Saturday

Oklahoma Here We Come!


Technically, our plane doesn't leave until Wednesday morning, but as of today, Grizzly Mountain Arts/Grizzly Mountain Cache is on vacation!

Both of us are from "tornado alley", so living in the high desert makes us miss the excitement that spring brings to Oklahoma. We decided to make our annual trek to visit family during the peak tornado season, so keep your fingers crossed that we don't get to visit OZ while we're there :) Update--For the record, Jo is from Texas--that should have been mentioned when this was originally posted. If you are from Texas, you understand what a faux paux it was on my part to omit this fact :)

Being the geeks that we are, we will have our laptop and will be able to answer email and convos (that's an Etsy thing), but we will not be able to mail any items that are purchased through either of our Etsy.com shops until we return. Our replies may not be a quick as usual, but we will answer them ASAP. We will be back home on May 7, so any items purchased while we are away will not be mailed until at least May 8th.

Before we leave, Dave will be listing a few things on Ebay that will be up for auction for 10 days.

Tornado photo courtesy of the NOAA Photo Library

Tuesday

Oregon Cascades Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttle Number 9

Made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

Number 9 of our line of signature tatting shuttles is here! Dave designed this line EXCLUSIVELY for our Etsy shop! Dave doesn't know how many of these sequentially numbered tatting shuttles he will make, but this line will end at some point.

This 2 3/4 inch post style tatting shuttle was handcrafted from Oregon myrtlewood and has been burn etched with our Oregon Cascades Logo. This shuttle has been signed and numbered by Dave.

Monday

New Vintage Inspired Cameo Needle Minders



We've just added some more of the vintage inspired resin cameo needle minders to our Etsy.com shop! The past needle minders were very popular, so we've been keeping our eye out for other unusual cameos.

These three latest additions all have the same inlayed rare earth magnet in both the cameo and turned wood "minder", with the woods selections being Walnut, Black Box Elder and Purpleheart. You can find these three little beauties in the Fiber Art Tools section of our Etsy shop.

Sunday

Holly and Celluloid Lace Bobbin


Dave turned this 4 inch lace bobbin from white Holly wood with a "Aqua Blue Swirl" celluloid insert. It is drilled for a spangle.

This bobbin is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Bone and Horn Picot Crochet Hook


Dave turned this 4 ½ inch picot hook from bone and horn. The horn upper is not solid black and has streaks of gray running through it. The hook is about 2mm in size.

This picot hook is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Saturday

Ebony and Fine Silver Drop Tatting Shuttle


Dave carved this 3 inch drop shuttle from exotic African Ebony wood. Jo makes the fine silver filigree inlay discs using Precious Metal Clay. She molds the metal clay and then kiln fires it to 1650 degrees. The organic clay binder burns away melting the fine silver particles into 99.9% pure silver. Dave carved a round recess into the shuttle and inset the silver disc to a near flush level. It is initialed and dated by Dave.

This shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.com.

Friday

Handmade Earthenware Pin Cushions



We hand make these little 1 ½ inch diameter pin wheel cushions out of white earthenware clay with a felt disc sandwiched between. This one, which is currently up for auction on Ebay, has been relief carved, on one side, and glaze fired with brilliant cobalt blue.

Cobalt Blue Earthenware Pin Cushion Auction








We also have another ceramic pin cushion for sale in our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy.com shop. This one has a Celtic fish motif carved on one side and has been glazed to give it an old, distressed look.

Earthenware Celtic Fish Pin Cushion on Etsy.com

Sunday

The Overflowing Cup


Jo created "The Overflowing Cup" from earthenware clay. It measures about 1 3/4" in length and 1" in width. It has been accented with a brass bead. The cord is a wonderful faux suede material that doesn't "shed" on your clothes like real suede does and is very easy to tie so your pendant can compliment any neckline. If faux suede is not your favorite material and you prefer to wear your pendant on a chain, you can easily remove it.

This earthenware pendant is one of six new pendants added today to our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy.com shop.

Copy THIS, Grasshopper!





Dave hand made and carved this large bone knotting shuttle. It is 4 5/8 inches long and 1 ¼ inches wide. It has been initialed and dated by Dave.














This knotting shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.com.

Saturday

American Bison Double Crochet Hook G-H



A great novelty hook and piece of history for your collection! Dave hand made this 5 ¾ inch double (G 4.00mm – H 5.00mm) crochet hook from American Bison bone he acquired from the Cascade Buffalo Ranch here in Oregon. Dave cleaned, dried, degreased and cured this bone over a 2 year period.









This hook has a thumb rest for each end. It is carved and inlayed it with turquoise and silver. It is initialed by Dave, the maker.

This double crochet hook is currently up for auction on Ebay.com.

Friday

"Girl with Bird" Cameo Needle Minder


Made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

We've just added this graceful "Girl with Bird" cameo needle minder, made from a gorgeous vintage inspired resin cameo, to our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop. The background is dark brown on this cameo, and a rare earth magnet has been inlayed in the back. Dave inlayed another rare earth magnet into a beautiful piece of walnut that he turned on the lathe. Together, these beauties will "mind" your needle conveniently on your project!

The two pieces of this needle minder could also be separated to use as refrigerator magnets!

Midland Bobbin with Mammoth Ivory Accents


Dave turned this 4 inch Midland bobbin out of East Indian Rosewood, maple burl and ancient woolly mammoth ivory. The rosewood looks almost black but is actually a very deep deep deep purple the color of black plum. It has been drilled for a spangle.

This Midland bobbin is currently up for auction on Ebay.com. Please click here if you would like to view this auction.

Thursday

New Earthenware Pendants





Jo finally got around to listing some more of her Earthenware Pendants in the Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop.

These new pendants are Celtic, Mayan and nature inspired, and are accented with a variety of Tibetan yak bone, African "vaseline glass" and Tibetan inlayed Bodhi seed beads.

As always, these were made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

Wednesday

Oregon Cascades Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttle #8

Dave has just finished number 8 of his Oregon Cascades Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttle line for our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy.com shop.

As always, this shuttle was made with love on Grizzly Mountain!

Celtic Ogham Jewelry



We've just added some new Celtic Ogham Pendants to our Grizzly Mountain Arts Etsy shop! Fossil ivory and earthenware clay have been used to create our Ogham pendants as has Tibetan Bodhi seeds, inlayed Tibetan Yak bone and African Krobo beads.

Ogham, is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to represent the "Old Irish" language. Ogham is sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet".

Tuesday

Brass Picot Gauge Set with Case





Offered exclusively by Grizzly Mountain Arts! This is a unique set of brass picot gauges with seven size increments, 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 7/32 and ¼ inch.






The entire set telescopes inside each other and then slides neatly into this Oregon Myrtlewood gauge case. Dave has carved an oak leaf fob from a piece of ancient fossil ivory and burn etched GMA’s Cascade Mountain logo on the case.




This first of it's kind brass picot gauge set is currently up for auction on Ebay.com. Please click the link below if you would like to view this auction.




Brass Picot Gauge Set with Case Auction

Sunday

A Happy Customer!




We love it when our customers love our work! That's the whole point, isn't it?

One of our favorite customers, DianeC, has blogged about her most recent Grizzly Mountain Arts commissioned piece, the Tatsy Style Oregon Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttles. She also has some beautiful examples of her tatting on her Lace-lovin' Librarian blog, so be sure to go check it out!

Saturday

Bone and Celluloid Lace Tatting Picot Hook



Dave made this 4 1/2 inch picot hook out of bone and colorful celluloid.

This picot hook is currently up for auction on Ebay.com.

Friday

Gifts from Our Customers


One of the best things about making and selling fiber art tools, is the beautiful works of art we receive from our customers. This is a sample of what Dave's little tools can do in the hands of a fiber artist.

Tatsy Style Oregon Myrtlewood Tatting Shuttles














Dave has recently finished a commission where he was asked to make a pair of Tatsy style tatting shuttles. Oregon Myrtlewood was requested for these 4 1/2 inch x 1 1/4 inch Tatsy style shuttles as was our Oregon Cascade logo and initials of her and her loved one.

New Ceramic Basket Embellishments Added to Our Cache


We have the best customers in the world! I hope each and every one of you knows how much we appreciate your loyal patronage of our work!

We awoke this morning, to find that a wonderful customer had purchased our entire selection of ceramic basket embellishments! As a result, you will now find a fresh batch of ceramic centerpieces in our "Grizzly Mountain Cache" Etsy shop. We are considering putting some of our "seconds" in the Cache for use by mosaic artists. If you've ever fired clay, you know how aggravating it is to find small holes filled with glaze. Those are nearly impossible to clear without breaking, so you end up with a piece that's only good for smashing into a mosaic supply.

Thursday

We've Been Featured!






We were just notified that we have been featured in MayRae's "It's All About the Yarn" blog! She featured our "Hummingbird Blue" coiled pine needle basket, that's shown in this post. Be sure and check out her amazing blog and her MayRae Crochet n Knit Etsy.com shop!

New African Krobo Beads



We've just added some new African Krobo beads to our Grizzly Mountain Cache supply shop on Etsy.com!

What are African Krobo Beads?

Krobo powder glass beads are made in vertical molds fashioned out of a special, locally dug clay. Most molds have a number of depressions, designed to hold one bead each, and each of these depressions, in turn, has a small central depression to hold the stem of a cassava leaf. The mold is filled with finely ground glass that can be built up in layers in order to form sequences and patterns of different shapes and colors. The technique could be described as being somewhat similar to creating a sand "painting" or to filling a bottle with different-colored sands and is called the "vertical-mold dry powder glass technique". When cassava leaf stems are used, these will burn away during firing and leave the bead perforation. Certain powder glass bead variants, however, receive their perforations after firing, by piercing the still hot and pliable glass with a hand-made, pointed metal tool. Firing takes place in clay kilns until the glass fuses.

Wednesday

Ebony and Ruby Celluloid Lace Bobbin


Dave turned this 4 inch lace bobbin from ebony wood with a ruby red and black swirl celluloid insert. It is drilled for a spangle.

This bobbin is currently up for auction on Ebay. If you would like to view this listing, please click the link below.

Ebony and Ruby Celluloid Lace Bobbin on Ebay

Tuesday

The Return of "Grasshopper"

I try to keep my blog posts strictly business, but my frequent readers will remember a previous post where I vented my frustrations about Dave's "copycat". Well, he's baaaaack!

For weeks, Dave pondered.....drew plans on graph paper.....thought some more, all in preparation of what he considers to be one of his best works, the Moby Dick Tatting Shuttle and Harpoon Picot Hook set. There had been several other attempts at recreating some of Dave's other popular shuttles by this Ebay seller before, so when he was ready to list Moby on Ebay, he added a statement of copyright. Can you believe, that this Ebay seller has copied not only the whale and harpoon picot hook idea, but also the copyright statement!

This seller contacted Dave on several occasions very early on in his copying career, subtlety asking questions about this or that and Dave being the nice guy he is, was more than friendly in his replies. Even now when I try and convince him to go through the proper channels to report this flagrant artistic disrespect through the VeRo process, he declined to do so. I recently discovered that this person has even started a new blog all about his tatting shuttles!

I assume, that since Grasshopper has obviously studied everything Dave has done, that he reads this blog. If he does, I have a little advice......karma is a bitch!

Ancient Ivory Spirit Pendant


A wizened old spirit face was carved on this pendant by Dave from a beautiful piece of ancient ivory. The pendant measures nearly 3 inches in length and 1/2" in width. Very old African trade copper and four carved bone beads accent this piece . The cord is a wonderful faux suede material that doesn't "shed" on your clothes like real suede does and is very easy to tie so your pendant can compliment any neckline.

Ancient walrus and mammoth tusks are dug out of the permafrost or bone mounds by Alaskan and Siberian natives annually during the summer thaw and sold to subsidize their family or village income. No wildlife has been harmed to produce our art.

"Fresh" ivory and elephant ivory will never be used in any of the artwork created by Grizzly Mountain Arts.

You can find this wise old spirit in our Etsy.com shop. Please click the link below if you would like to view this item.

Ancient Ivory Spirit Carving at Etsy.com