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

Sunday

Latest Additions to the Cache



Thanks to all of our wonderful patrons, we've had to add more fossil ivory and beads to our "Grizzly Mountain Cache" Etsy shop!

One of the fossil ivory items added, is a beautiful ingot of mammoth ivory. Dave shaped and finished this piece so it can be worn as is, or it is ready for you to try your hand at scrimshaw. Other fossil ivory lots recently added, are eleven lots of fossil shards that would be ideal for wire wrappers or carvers.

When I make my tribally inspired jewelry, I tend to use the more imperfect looking supplies as I feel that in their imperfection, they are perfect. The newly added Terra Cotta blue beads are a fine example of this. When you look through our galleries of sold items on our website, you can quickly identify what I (Jo) make, and what Dave makes, as his work is precise and polished and mine is....not so much :)

If you'd like to take a look at our newest Cache items, please click the link below.

Grizzly Mountain Cache--Primitive Supplies and Other Unusual Findings

Saturday

Basket Embellishments Added to the Cache




We've just added a new item to our "Grizzly Mountain Cache" Etsy shop--handmade ceramic basket embellishments!

All of our ceramic centerpieces were made by Jo. We use them in our basketry for lid centerpieces and bottoms of plates and bowls.

If you would like to see our new items, please click the link below. We hope to be adding more basket embellishments in the future.

Handmade Ceramic Basket Embellishments--Grizzly Mountain Cache