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JUST A CHAT ABOUT TATTING SHUTTLES. INTRODUCTION. Just so that you know what you are in for. This is very much a "chatty" page. Imagine I am talking to you and stick in a few smart comments ( I put these in brackets) sometimes I second guess what is going through your mind and then comes another set of brackets. Whilst I will be looking at historical shuttles (mostly) for a better treatment of these do go to the following web site: http://www.tribbler.com/tatman/ He really knows what he is talking about :) :) I am really mostly interested in how they are made and their physical appearance. I am a not a tatter at all, but I do make tatting shuttles and have tried to reproduce some of the early ones that have a wood, bone or mother of pearl as their material. This, plus the fact that I am interested in treen (a big word, to tell you how smart I am :) ) It means "useful objects made from wood", enables me to make some personal comments which I hope may be of interest to you. Before I finish this introduction I do have to thank members of the Tatting E lists, Arachne (lace) E lists and my very special professional friend (who is sadly now deceased) Nerylla Taunton, author of: Antique Needlework Tools and Embroideries. Antique Collectors Club. ISBN 1 85149 253 4. It is quite a pricey book, but the most beautiful and knowledgeable book of its kind current available. If you are interested in "tools" this is the book for you. In my opinion it is a "must have" book for any enthusiast. I need to thank this group of people for lots of information, emailed pictures and in Neryllas case for all the time she spent with me teaching me so many things and allowing me to photograph quite a lot of her collection and to publish those pictures suitably acknowledged. OK lets start with something that is not a shuttle (Typical!)
NETTING NEEDLES. In my self styled position as Lace Bobbin Historian ( I am really proud of my humility!) I am often consulted on a variety of tools that "look like" bobbins of some sort, and this is how I came across these delightful tools. In fact I already had a large "netting shuttle" (as I had been calling it) in my collection, but this query set me researching, and this is what I have discovered. Netting clearly goes back into antiquity as it was the method that has been use for years to make fishing nets. In more modern times they were used for making camouflage for military objects and installations (OK, I am not as old as to remember WWI for you who want to be cheeky!) But I think that what you will be interested in is the decorative use of netting. You can find examples of decorative netting used on many things ranging from delicate covers for small pin cushions, to beautiful overlays on just as beautiful dresses. They were made with a variety of needles made from both metal or bone (oops and Ivory too) their sizes varied in length (immaterial) and width which is more important as the size of the decoration is more or less dependent on the size of the needle that can go through the "mesh" hole. This leads me to the second tool that is needed for netting, and that is a "mesh". This is a flat piece of wood or bone (oh yes, I forgot again, Ivory too) of varying lengths and widths which is used as a gauge for the mesh holes. In fact they are sometimes called mesh sticks or gauges. The needles that are narrow have open ends and the fiber being used is wound around them as a reservoir (like the winding post of a shuttle). The wider needles are essential flat with closed ends and a internal "tongue" that is used as the reservoir. Ok, are you ready to have a look at them?
I am sorry for the "wiggles" on these pins, this is due to the pixels on our screens (so I am told) You will know that that are straight needles and that the ends are open, which is not obvious from these pictures. You can see that two of them are loaded ready for use. Here is the next picture.
Here you can see some bone (?ivory) tools, along with the metal tools and a netting needle case. On the far left is a wider "closed" needle with the tongue as a reservoir. There are two bone "pins" too, the ones with knobs on. I don't know how these were used. :( Finally here are the meshes or gauges.
Again there are some bone handled pins or hooks, (I cant quite see clearly) and again I do not know how they were used. But I think that any needle worker can see that there is probably a use for them. The final tool that they used is one that I do not have an illustration for! But if you are into antique needlework tools you will have seen one. (And of you have one perhaps you will send me a picture of it for this web page?? Please????) It is a clamp that has a netting hook on the top of it ( page 70 in Neryllas book.) She also has a picture of a netting stirrup that is made from cloth and goes under the foot. Both these tools are devise that allows the netter to pull un it for tension. KNOTTING SHUTTLES. I am still not yet talking about tatting shuttles, because knotting is a very different technique from tatting. Sure the shuttles look the same and indeed are very beautiful, but they are not tatting shuttles. Firstly a bit about knotting. It appears that it was a pastime of the upper classes in the late 18th century. Nerylla says it was because, "it was a flattering occupation as it required little concentration an full attention could be given to ones poise and exaggerated affections". ( I love it, beside which I am a Jane Austin fan; " five thousand a year!") She says that there is another explanation as to its popularity, like "ungodly to have idle hands".
The shuttles differed from the tatting shuttles (by the way, knotting was clearly an invention that came before tatting) in that they had open points. This enables a variety of fine or course fibers to be wound around the post. The diameter of the fiber was the determinant of the knot size ( pretty obvious, I am sorry) and they would put knots close together, far apart and be very creative in the size and distancing of the knots for the completed objects. The shuttles were also very much larger that tatting shuttles, mainly because they used larger fibers for knotting. I would say the shuttles were about 100mm to 150 mm long. Something like a "Tatsy"
Because this was a pastime of the upper classes, these shuttles have to be amongst the most beautiful and ornate of all the shuttles that I have seen. Mind you there are some very beautiful tatting shuttles around too. But a shuttle with gold filigree and enameled pictures take a lot of beating. (Surprise, surprise, I do not have one, or even a picture of one to show you. I think they would cost a lot of money. I could make one of course, but out of plane old wood... no way! It would be an insult to a most beautiful tool) See page 66 of Neryllas book, or go to the Wallace Collection in London. Oh look, I have found one from Neryllas collection. You cant really see that it is a knotting shuttle, but it is. ( and , of course, it is a plain one).
TATTING SHUTTLES. At last. Well I have got there. But I think it was worth while to look at those allied tools. As I am just chatting to you, I have not laid out the order of the shuttles that I want to talk to you about, so let me pause for a while, have a cuppa tea, and see how it goes. Ahh, that's better. I have decided that I will list the shuttles that I want to talk about first. Then I will try and put them in some order. The list that you will see will be the list that has the "order" in it. Hold on a bit for some creativity! The creativity that resulted was nil. You just have the list as I have written it down. Silver and precious metals. Ivory Tortoise shell Mauchlin ware. Tunbridge ware, Tartan ware. Mother of Pearl Bone Various synthetics materials. SILVER AND OTHER PRECIOUS METAL. Probably 19th century was the time that most of these were produced, though there is a modern maker of some very pretty silver shuttles. I have to say that I am not really knowledgeable about the metal processes but what I have seen of the antique precious metal shuttles I would say that there are two decorations that are used. First is the filigree. This can be outstandingly beautiful. I have handled a couple of these an felt particularly for the smoothness of the edges, to estimate if they would catch the thread whilst in use. I have to say that the answer was, IMHO, that they would not. So here you have a delightful shuttle that will work well, looks very pretty, is a good collectors item and valuable. The points can be pressed together to some degree, but as the shuttles were not mine, I was more than careful when experimenting. There are some early 20th century silver shuttles made from Sterling silver that are illustrated in many books. These are somewhat diamond shaped as opposed the more general ellipse (sort of) shape and are engraved, which is the second decoration mused for precious metal shuttles. Engravings vary from ornate scrolls and "fleur de lis" ( I am sure that this is not the right spelling) to what I call a type of Greek geometrical design. But you can find flowers and lines and dots and all kinds of imaginative designs on them. I would just love to have one of them. Here is a picture o0f one a Neryllas sterling silver shuttles.
IVORY SHUTTLES. Hopefully modern shuttles made from ivory are scarce, but they were very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. They range from plane ivory, to those engraved and carved. The most famous of ivory shuttles is the deeply carved ones that came form China for the European market. The commentators on this say that it was pretty useless to tat with, because of the filigree carving that caught on the thread. My own observation on these shuttle is that they are "very" thin (in height) and that you could get hardly any thread on it. I recall chatting to Nerylla about this one day and I said that I thought that they had made the shuttle from a picture, rather than from an actual shuttle. My point is that the makers did not understand the function of the tool, and made to from a picture or drawing that they had, thus it ended up so very thin. We had a laugh and she generously acceded to my idea, but I am not sure if she was convinced!! I said this to Nerylla for a very good reason. I was once asked over the phone to turn a display paper weight for a "bullion" embroidery. I was given rough dimensions and I then made it. It looked good, but the depth that I had left between the glass and the embroidery was far too small. You see, I had no practical idea of just what I was making. Well here is another of Neryllas shuttle for you to look at. The focus is not as good as I would like, but it is the famous Canton carved ivory shuttle.
It is really not as "white" as this. Sorry. Now hold on whilst I scroll back to see what I have to chat about next..... Ah yes, tortoise shell. Now I had better warn you that what I am going to say may upset some of you. Certainly no sex, but a lot of gratuitous violence. Be warned. (Yes I am still talking about tatting shuttles)
TORTOISE SHELL. Well here it is coming up. Do you know how tortoise shell is produced? Read on only if you are tough. "Basically the tortoise was caught and cooked (baked I think). The heat made the shell flake off the body. This is the beautiful material we call tortoiseshell. The tortoise was then released for a year to swim in the sea and recover. It was then caught again and cooked again so that more tortoiseshell could be obtained. As this torture went on, the tortoiseshell became of finer and finer quality. I don't know at what stage the tortoise finally gave up the ghost. But I'm very glad that tortoiseshell is now a banned material (ivory has nothing on it). Having said that, I also think it is a very beautiful material, and antique tortoiseshell items should be cherished - both for their beauty and the pain that went into them!" Email from Jane Read UK. 1997. (Its me talking again) What did you think of that? Every time I see a Tortoiseshell tool I cringe a bit, but just like Jane I think it so a most beautifully material. I suppose that next to the precious metals the tortoiseshell is the prettiest shuttle. You see them so beautifully inlaid with silver, mother of pearl and all other types of inlays. Wouldn't you kill for one of them? Well, perhaps not. I think that what you should do if you want a tortoise shell shuttle, is to look around the antique and junk stores for an old genuine tortoiseshell hair clip that has a suitable curve on it, then send it to me to make you a suitable shuttle from it. Or else win the Lotto. BTW they did sometimes make tortoise shell shuttles with a pressed horn base and a thin layer of tortoiseshell over it. That does not help really does it? :(
If you want to test if your shuttle is true or false then here is how you do it. (Do have a look at my page with all there tests on it.) Tortoise is not the easiest material to identify for sure. The surest way might be by testing with a hot needle. Stuff a needle into an erasure or something, heat with a candle till the needle is red hot or almost that hot. Then on a place on the inside of the shuttle when a mark will not be seen, touch the tip of the hot needle to the surface. Tortoise, when tested produces an acrid, fishy or seaweed-like smell. Horn can be identified by the highly characteristic smell of burning hair or feathers. Celluloid smells like camphor, usually a very strong smell. I think you probably will know the plastic smell. This came via another Email. Sorry I have lost the name.
NB its says horn, but that is not correct. Sorry. Despite it all I love tortoise shell. MAUCHLIN WARE. This is where my knowledge of treen comes in handy. For years I thought it was a town in France! How ignorant can you be especially for a person whose two children were born in Scotland. Mauchlin (pronounced Mock-lin. like Strachan is pronounced Straahn !!) It's just inland from Ayr on the West coast of Scotland. Mauchlin was part of the great tourist memento trade (though much more tasteful than the current crop of mementoes) They made snuff boxes, pill boxes and any other sort of small treen that you think of (well almost) and... they made tatting shuttles. Once again I was conned. I thought that the drawings on the shuttles were pen and ink, but no, they are transfers made to look like pen and ink. (I should have known really, but I have never seen two pieces of Mauchlin ware having the same picture together.) The shuttle date from the 1850s. Any way, the transfers are made on Japanese paper in reverse. They are placed on the shuttle "ink" side down and moistened, or rather kept moist for about two hours. The paper can be gently taken off any the picture remains. The shuttle is varnished. The wood is mostly sycamore as it is grown in the region. The transfers were also made there as far as I can tell. Don't be fooled into thinking that you shuttle with a picture of the Niagara falls or any other foreign place, means that it came from that country. Mauchlin exported for the trade with what ever pictures that they wanted on them! Later some were made with a black and white photographs, these can be identified by a yellow or black line around them. Just as final piece of trivia for the Australians reading this. yes you can find Mauchlin ware with Australian pictures on them. (Mind you I have never seen one.)
TARTAN WARE. We stay in Scotland for a look at these shuttles. They were a bit like Mauchlin when it comes to the souvenir business (I could not think of that word until now and I used that silly mementoes word up above. But true to speech, I will leave it there. By the way, have you detected my Devon accent yet?) Once more I admit to my ignorance. I thought that the Tartans were painted on the shuttles, so when I started to make these and=d as I could not paint for the life of me, I used tartan ribbons. Well I was not all wrong, they did start by parting them on the shuttles but soon turned to printed paper tartans. So now I have a friend going to Scotland and I have asked her to bring me back some tartan papers to put onto my shuttles. I have it say I found it difficult to explain to here what I wanted over the phone, but I will keep my finger =s crossed. You can tell paper tartan ware from the painted by the fact that the edges of the shuttle are painted black. (To hide the edges of the paper) We are probably up to the 1870s now with these.
FERN WARE.
I have never seen a Fern ware shuttle. they used ferns from the Isle of Arran to decorate their ware. They stuck a fern frond on the wood, covered it with pigment, removed the fern and outlined it by hand, then a final coat of lacquer= NO pics. I do know even if Fern ware shuttles exist. MOTHER OF PEARL These just have to be beautiful shuttles. Now I have made a couple I can tell you a bit about them. (Made two MoP shuttles and I am now the worlds expert!!) I now realize why they are so thin, the reason is that it is very hard to find a natural curve on the shell that is anything other than shallow. I have one shell, and I could only get one natural curved shuttle from it. But what I did discover is that the thick part of the shell can be cut and carved to a suitable curve (still quite shallow) and then even that thick part of the shell will polish up like the natural shell finish. (Well, not quite as nice as that, but still very nice) What surprised me was that it smells like burnt bone when you are cutting and grinding it. The making of MoP shuttles (as with bone) id=s cut, carve, fit; cut, carve, fit. Very tedious and painstaking. this is because there is no natural flex in the material. Mother of Pearl is an excellent inlay, and you would have seen that on may shuttles. David Reed Smith, (my shuttle teacher) has made some great MoP inlaid shuttles. The antique shuttles were plain or engraved, some monogrammed. Just lovely. So bright, so smooth.
BTW I have thought that I have not mentioned the rivets yet. Rivet were only used because they did not have the good glues that we have these days. it is as simple as that. Mind you I still use rivets in bone and MoP shuttles. It seems the right thing to do. Now leave this blank free for a picture of my very own MoP shuttle. the first outing of it.. and on the web too.
Well, here it is. A slight open end one side but it still clicks except for very fine thread. Not bad for my first MoP shuttle (even though I say it myself!)
length 64mm width 14mm height 8mm
BONE. These are very common. they share a thinness with the MoP shuttles and for much the same reason. Namely it is hard to get a bone thick enough to carve out a shuttle with a reasonable curve. They are everywhere, some plain, some engraved, some are (what do they call that carving that the seamen did on whales teeth?) oh yes, I know, scrimshawed. The drawing is cut into the bone then it is inked to show it up. there are some beautiful examples of small scrimshaw about on shuttles. Mind you I have only seen the odd picture.
This looks too white too HORN Horn is another material that makes good shuttles. I can tell you much about the process yet. I do have some horn but I have not got around to using it yet. It looks very nave polished up. I have not seen a horn shuttle decorated with anything else as yet. Sorry no pictures. Finally... VARIOUS OTHER SYNTHETIC MATERIALS USED FOR SHUTTLES. Well most of us have shuttles that look like a natural material but they are not. Of course too we all have shuttles that are made of various plastics too.
I do not have enough knowledge to lead you through the shuttles made from these materials, but I can point you to my web page on testing various materials and what will at least be a guide for you.
OK, that's all for now folks.
Just a final piece of trivia. I have written this because I am sick and just bored stiff moping around the house. I have put the heater on (DWs insistence) and sat here for a few hours, coughing and spluttering, but still enjoying myself. Thanks for the chat. Thanks for listening.
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