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

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.

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.

Even More New Nalbinding Needles!

Dave just handed me three new Nalbinding Needles to list in the Fiber Art Tool Section of our Etsy.com shop!

All of our handmade nalbinding needles are carved from ancient ivory and have been polished to a high gloss finish. As no two pieces of ancient ivory are alike, each needle Dave creates is a truly unique piece of art.

Speckled BLUE Mammoth Nalbinding Knitting Needle

NEED A LITTLE LONGER NEEDLE? Dave hand carved this nalbinding knitting needle out of rare ancient BLUE speckled woolly mammoth ivory from Siberia Russia. The patterns of these colorful mammoth ivory shards makes each needle truely one of a kind. He also accented this needle with a diamond inlay of Mother of Pearl.

The ivory is at least 10,000 years old. Blue mammoth ivory gets its color from elements in the soil and ice where it has been buried for thousands of years. Blue mammoth ivory is the most prized in jewelry making and for making expensive knife handles and pistol grips.

This nalbinding needle is 3 3/4 inches long and comes with a velour pouch. It is initialed by Dave, the maker and is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Rare Blue Mammoth Ivory Nalbinding Needle

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 gets its color from elements in the soil and ice where it has beed buried for thousands of years. Blue mammoth ivory is the most prized in jewelry making and for making expensive knife handles and pistol grips. It is 2 3/4 inches long and comes with a velour pouch. It is initialed by Dave, the maker.

This blue mammoth ivory nalbinding needle is currently up for auction on Ebay.

Ancient Mammoth Ivory Nalbinding Needles

Dave hand carved this set of nalbinding needles out of ancient woolly mammoth ivory from Siberia Russia. The ivory is at least 10,000 years old. The longer rounded needle is 3 7/8 inches long and the flat needle is 3 ½ inches long and they come with a velour pouch. Each is initialed by Dave. Perfect for SCA Ren-Faire! This set comes with a copy of the Affidavit of Ivory Origin.

These nalbinding needles are currently up for auction on Ebay. Please click here if you would like to view this auction.

Ancient Ivory Medieval Norse Nalbinding Needles

Dave was recently contacted by a fiber artist who asked if he had ever made any medieval Norse nalbinding needles. He hadn't, but immediately began researching this tool as he loves adding new fiber art tools to his repertoire. All of our nalbinding needles are hand carved from ancient ivory and can be viewed in the Fiber Art Tools section of our online Etsy shop.

If you are like us and have never heard of "Nalbinding", which can be spelled several different ways, the excerpt below is from Wikipedia and gives an explanation of this ancient art form:

"Nålebinding (Danish: literally "binding with a needle" or "needle-binding", also naalbinding or naalebinding) is a fabric creation technique predating both knitting and crochet. Also known in English as "knotless netting," "knotless knitting," [1]or "single needle knitting," the technique is distinct from crochet in that it involves passing the full length of the working thread through each loop, unlike crochet where the work is formed only of loops, never involving the free end.

More information on this medieval art can be found here.

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.

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

"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!

New Items!

We've added some new items to our Etsy shops!

In our "Grizzly Mountain Arts" shop, we've added some new cameo needle minders and a couple of carved fossil ivory pendants.

Our "Grizzly Mountain Cache" supply shop is now home for some stunning fossil ivory focal beads that were turned by Dave on the lathe.

If you would like to view our new items, please click on either of the Etsy minis to the left and right of this post, or click one of the links below.

Grizzly Mountain Arts New Items

Grizzly Mountain Cache New Items

Hand Painted Porcelain Magnetic Needle Minder

Being a scrimshaw artist, it is probably obvious that Dave likes to work in miniatures. He hand crafted this unique porcelain OOAK 2 piece magnet needle holder and hand painted a lighthouse by moonlight scene on it with porcelaine paint. To firmly bond the paint, the disc is oven baked at 300 degrees. The back piece also has a rare earth magnet inset into a turned Rosewood finger grip for pulling the two pieces apart.

Rare earth magnets are about 8 to 10 times stronger than regular craft type magnets. Keep this needle holder away from your computer, credit cards and pacemakers.

This needle minder is currently up for auction on Ebay.com. If you would like to view more photos of this item, please click the link below.

Hand Painted Porcelain Magnetic Needle Minder at Ebay.com

New Cameo Needle Minders in Our Etsy Shop!

We have just added some new needle minders to our Etsy shop! These are more of the vintage inspired cameos and all have the rare earth magnets inlayed into the back of both the cameo and turned wood piece. You could even separate the two and use both pieces as refrigerator magnets!

Click here to view our fiber art tools in our Etsy.com shop!

"Lady with Flowers" Cameo Needle Minder

We made this graceful "Lady with Flowers" cameo needle minder from a gorgeous vintage inspired resin cameo. The needle minder measures about 1 1/2" in length by 1 1/4" wide. We inlayed a rare earth magnet on 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! You could even take off the "minder" and use this as a frig magnet.

Rare-earth magnets are strong, permanent magnets made from alloys of rare earth elements. Rare-earth magnets are substantially stronger than ferrite or alnico magnets, so you'll need to keep this away from your credit cards or pacemaker.

This needle minder is currently for sale in our Etsy.com shop for $10.00. If you'd like to view this item, please click the link below.

"Lady with Flowers" Cameo Needle Minder on Etsy.com

Hand Painted Porcelain Needle Minder

Being a scrimshaw artist, it is probably obvious that Dave likes to work in miniatures. He hand crafted this unique porcelain OOAK 2 piece magnet needle holder and hand painted a lighthouse scene on it with Porcelaine paint. To firmly bond the paint, the disc is oven baked at 300 degrees. The back piece also has a rare earth magnet inset into a turned Rosewood finger grip for pulling the two pieces apart.

Rare earth magnets are about 8 to 10 times stronger than regular craft type magnets. Keep this needle holder away from your computer, credit cards and pacemakers.

This hand painted needle minder is currently up for auction on Ebay.com. If you would like to view this item, please click the link below.


Hand Painted Porcelain Needle Minder on Ebay.com

New Items in our Etsy Shops!

We have just listed some new items in our Etsy.com shops!

In our "GrizzlyMountainArts" shop we have listed two more of the vintage inspired needle minders. One is a beautiful Victorian Lady cameo and the other is a vintage inspired red hisbiscus cameo. Both of these needle minders have a turned piece of East Indian Rosewood that contains the back magnet.


The new listing in our "GrizzlyMountainCache" primitive supply shop is more of the unique seabeans. We use these in our work, but only your imagination can limit their use!


If you would like to view these items, please click on one of the links below.




Hibiscus Cameo Needle Minder on Etsy.com

Victorian Lady Cameo Needle Minder on Etsy.com

Seabeads for Organic Art Projects on Etsy.com

Two New Additions

Our latest two vintage inspired cameo needle minders are, in my opinion, some of the prettiest! One is a whimsical fairy and flower, and the other a Victorian lady with a vine motif. Both have a turned piece of ebony as it's minder.

These needle minders are currently for sale in our Etsy.com shop for $10. If you would like to view these items, please click the link below.

Grizzly Mountain Arts Fiber Art Tools on Etsy.com

Ceramic Needle Keeper

Our ceramic needle keepers are completely handmade by us! This needle keeper has a leaf motif carved on the top. It has been glazed with a cheerful grape colored glaze. The pins shown in the photo are for display purposes only.

This yummy grape needle keeper is currently for sale in our Etsy.com shop. If you would like to view this item, please click the link below.

Ceramic Needle Keeper on Etsy.com

Scrimshaw Ancient Ivory Needle Holder Ring

Since we're still in our needle minder frenzy, we thought we'd try and make a piece that was both functional as a ring and fiber art tool. We recently bought some beautiful vintage adjustable brass rings (thanks, EpochBeads!) and thought they would be perfect for this project.

Dave has scrim'd a graceful dragonfly on a beautiful piece of ancient mammoth ivory. Hidden underneath, is a powerful rare earth magnet on which you can park your needle! When you're not sewing, it is still beautiful enough to wear as jewelry!

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

Scrimshaw Ancient Ivory Needle Holder Ring Ebay Auction