The ShuttleSmith Sterling Silver Tatting Shuttle

 

Here's a 'blast from the past'!  This is one of the sterling silver tatting shuttles that I USED to make.  It was how I chose my name:  The ShuttleSmith (The Silver Shuttle was taken back then).  I made sterling silver tatting shuttles for about 5 years. I quit in 2001 because it seemed like I had saturated the market and also because my full-time job was getting more demanding and the time needed to attend to the shuttle selling and marketing side of my business was getting to be a real drag. 

I had plain silver shuttles, and overall design versions, and then I had 6 celtic designs that I had custom etched into my silver.  I would custom make my shuttles with or without a point.  The plain & overall design shuttles came in your choice of sizes and shapes.  My shuttles were real works of art....they came without any scratches or even finger prints of any kind on the surfaces, front, back, edges.  Some 'copycat shuttles' came out a little after mine were in the mainstream and were not as finished.

This shuttle is one of my celtic designs.  I called it 'Hearts Entwined'.  I have a leather cord running around the center post so I can wear it like a necklace (got that idea from Betty Alderson of Snowgoose who bought and wore one of my shuttles).  This is not the best picture...I snapped it while it was hanging from my necklace holder on my bedroom wall.  The design is etched into the silver and then I blackened the recessed areas so that the design would pop out.  I then put a thin layer of lacquer on the surface to seal in the design and so that the silver would not tarnish.