All good things...

Alas the time has come for me to hang up my saw.
New additions to my family and other reasons
thanks all who have visited and ordered in the past.
but as someone once said
All good things must come to an End

Shuttles and other things

Well I was working away on my brand new buffing wheel (from Christmas) and was thinking wow this is a nice way to polish metal it makes it so shiny and nice and smooth. This got me to thinking. New product line or better shuttles smooth like baby bums. As I have done a few Pendants and Brass Fiber tags not a long stretch from a shuttle why not make a Bracelet. Stretch/Shuttle yeah I know bad pun but it worked nicely.

Absent Friends

Hello.
I am back It has been awhile and I figure I should stop sit down and write something on this blog as my last post was way back in Oct sorry for you all that keep hoping to see something new.
I have been busy with life lol however that does not mean that I have stopped making shuttles on the contrary I have been making some new ones for my dear motherinlaw over at hankering for yarn for x-mas she was delighted to get it.
what-i-gave-for-christmas
If you want to see it she has a wonderful pic
I have also been helping my DW (darling wife) with some neat fiber tags.
Fibertags

I have been working on a few Ideas

It has been a while but I figure somethings are worth the wait
I have been playing with a few ideas some good some bad but I had said that I would share
some of them with you
first thanks to Marilyn getting me thinking about ways that I could do more artistic works on the shuttles she had asked me to do a spider as we all know they are the insect weavers and developing on that idea she asked for a web to be part of it . I thought hmmm yes a spider is no problem but a web with that would be interesting wait a sec Marilyn had already asked about painting on the shuttles and that worked nicely why not engrave and paint the web white.

Ok it is now being tested

Noreen was thrilled to see the newest shuttle improvement.
I drilled a couple of holes in the "hands" of the shuttle and then put a bit of blue paint and varnished a couple of times. it turned out wonderfully so what do you think.

Poll results

The people have spoken by a vote of 4 to 3 they like the new script lettering but as it was so close and thank you all for your opinion I will still offer both block and script.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

Wonderfull Idea

A very nice reader wrote me a wonderful e-mail just the other day and described to me a shuttle she has and she very much likes to use. It had a single stone mounted on one side and double mounted onto the other this got me to thinking mounting stones is not something that I could feel comfortable with at this time but ... perhaps something similar so what I was thinking was use my pin vice with a larger pin and only half punch thru the shuttle dab of paint and some varnish on top polish and smooth stay tuned I will post some pictures once I have done a prototype let me know what you think. Thank you Marilyn

I was wondering if you could help me out

I have put up a survey on the right of this post and would like to know what your opinion is? I know you have one and I value it very much. So what lettering do you like best
the block lettering big bold easy to read
the script lettering thiner stylistic and cool
other
anything else remember I can not make middle parts levitate so I can not do really cool fonts
just think of it in the letters O or P or Q plus D nevermind B or R and A some of my Favorite letters (I get to be creative). If you could just make a selection in the survey or write a comment I would be great full who knows I may even run a contest of my own in the near future.

Copper tags

If you want to have your own copper tag I would be happy to make one for you with your selection of wording and or phrase using block or stylistic lettering.
Just email me durusuno@shaw.ca for pricing

Something new yet again

Chloe my wonderful blogging and multi talented wife asked me to make something neat for fiber arts so I put my blade to metal and came up with a cool fiber tag.
to celebrate our blessed union and a cool idea she will be running a contest if you want to enter go to Tangled thread

How about something completely different

I was asked by a new friend hey can you make a gauge? I thought a what? A gauge hmm what does it look like. So a few emailed instructions and a nice couple of pictures and sure enough a new product for people to see.
I know it does not look like much now but wait till I tell you what it does.
you see here 3 different gauges (but what do they do?)

there is the 1 inch by 3 1/2
there is the 1/2 inch by 3 1/2
there is the 1/4 inch by 3 1/2

Now what you do is when you are making netting you use the gauges to make the same size hole in the netting so if you are making a shall or fishnet stocking then hurray the right tool for the right job.
O did I mention they are really shiny so much so that if you look really close you can see my camera reflected in them.
Now these are the prototypes and a wee bit of r and d needs to be done but I figured it is time for something new up here.

New styling

I got a few new orders in the past few days and decided that I wanted to try something new with the lettering on the shuttle. the block stencil lettering is cool and all but not as challenging as I thought these needed. also with the pin vise I can make the letters more refined and elegant.
Pictured here are a 5 1/2 copper weaving shuttle and a matching 3 1/2 copper weaving shuttle

Tool of the Day

I had picked up a pin vise about a year ago and played with it for the first week but was really not impressed with it. The twist pins I got for it were too small and well it just was not the same as one I had borrowed from a friend. But the other day I got some new twist pins and decided to give it another chance yep I am really happy I did I am just finishing my honeymoon, so that is why I have not posted in a while. If you do not know what a pin vise is it is a manual drilling device powered by your own hand and it drills into the material you need it to. Some use it for plastic models others for the cool metal ones you get for games like war hammer to make sure parts do not fall off. Me I decided that my bead holes where to big for what I am working on now. also I can me very exacting where I put a hole. If I get permission I will put it up for you all to see.

Wedding Day post

I have just recently Wed the most wonderful woman I have ever met and now I figure why not get it from my prospective.

My day started at 0630 I woke up with my love.

We got up and got dressed to go and set up the Reception site as it was not available the night before made for a early morning.

0800 get to the reception site and start to set up the decorations. This was a good distraction as it gave me something else to think about as my stomach had more butterfly's than we had at the wedding site.

All finished at 0930 and Chloe had left an hour earlier to get her hair done and preparations at Noreen's home some 30 miles away from our home.

Breakfast at McDonald figured a good breakfast may feed the butterflies and calm them down good thing as I did not have anything till much later. We also stopped by a local shop to pick up a neat surprise for Noreen and family.

1030 Back to my place and time to shower and primp and prepare for our ceremony. I had originally planned to get ready with the guys but then changed my mind and decided to do it alone it gave me a few minutes to center and prepare myself for the day. My best man had brought his RV up and the others had gotten dressed there. That left me alone with some of our fur babies.

1125 all dressed and shaved and prepared Chloe's brother Angus picked me up to meet up with the other groomsmen at the RV and head to the Wedding site we also had to prepare for everything there set up decorations and some minor sound equipment (thanks to Mike and Angus).

1200 Traffic was a nightmare why do Cites decide to do renovations on major roads during the day and take up 2 of 3 lanes?

1215 get to the wedding site carry up wedding stuff to the 3rd floor and start set up Thanks again to Mom and Dad and Angus Bill and Mike and Sean for helping . We string about 1500 Butterfly up and over the seating area from the arbor














1220 forgot some of the decorations Crap panic O no must get (my groomsman Angus is a reliable dependable and smart man) he made it in time back to my place and return in record time.

1230 set up mostly done and now we wait.

1 pm takes a wonderful series of shots of our guests and the site using my camera.
greet our guests and give out wedding favors some really cute Butterfly bubble blowers and shake hands and chat with our guests (it is our day I figure keep busy or my personal butterflies will take over)

1 15 pm Angus returns he rocks

1 28 pm 2 min till the start of the formal wedding ask everyone to take their places and to turn of Cellphones

130 deep breath it is starting my butterflies are just racing
Somewhere out there plays it is a song with deep emotional significance for me and love billows up and a few tears slip down my cheek

I see my big sis come down with my fur baby ring bearer and the Meghan and Allie come and finally.

My wife with her mom and dad to At last by Etta James.
I compose my self and marvel at her Stunning is the first thing that pops in my head what a lucky man I am to marry her.

Then our the world only consisted of one person the woman in the white dress

I was so focused on her that the whole thing was just her and me.

It was magical next we did the signing the license and some more meet and greet with Friends and Family.

2 pm pictures down stairs after the tear down it was fun we even had some scavenger hunters there it was fun.

330 pictures finished and off to home to prepare for the evening and take more care of our fur babies

550 Arrive again at the reception site this time dressed to the nines with my wife and we had a wonderful evening with our friends and family.

The winner of the HOPE shuttle is..

Lois Perry Congratulations Noreen has posted on Hankering for yarn so I can now tell
It was a very fun and magical day both the wedding and reception and the gift opening thank you all for being apart of it with us.

survay says

After only two reply I never did find out where people like to weave it was a tie 1 home 1 anywhere
O well next time something else

Did you want to win one of these shuttles?

http://www.hankeringforyarn.com/a-contest

If you hurry you can enter to win a fine shuttle named HOPE it closes on the 25th at midnight
No entry's after that time.
Draw is on the 26th during our gift opening.
Good luck
The winner of this shuttle is Lois Perry

Making something just right

I was working on my new line of shuttles and I looked at the one that I had done a few days ago and had thought something not right about the top of it it had been just prototype but hey if I do not do the best I can on it then what am I doing making these for fine weavers everywhere.
So I fiddled with it and well oops I really messed it up. so I made a new one and Ha this one rocks. it is a world better as far as I can tell it feels better and looks great and that is what really matters.
I will let you tell me what you think I know the red circle is the part I goofed on. I got a little carried away with the wrong file. But for the benefit of the project I am sure you can see.

A glimpse into my future and possibly yours

As many Artists and Craftsmen out there know it is always good to think ahead and plan for the future so that if you ever get stumped you will have something to fall back on so today when I was working in my workshop a thought came to me what is it that I can do to my shuttles that I have not done yet so I thought and asked my wife to be (only 9 days) what would she like to see on the next one? She responded I would like to see *********** and some ******** and I thought well I can do that so I pulled out some Copper and started to saw and saw and saw well a bit of time later I had come up with this it is a 5.5 copper weaving shuttle for my next season line up yes I know that shape is still the same but what is that on the body? I will leave that up to you to determine but I like it and shazam I got hit with my next Idea for a 4 shuttle series but I really can not get to much into that just yet. It will be available just as soon as it is beta tested and quality checked (Noreen over at Hankering for yarn is eager to get her skilled hands on it).
well back to the workshop for me. Actually I have to polish my shoes for the wedding. I look very smart in my Tux if I do say so myself.

Weaving shuttles in the world

Shuttles in the world.
I would like to hear about them.
Have you seen one outside its natural habitat (work shop, studio, craft room)
If you have where has it been who had it why was it there I would like to know?
If you see a Weaving shuttle outside it's natural environment could you let me know.
If you spot one just leave a comment and who knows some thing nice may happen for you.