Fossil Ivory with Silver Inlacing

This primitive inspired piece was created from a shard of fossil ivory. Dave has used silver powder and resin to inlace (also sometimes referred to as inlay) a ancient spiral design into the pendant. This pendant hangs from an 18" silver plate ball chain.

This fossil ivory pendant can be found in our Etsy.com shop.

Dave's Button Baskets

This is Dave’s latest little creation! A basket for your buttons featuring a vintage button lid center piece.

Most people think that all our baskets are my art pieces but alas…Dave stitches also and has much more patience and a longer attention span than I. Dave says “give an ole sailor a needle and he can mend a sail, splice a rope, scrimshaw a whales tooth or make you a basket”.

We hand make our baskets with Oregon Ponderosa Pine needles tightly stitched with waxed artificial flat sinew. The needles for this little basket have been dyed and a vintage copper button is used for the lids focal centerpiece. The basket measures 2 ¾ inches across by 2 ¼ inches high and features a fancy Wheat Stitch binding. The Wheat stitch requires 2 -3 times longer in making a basket than the standard plain straight stitch binding.

Oh, and for the record, when something goes wrong…. Dave can also cuss like a sailor!

The Seven Feathers

"The Seven Feathers" tribally inspired necklace designed by Jo, represents the style of fossil ivory jewelry we sell at our art shows. We haven't had many pieces here in our Etsy shop, so we thought it was time for another one!

The seven feathers of this piece, were hand carved from fossil ivory by Dave. Both sides of each feather has been meticulously carved which makes this necklace reversible. The feathers hang from a gorgeous hammered Karen Hill Tribe silver tube which Jo has accented with carved wood beads, more Karen Hill Tribe silver beads and matte glass crow beads.

The cord is a wonderful faux suede material that doesn't shed all over your clothes like real suede does. This material ties very easily making this necklace adjustable for nearly every neckline.

GMA Handmade Cherry Wood Cameo Tatting Shuttle

Dave hand made this 3 1/4 inch Drop Tatting Shuttle from American Cherry wood. It is inlaid with a tiny resin cameo. Dave has also burn etched a lace design into the wood. It is initialed and dated by Dave, the maker.

Carved Bone Double Tatting Shuttle

Dave carved this 3 1/2" flat double shuttle from bone. He has carved an intricate Victorian style motif on the front and back. This piece has been intialed and dated by Dave.

If you would like to view more photos of this tatting shuttle, please visit this item at Ebay where it is currently up for auction.

Pau Ferro Wood Tatting Shuttle with Silver Inlay

This is a new variety of wood for Dave. It’s called Pau Ferro, from South America, and has a rich brown Old World look and feel to it. Dave hand carved this side shuttle and inlayed sterling silver accent dots on each edge. The shuttle is a hair under 3 inches and initialed and dated by Dave.

Pao ferro or pau ferro (Caesalpinia echinata or Machaerium scleroxylum Tul.) is an exotic tree found in Brazil and Bolivia. Its wood is often used for making fingerboards for basses and electric guitars. It has a similar feel and similar tonal attributes to rosewood, but has a slightly lighter colour. The wood may also used for flooring, fancy furniture, and handgun grips. It is also known as morado and Bolivian rosewood, though it is not a true rosewood.

This unique Pau Ferro wood tatting shuttle is currently up for auction on Ebay.

New Needle Minders

It's been a few days since we've had anything to post about, but we've recently listed some new vintage inspired cameo needle minders. Dave is returning to his workshop in short spells, and these needle minders are just the right project for that!

On Ebay, we have listed a gorgeous Ebony Needle Minder that Dave has inlayed with Mother of Pearl in a diamond shape. This needle minder has a turned piece of Ebony as it's back piece.

In our Fiber Art Tools section of our Etsy shop, we have added some more of the beautiful vintage inspired resin cameo needle minders. Three of these are a really pretty peach color!

Don't forget, these nifty little needle minders can be separated and used as two independent magnets on your refrigerator too, as each piece has been inlayed with a very powerful rare earth magnet!

Want to Make Soap?

We have decided we like to make soap in bars, without molds, so we are selling all of our molds in one fell swoop! These types of molds usually sell for about $5.00 each, but we are selling all of our molds for $38.00 plus shipping.

The 13 plastic molds consist of 7 two-part soap molds that come with the rubber bands to hold them closed (there are 14 rubber bands included) and 6 one-part molds. Each mold makes a 4+ ounce size bar. There are photos of all of the molds for sale at the link above.

These molds can be found in our Etsy Grizzly Mountain Cache supply shop.

A Ring or Two

We've just added some new rings to our Etsy shop! They are both made using vintage inspired cameos (that I snagged from Dave's fiber art tool stash) and vintage mother-of-pearl buttons. The rings are fully adjustable.

The Lighthouse at Yaquina Head

This stunning example of Dave's scrimshaw is a scene of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon. Dave has scrim'd this scene on a piece of fossil mammoth ivory that measures about 2 3/4" in height and about 1" in width at it's widest point.

This one of a kind piece sits atop a base which was also made by Dave from pecan flour and resin.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is currently available in our Etsy shop.

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?" :)

Medieval Blue Mammoth Nalbinding Knitting Needle

Hhhmmmm.....while I was in the living room typing the blog entry about how Dave has been relegated to the couch until he's feeling better, I noticed that he disappeared. When I finished with my post, I went to see where he went, and found him typing away on the other computer (we have three....I know, we're geeks!) listing this latest nalbinding needle.

This needle is 3 1/4 inches long and comes with a velour pouch. Dave hand carved this nalbinding knitting needle out of rare ancient BLUE woolly mammoth ivory from Siberia Russia. The ivory is at least 10,000 years old.

Blue mammoth ivory is usually the outer bark ivory of the tusk and gets its color from leaching elements in the soil and ice where it has beed buried for thousands of years. The different patterns makes each needle a one-of-a- kind. Blue mammoth ivory is the most prized in jewelry making and for making expensive knife handles and pistol grips. It is initialed by Dave, the maker, and is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Medieval Blue Mammoth Nalbinding Knitting Needle

"An Unproductive Couch Potato"

..........is what Dave just called himself. He is starting round three of antibiotics today to try and get over this never ending crud. This is week 5 of this flu, bronchitis, upper respiratory infection or whatever the heck it is, for him. Dave's normal routine is to wake before dawn most days and work maniacally in his studio until evening, so being relegated to being a "couch potato" is hard for him but is necessary if he is to once and for all get over this bug.

So, to all of our wonderfully loyal customers, Dave wants you to know that he may not have many items for sale on Ebay in the near future, but will return to his studio as soon as his antibiotics kick in, or when Jo thinks he is well enough to do so ;)

Blue Mammoth Ivory Sewing Needle Minder

Ancient Blue Mammoth Ivory is so prized it is often described as gem quality and sought after for use in many jewelry items. Dave carved this cabochon from blue mammoth ivory and put it in a setting which he then made into a 2 piece magnet needle holder, with walnut used in the back piece. Each piece has a small but powerful rare-earth magnet to hold this minder and needle to your sewing work piece or you can use each piece as a refrigerator magnet.

Mammoth ivory is at least 10,000 years old and this piece comes from Russia. Ancient ivory (also called fossil ivory) is legal to ship internationally. We declare to your Customs Service the type of ivory we are exporting from the USA. If any of our ancient ivory artworks are seized by your Customs Service and you provide confirmation of that to us, we will refund your entire payment.

This one of a kind Blue Mammoth Ivory Sewing Needle Minder is currently up for auction on Ebay. To see other fiber art tools we have up for auction, please click here to view our current auction items.

Old African Terra Cotta Beads

I finally found some more of these gorgeous terra cotta beads!

These old, handmade terra cotta beads are from Africa and are beautiful in their imperfection. You can find these and other tribally inspired supplies in our Grizzly Mountain Cache supply shop.

Dragonfly Pine Needle Basket

It's been a while since we had a coiled Ponderosa Pine Needle Basket in our Etsy shop, so we thought we'd add one today.

This little basket measures 4 1/2" in diameter by 2 1/2" deep and features a blue-green dragonfly on it's earthenware centerpiece. The needles used in this basket were gathered by us in the Ochoco National Forest not far from our home. Since we don't like to seal our baskets, you can stick your nose inside this basket and smell the Ponderosa forest.