Wednesday

Hand Carved and Scrimshawed Knitting Sheath

Dave has always been fascinated with making reproductions of early period pieces, particularly pieces made by sailors. Scrimshaw knitting needle sheaths were among the many things sailors made for their wives and sweethearts back home.

Dave hand carved this 7 inch knitting sheath out of Oregon Myrtlewood. He made it for the traditional right side fitting. He had noticed that many of the early period sheaths had more narrow slots for apron strings to hold the sheath but I made this one with a wider slot to fit up to a ¾ inch waist band or belt. The top of the sheath is fitted with ancient Russian mammoth ivory as well as the color scrimshaw center piece. The needle hole in the top is drilled to accept a 5.00mm US size 8 knitting needle.


The purpose of the knitting sheath was to take the weight of the work and prevent the stitches from slipping off the bottom of a double-ended needle. These sheaths had a hole bored through the center in which the needle nearest on the right, fitted. These knitting sheaths would be worn on the right side of the body, at an angle. They were tucked into the waist band or held under the arm. In the sheath would be placed the bottom of the right hand knitting needle which was held rigid, leaving the left hand to work the yarn on the other needle. Knitting sheaths were used throughout Europe and the British Isles during the 18th. and 19th. centuries. Some were refined and exotic being made from a variety of materials including amber, porcelain, ivory, silver and brass etc. The majority were made from a range of available woods. Many were crudely carved gifts or love tokens, bearing the name of the recipient sometimes with a date and a heart or other symbol.



This item is currently up for auction on Ebay. If you would like to see larger photos, please click the link below.



Hand Carved and Scrimshawed Knitting Sheath Auction on Ebay.com

Saturday

Scrimshaw Sailors Ditty Box and Tatting Shuttle





If you haven't checked out our latest Ebay auction, you're missing out on one of Dave's most unique pieces ever! It's a replica of an old sailors ditty box that he has burn etched and best of all, it also includes one of Dave's handmade tatting shuttles. The 2 1/2 inch long walnut shuttle has a sailor scrimshawed into the ancient mammoth ivory inlay. The interior of the ditty box has been decopaged with prints of period antique art. To see more photos of this item, please use the link below to view the Ebay auction listing.

Click here to view the auction!

Yachats Arts and Crafts Festival


We just got our letter stating we had been accepted into the 10th Annual Harvest & Holidays Arts & Crafts Festival in Yachats, Oregon. We always look forward to going to Yachats! If you are planning a trip to the Oregon coast during the weekend of November 3 and 4th, be sure to plan a stop in Yachats. These shows are always great and this one will have 65 vendors inside and on Sunday the Yachats Farmers Market will be going on at the same time outside. This would be a great weekend to get your holiday shopping done early! The show is held in the Yachats Commons right on highway 101 and the times of the show are Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Friday

Now on TalentDatabase.com!


We have recently found a wonderful website that features artists from around the world! Grizzly Mountain Arts now has a portfolio on TalentDatabase.com . If you too are an artist and would like to be featured, be sure and check it out. If you are a lover of art and like to look at various mediums from around the world, you too should go take a look!

The basket on the right is one of our newest that's for sale in our Etsy.com shop. If you'd like to read more information about this basket, please click on the photo in our Mini-Etsy that's located on the left side of this page.