Friday

New Fiber Tools


This is a new style of tatting needle set and case for Grizzly Mountain Arts. Dave has turned the beautiful 6" tatting needle case from claro walnut. The 5" long Handy Hands tatting needles included with this set are #8, #7, #5-0 and #3-0. A needle threader is also included.


Four new crochet hooks were also recently added to our Etsy shop. The double ended hook features a beautiful cocobolo centerpiece, and the hook sizes are G/4.00mm and G+/4.50mm. The plarn crochet hook sizes are L/8mm, M/9mm and N/10mm.


Newest Fiber Art Tools

New Handi-Wind Tatting Shuttles© and Brass Picot Gauge Sets©








Thursday

3 1/2 Inch Medieval Norse Rune Wynn Fossil Mammoth Ivory Nalbinding Needle


Dave has hand carved this one of a kind 3 1/2 inch long nalbinding needle from fossil mammoth ivory. He has polished it to a smooth, glossy finish, and inlaid the Norse rune "Wynn" (also written as Wunjo) with pipestone. This rune is a symbol for joy or pleasure.

Wood Wizard Ash and Curly Maple Magic Wand


Harry Potter and the other students at Hogwarts never had a wand this special! 

This wise wizard emerged from the ash and curly maple while being carefully carved by Dave. The overall length of this beautiful magic wand is 10 3/4 inches, and would be perfect for your fantasy cosplay or any other wizarding pursuits. Please visit our Etsy shop to view this and other hand carved pieces.

Saturday

Handi-Wind Tatting Shuttle©


Dave has specially designed this "Handi-Wind" tatting shuttle with a screw-in finger hold that aides in loading the shuttle without slipping out of your hand. It is particularly useful for tatters with arthritis and those who just have "all thumbs". To help keep track of the handle, Dave has added an eye and jump ring so it can be worn around the neck with a cord or ribbon.

This shuttle is 2 3/4 inches long and was handcrafted out of basswood, and the handle from acrylic. Dave has adorned the shuttle with a pyrographed butterfly.

The Handi-Wind Tatting Shuttle©



Handi-Wind© Accessory Tatting Shuttle without Handle



Dave is offering this 2 1/2 inch pau amarillo Handi-Wind accessory shuttle without a handle specifically for those tatters who already own a Handi-Wind.  Any Handi-Wind handle will fit this accessory shuttle, therefore making it possible to add more shuttles without adding more handles.

If you are a shuttle collector, or might sell, swap, trade or gift shuttles, you might be wise to continue to buy only the Handi-Wind shuttles that come complete with a handle.

HANDLES FOR ACCESSORY SHUTTLES WILL NOT BE MADE OR OFFERED SEPARATELY.

Thursday

Delta 46-460 Lathe BEWARE WARRANTY SERVICE

We normally do not use our blog to complain about consumer issues, but sometimes there are companies that we feel need to be held accountable. Delta Machinery is one of those companies.

After 3 years of operation, the variable speed controller and motor failed on my Delta Model 46-460 lathe. It has a 5 year warranty guarantee so I shipped it to the “Authorized Delta Repair Service” in October 2013 where it still sits without being repaired due to lack of parts availability from Delta. The repair service has indicated that the Delta Company has been sold several times and parts production has suffered. Delta is not returning calls or emails. I cannot get any answers on an ETA for repair parts, and as a result, I have had to purchase a new lathe (NOT DELTA) in order to continue with my wood turning business.

New Delta Model 46-460 lathes are still being produced and sold by various wood working tool outlets, but buyers are unaware that Delta’s 5 year warranty guarantee is totally worthless because they are not making or stocking replacement parts. My next move is to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Delta Machinery.

Monday

New Druid's Egg Ceramic Pendants


Seven new Druid's Egg ceramic pendants were listed in our Etsy shop recently.  These are our smaller, one inch long pendants, and are sold with a suede cord.  We thought we had sold all of them, but a small stash was found in one of our art show storage containers!  I think we need to look through those again to see what else we may have forgotten.  If you'd like to see these new pendants, please click the link above, or use the Etsy tab at the top of this page.  Thanks for looking!

Friday

New Carved Bone Embroidery Laying Tools


Two new carved bone embroidery laying tools were recently listed in our Etsy shop.  Each beautiful tool, carved by Dave, measures 4 inches in length.  The tool above comes with an Oregon myrtlewood case, and the tool below comes with an East Indian rosewood case.



Wednesday

New Matchbox Wooden Tatting Picot Gauge Sets


Dave has crafted these more affordable sets of wooden tatting picot gauges from dowels. The gauges measure 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8 inches in length. He has hand sanded each piece to a smooth finish, then hand polished each one with Renaissance wax. This set all fits into a sweet little decoupaged matchbox.  These three sets are currently for sale in our Etsy shop.


Friday

Beautiful Akha Spindles


The Akha style spindle is a new spindle for Grizzly Mountain Arts.  This type of spindle originated with the Akha people, an indigenous hill tribe that live in small villages at high altitudes in the mountains of Thailand, Burma, Laos, China, and Yunnan Province in China.


Dave has crafted the whorls of his Akha spindles from beautiful Spectra-Ply to reflect the bright, colorful textiles created by the Akha people.  He has used birch for the shafts, and brass was used to make the hooks.  Please click on each photo to go to our Etsy shop for more views of each spindle.

We're on Big Cartel!

We think we have found the perfect selling venue for our fossil ivory items! We had originally planned on selling directly from our blog, but having to have separate PayPal payments for each item just wasn't what we wanted for our customers. Enter Big Cartel! Jo had originally used the Grizzly Mountain Arts Big Cartel store for her earthenware jewelry, but it’s been sitting empty filling with cobwebs for some time now.
PayPal is still the payment method, but you can purchase multiple items and only have to check out once, and we've even added a direct link to our store on our Facebook page. Just look for the shopping cart with the word “Store” below it.
In the future, any other fiber art tools such as a spindle with fossil ivory inlay will also be sold at this store.  If you'd like to check it out now, simply click on the "GMA on Big Cartel" tab above.


Handi-Wind Two Tatting Shuttle Set


 Dave has specially designed this "Handi-Wind" tatting shuttle with a screw-in finger hold that aides in loading the shuttle without slipping out of your hand. It is particularly useful for tatters with arthritis and those who just have "all thumbs". To help keep track of the handle, Dave has added an eye and jump ring so it can be worn around the neck with a cord or ribbon.  The cherry shuttle is 2 5/8 inches long, and the mahogany shuttle is 2 3/4 inches in length. The handle was crafted from a beautiful swirled acrylic.

Carved Bone Combination WPI Gauge and Diz


Dave has carved this beautiful combination WPI gauge and diz from bone. He has carved his signature rose and leaf motif on one corner, and polished this fiber art tool to have a wonderfully smooth and high gloss finish.

The overall dimensions of this tool are 2 3/4 inches in length and 1 1/4 inches in width. The holes measure 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch.

New Akha Style Drop Spindles



These Akha drop spindles are a new spindle style for Grizzly Mountain Arts.  The Akha on the top is a rosewood, maple and birch spindle, and the bottom spindle is a mini version that was crafted from padauk, maple and birch.  These spindles were sold in our Etsy shop.

Sunday

Russian Tibetan Hybrid Support Spindle




Dave has created this Russian/Tibetan support spindle hybrid with speed and efficiency in mind. You get a fast, perfectly balanced spin that Russian style spindles are known for, plus you have the convenience of a Tibetan whorl to aid in building your cop.

The 10 3/4 inches long shaft of this Russian/Tibetan hybrid support spindle was crafted from hard maple, and the 1 1/2 inch whorl was crafted from pau amarillo.

The weight of this spindle is 1.1 ounce (32 grams).

When constructing his spindles, Dave mounts the spindle whorl blank on the shaft, and then turns and shapes the whorl and shaft together to achieve a well balanced spindle.