Carved Moose Antler, Cocobolo and Fossil Walrus Ivory Top Whorl Drop Spindle

Carved Moose Antler, Cocobolo and Fossil Walrus Ivory Top Whorl Drop Spindle

This 1.0 ounce moose antler top whorl drop spindle has been inlayed with a fossil walrus ivory disk. Dave has left some of the unique surface area of the antler on the top of the whorl. The notched whorl measures 2 inches in diameter, and the cocobolo shaft is 7 1/4 inches in length. The end of the cocobolo shaft has been shaped to accommodate a half hitch and a brass hook has been added to the top. More photos of this spindle can be found at the Etsy.com listing.

Two New Medieval Norse Nalbinding Needles

Made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

We have just added two new fossil walrus ivory nalbinding needles to our "Fiber Art Tool" section of our Etsy shop. If you'd like to view additional photos of these two needles, please click here.

What's Dave Been Up to Lately?

You may have noticed that Dave hasn't had many items up for auction on Ebay lately, but that's not because he's not working. He has been creating up a storm in his studio! I keep trying to get him to let me take a photo of his workspace, but he gets a panicked look on his face and says "Nooooo"! LOL

One of the projects he's been working on is the beautiful set shown above that was commissioned by one of our wonderful patrons. The ruler is scrimshaw on bone and the scissor fob features scrimshaw on fossil mammoth ivory. The focal bead on the fob is fossil walrus which has been accented with small bone beads and amethysts. East Indian Rosewood was used for the tatting shuttle, which also has the teddy bear scrim'd on fossil mammoth ivory.

Dave is nearly finished with his last commission, which was a large order from a tatting shuttle collector, so you should be seeing some new auctions soon! I'll be sure and post them here when he has them ready :)

12 New Nalbinding Needles!

Dave has been busy! He has just completed 12 new nalbinding needles that are now listed in the "Fiber Art Tools" section of our Etsy shop.

Some of our wonderful customers had mentioned that they use their needles during SCA events, so with that in mind, Dave has tried to create needles that look like ancient Medieval Norse relics. No two shards of fossil walrus ivory are alike, so each handcrafted needle is a one of a kind treasure.

Fossil Walrus Ivory Tribal Hook Necklace

This is a collaborative piece--Dave has carved the beautiful tribally inspired hook from fossil walrus ivory, and Jo beaded the necklace. The 15 inch ball necklace has been adorned with old bauxite beads and old ostrich shell beads from Africa. The hook hangs from a bone bead and copper wire. A gift box is included!

Handmade Birch Crochet Hook Size H 5.00mm

Here is another of the crochet hooks Dave is making especially for our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop!

This size "H" 5.00mm hook features a Walnut finial and a colorful blue celluloid accent ring. The overall length of this hook is 6 inches.

Don't forget, shipping is FREE on nearly all of the items in our GMA Etsy shop and our Good Dirt Jewelry Etsy shop!

Ebay to Stop All Ivory Sales!

Dave learned today that Ebay will stop worldwide sales of ALL ivory items and items with ivory in or on them effective January 2009. You can read more at the following link:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/ebay-bans-sale-of-ivory/

While the ban is intended to stop international trafficking in illegal elephant ivory, Ebay is banning sale of ALL ivory including legal ancient mammoth and fossil walrus ivory because Ebay cannot be sure if any ivory is being properly listed and described so they are "throwing the baby out with the wash water" and banning all ivory products, including heirlooms.

So what does this mean for Dave and the mammoth ivory items he makes?  Well obviously he won’t be selling them at auction on Ebay after January.  He plans on listing some items with mammoth ivory in our ETSY Shop and we are considering posting some items on our website with BUY NOW buttons that link directly to PayPal.  Also, he will continue to fill custom orders for items made with ancient ivory. 

As we have stated many time, we do not use elephant ivory in making any of our items.  Ancient mammoth ivory is considered fossil ivory and is legal to import and export without restrictions. It is a shame that some bad apples in the ivory trade are ruining the Ebay market place for the artist who only use legal ancient fossil ivory in their craft.

Update:  Etsy has joined Ebay in banning the sale of fossil ivory.  We will now be selling our fossil ivory items directly from this blog using PayPal.

Fossil Ivory Nalbinding Needles

Made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

Jo has just added 8 new fossil ivory nalbinding needles to our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy Shop! You'll find a variety of sizes and materials, including fossil walrus and mammoth ivory and deer antler.

Dave has carved the 4 inch, 102mm nalbinding needle above, from fossil mammoth ivory and has hand polished it to a high gloss. We have photographed both sides of this needle to show the uniqueness of the ancient ivory. Each nalbinding needle has been initialed by Dave and comes in it's own velour drawstring bag.

Fossil Walrus Ivory Oghams

We've just added some new fossil walrus ivory Ogham pendants to our Etsy shop! The Ogham design on each fossil walrus ivory shard was carved by Dave. The shape of each Ogham was made by the Earth.

This photo is of a "Protection" Ogham which measures about 2 1/4" in length.

The Celtic Ogham alphabet dates from the fourth century. The alphabet is named for Ogmos, the Celtic god of knowledge and communication. The alphabet consists of twenty letters, each named for a different tree believed sacred to the Druids.

She Swims Towards the Sun

By now, everyone knows the various mediums Dave works in, but most of what you've seen from me has been jewelry. I had mentioned to Clyde, that I had several projects that I had been working on for years, not because they are necessarily complex, but rather due to my short attention span problem :) I thought if I posted one of them on the blog, that might prompt me to finish it.....we'll see.

This piece is called "She Swims Towards the Sun". The female walrus is represented in fossil walrus ivory shards and the rest of the rocks are treasures I found while living on Nye Beach, with the exception of the blue rocks which are chrysicolla from Arizona. The mosaic portion of this piece is complete, but the wooden tray it is on, is not. I wanted this piece to be functional, but now I can't decide how I want to finish the wood. To be perfectly honest, I think I'm just stalling because I'm afraid once it's completed and I put it out for the public to buy, they'll just look at it and think, "Why in the hell did she glue all those rocks on a tray?" :)