Writing equipment

I had a commission recently to make a couple of penners, and as a result shall be adding these to my stock list. They are plain pieces, stamped versions may follow, although they will be waxed (the above are shown unwaxed). They are competitively priced at £30 each, and are supplied on a lucet woven cord. Silk braids may be available later... Other pieces shown are 6"/12" rulers, available with/without numbers (from £3), quills (from £1), boxwood paperknife (from £10), silver point pencils (from £8), brass pen (from £12). I also make lead plummets for ruling (£10 each, but currently sold out), parchment clips (£6 each), bone prickers similar to the silver point pencils (from £8), and occasionally (seasonally) oak gall ink kits. More items to follow...

Cloak or dress hooks

I picked the original example of these hooks in Essex (it's the one nearest the scale). It's a lovely piece made from rolled bronze sheet which has been turned and sharpened at the ends to form the hooks. The side pieces appear to be held on only by the tightly wound wire. In the versions I have made, which are slightly more robust, the hook is made from bronze wire, and the side pieces (which are brass) have been soldered in place, then over wrapped with fine brass wire.

Cloak hooks, with original piece nearest the scale, £8 each

The dating for this piece was placed by the seller at around 17th Century. My own feeling is that is a little older, possible Tudor, but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has seen anything similar? PAS didn't throw any light on dating...

Bone Lucets

Just finished a new batch of bone lucets (more are on the way!)...

All the bone (and antler) lucets I make are different. I don't force the material to fit a given profile, so they are far more organic in form than the boxwood lucets I make. This means that occasionally they may look a little.... odd? But sometimes odd is good; after all, isn't it good to be different? The lucets have been sanded and polished to bring up a nice, smooth finish, but they will mellow with time and use and take on a much richer patina.

All my bone lucets are priced at £12 each, regardless of size. The longest is 110mm, the shortest 60mm.

Boxwood

Time to start prepping some more boxwood for pomanders...

cut blocks ready for turning

end view of one block showing some water staining, and (unfortunately) some rot

the other end waxed to show the grain more clearly

The rot around on edges of the wood is not found as frequently as on other woods. Boxwood is hard and dense that it largely resists water - there is a good chance that some of this damage was done in storage during the winter. It will mean turning from a larger piece, but the resulting pomanders will have an interesting variety of colours in the surface.

Knitting needles

Now available!

150 mm / 6 inch bone knitting needles £7.50 each

200 mm / c.8 inch needles also available £10 each

The above hand cut and shaped bone needles are 2 mm (approximate) diameter. Hopefully, 3 mm will be coming soon!