography (burn etching). This tatting shuttle has been initialed and dated by Dave, the maker. Beeswax was used to finish each shuttle.

More photos of this tatting shuttle can be found in our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop.

Friday

Super Size Bobbin Tatting Shuttle


Need a large shuttle for heavy duty projects? Dave recently made another SUPER size bobbin shuttle for a customer by special order and thought that some customers might like to see one offered here on Ebay. It is a 4 ¼ inch super size bobbin shuttle made from lightweight cedar wood. Since Dave could not find commercial bobbins to fit this large size shuttle, he custom made plastic bobbins for it. Three bobbins are included with this shuttle. He has also accented it with a burn etched design and inlayed the butt end with true stone malachite. This unique tatting shuttle has been initialed and dated by Dave.

If you would like to view more photos of this tatting shuttle, please click here to visit the Ebay auction.

Monday

Handcrafted Walnut Tatting Shuttle with Inlayed Ceramic Cameo


Dave handcrafted this 2 ¾ inch shuttle out of Walnut. Jo, Good Dirt Jewelry, made this kiln fired ceramic cameo of the Three Muses (or Three Graces) with a pink glaze for me to inset into the shuttle. The burn etched motif is one of Dave's favorites because it looks so classical and also makes the shuttle look like a little musical instrument. This shuttle has a hand rubbed bees wax satin finish. This shuttle has been initialed and dated by Dave. An additional photo may be viewed at the Ebay auction for this piece.

Saturday

Ebony Crochet Picot Hook

Dave hand crafted this picot hook out of ebony and red swirl celluloid with a #14 steel crochet hook inset. It is ideal as a tatting shuttle picot accessory hook for fine thread work. It is approximately 5 inches in length.

Wednesday

Q&A About Imported Bone Tatting Shuttles


Q&A About Imported Bone Tatting Shuttles

Dave tries to never rag on any other shuttles or shuttle makers, but he has gotten a few questions from patrons asking what they can do about the inexpensive imported bone shuttle they bought that has come apart where it has been glued together. He provides the following information from his experience:

"These imported bone post shuttles are held together with modern CA glue or cyanoacrylates [tradenames: Hot Stuff, Zap, Crazy Glue, etc.]. CA glue is great and I use it on wood and ancient ivory however I do not use it to make a bone post shuttle. Why? Bone is not ivory! Ivory is a modified tooth (tusk) and is formed differently than bone. Bone was a living organ within the animal and filled with blood, marrow and fatty acids and oils. The processing of bone includes a "de-greasing" process which requires soaking in a solvent to remove all the grease. If not completely de-greased all the way through, the bone will continue to oooze oil to the surface, even years later. My guess is that the problem some folks are having is maybe the bone material was not completely de-greased. It would be something like rubbing a little vasoline on the 2 surfaces and then trying to stick them together with glue. That won’t work!

If you want to keep your bone shuttle I recommend you pick up a can of liquid Coleman Stove Fuel which is also called "white gas", put some in a mason jar and soak the bone shuttle parts in it for about a month, changing the solvent a couple of times. The white gas is flamable and should be kept in the garage or outside and away from any ignition sources. Once de-greased and dry you can rough up the glue points on the bone with sand paper and re-glue with CA glue.

A couple of years ago I bought a few bison leg bones from a Buffalo Ranch here in Oregon and started the process of cleaning and de-greasing the bone. What a job! What a mess! It seemed to take for ever changing the solvent time after time before I felt all the oils were all out of the bone. I still don’t use the bone for gluing post shuttles, I only use it to make the one piece side shuttles and Lady Hoare shuttles.

Ivory on the other hand is a different story. Fresh ivory may have some natural oils but I do not use fresh ivory. The ancient mammoth ivory I use has been in the ground or ice for over 10,000 years and any oils have long since been leached away and the CA glue works perfect on an ivory shuttle.
One time I did find that some ivory I bought had been polished in a tumbler using a walnut shell medium. While nut shells polished the ivory it left a oil film on the ivory that would not hold glue. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on and I that had to de-grease that lot of ivory if I was going to use any glue.

You have heard the saying that oil and water don’t mix...well nether does oil and CA glue! I just suspect that the imported bone shuttles are more production shuttles for the world market and in production modes sometimes quality control is lacking and short cuts taken.

Hope this helps answer some of those questions. I figured some other tatters might find this useful."

Dave

Tuesday

Cherry Wood Tatting Shuttle with Tatting Box


Cherry Wood Tatting Shuttle Box Set

Dave made this 2 5/8 inch post shuttle out of Cherry Wood. The Cascade logo is burn etched into the wood. The little tatting box is made from a 4 ½ inch by 3 ½ in oval bentwood craft box. The bottom and top are lined with red imitation tooled leather and we hand painted it with acrylic and liquid gold leaf. The top center piece is a walnut scroll saw cut out Dave had made for GMA by a scroll saw artist friend.

This set is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Monday

Fossil Ivory Cabochons for Tatting Projects


Dave just finished up a custom order for some fossil ivory cabochons for a tatting artist. The photo is of the finished pieces, which turned out to be quite spectacular. As we are not tatting artists, we are continually learning about this fascinating art form and how it is utilized. After looking around the internet, we've found several talented tatters who are combining various cabochons in with their tatting and thought there may be others out there that would like to try using fossil ivory as a medium in their jewelry.

In the near future, we will be offering fossil ivory cabochons in our Etsy supply shop, Grizzly Mountain Cache. Please give us a bookmark if this sounds like an item you would like to incorporate into your tatting :)

Be sure and click this photo to view it full size!

Saturday

Oregon Cascades Myrtlewood Signature Tatting Shuttle #15


We've just added number 15 of our signature Oregon Cascades Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttles to our Etsy shop!

What is Oregon Myrtlewood?

Oregon Myrtlewood is a broadleaf evergreen native to Southwestern Oregon and Northwestern California. Although different, Oregon Myrtlewood has a lot of similarities to the Myrtlewood growing in the Holy Land. Oregon Myrtlewood became popular for making gift items back in the early 1900’s. Oregon Myrtlewood possesses a wide variety of beautiful colors and grain patterns and is noted by many as being one of the world’s most beautiful woods. The colors range from blond to black with many shades of honey, browns, grays, reds and greens in between. Oregon woodworkers have developed a small cottage industry making handcrafted Myrtle wood products and gifts for visitors. Many beautiful gifts and works of art crafted out of Myrtlewood. In the Bible, the Myrtle tree is of special religious significance, representing fertility and life.

Wednesday

Thumbelina Matchbox Tatting Shuttle



This is for that shuttle collector who does not have EVERYTHING yet! This miniature ivory shuttle is nearly the size of a thumbnail and fits nicely in the accompanying matchbox which we decoupage’ with the tiny THUMBELINA theme. The shuttle is approx 1 ¼ inch long and I color scrimshawed THUMBELINA hugging a rose that is larger than she is. The ivory is ancient wooly mammoth from Russia. Mammoth have been extinct for 10,000 years. This shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Sunday

A Wonderful Surprise in Yachats!


As some of you may remember, Dave and I are in Yachats, Oregon this weekend for the "Pathways to Transformation" show. Well, the show was going very s-l-o-w-l-y on Saturday when a delightful woman walked into our booth! Anna Phillips, from Tennessee, has been reading our blog and discovered that she and her husband would be vacationing in Yachats at the same time we would be here! What a wonderful coincidence! Unfortunately, Dave didn't have any tatting shuttles for sale, but we had a wonderful visit anyway :)

Anna showed us some lovely examples of her tatting and also a selection of wonderful tatting pattern books and hand dyed thread by several amazing tatters. I wish I could remember all of their names in order to give them all a little "shout out" :)

We seldom get the opportunity to meet any of our customers, so this was very special indeed! Anna, it was such a pleasure to meet and chat with you and your husband! Thanks so much for stopping by to say "Hi!" :)

Monday

Hand Carved Bone Tatting Shuttle


Dave hand crafted this little 1 7/8 inch flat shuttle out of bone and carved a total of 4 Roses (2 on each side) on it. It is initialed and dated by Dave, the maker. This little shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Friday

Handmade Colorful Celluloid Tatting Shuttle

Clyde!! Look what Dave did!! Ever since you mentioned that you would like to see a post tatting shuttle made out of celluloid, Dave has been "at the drawing board" trying to figure out how to make one that would meet his strict requirements of clicking ends.

Dave has hand crafted this little 1 3/4 inch post shuttle out of colorful golden/green swirl celluloid. The way that the celluloid is cut the pattern of no two can come out the same. He had noted, that on many vintage celluloid shuttles the blades are thin and very flexible and the shuttle ends tend to open up. To help counter this problem with celluloid, he has made this shuttle shorter with thicker blades that remain more rigid.

This gorgous little shuttle has been initialed and dated by Dave, the maker. You can find this shuttle currently up for auction on Ebay!

GMA #14 Crochet Picot Hook



Dave turned this picot hook using Ebony and bone. It is 4 inches long and has a #14 steel crochet hook inset. This hook is currently up for auction on Ebay!

Wednesday

Handmade Miniature Mammoth Ivory Tatting Shuttle




I don’t know if this is the smallest working shuttle, but it has to be close to it. Dave made this itty bitty tatting shuttle from ancient wooly mammoth ivory from Russia. It is just 1 ¼ inches long. You can tat with it, use it as a key chain fob or as a necklace pendant (chains not included and are for show and tell only). The design on both sides are hand carved and inlaced with brass. Mammoth have been extinct for 10,000 years.

This itty bitty tatting shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay with an opening bid of .99!

Don't forget--you can click on each photo to see the original photo!

Saturday

Handmade Cobalt Blue Celluloid Tatting Shuttle



Dave hand crafted this flat shuttle out of colorful Cobalt Blue celluloid. The way that the celluloid is cut the pattern of no two can come out the same. This shuttle measures 2 1/2 inch long and has been initialed and dated by Dave, the maker. This shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay!

Tatting Shuttle Showcase on Flickr!


Tatting Shuttle Showcase on Flickr!

**This is the same group as before, only the name has been changed**

I have been looking around Flickr for a tatting shuttle specific group, and when I couldn't find one, I thought I'd start one! So many of us have photos of tatting shuttles we've made or have collected over the years and it's a shame not to have them all in one large collection.

If you are on Flickr and have photos of your tatting shuttles that you would like to share with the world, please feel free to post them in the group! This invitation is extended to everyone--collectors and creators!



Friday

Handmade Colorful Celluloid Tatting Shuttle




Dave hand crafted this flat tatting shuttle out of colorful celluloid. The way that the celluloid is cut, no two can ever come out the same. This tatting shuttle is 2 1/2 inches long and has been initialed and dated by Dave, the maker.

This tatting shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay with an opening bid of .99 cents!

Monday

Gothic Style Double Tatting Shuttle



If you collect handmade tatting shuttles you won't want to miss this one. This is similar to the bone double shuttle Dave recently auctioned, except he carved this one out of East Indian Rosewood. After inlaying four mother of pearl diamonds and mammoth ivory center dots, it came out with a very Gothic looking design. It is 3 1/2 inch long, initialed and dated by Dave, the maker.

If you'd like to see more photos, this Double Gothic Tatting Shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.