Tools from the Past

I was reading a newsletter from the Miami County, KS. Historical Museum. They also had a column called "Tools from the Past: Whatisit?" A couple caught my eye, because they look like tools we presently use in paper arts. I wondered how many of our craft tools we use today started life in another form?


Click to enlarge

Embosser

Embossed image from embosser tool above

What's dis? It's wooden, slides forward and back, looks like it has a long metal needle at the end and is labeled "TRU-GYDE by Wilson Brothers, Springfield, Missouri." I think I know what it's for, but can you guess?

On a recommendation from a lady I talked to at a thrift store in Blue Springs, my hubbin and I visited The Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Grain Valley last weekend. We were there all afternoon and only got through perhaps 2/3 of it. It's huge and packed to the rafters with all kinds of goodies.
Each aisle has a "street name" hanging above it and each booth or showcase has a number so navigation is no problem. I saw this old spinning wheel and had to take a pic. Sorry for the fuzzy photo; phone camera not so good. Saw several of the rug-hooking shuttles in smaller versions there also. Looked for other ladies crafting tools, but mostly saw woodworking tools like planes, etc. 

My husband & I stopped at the Keeper’s Antique Mall off 71 Hwy in Harrisonville, MO. last Saturday and we found these wonderful antique display cases. The first one is a Corticelli Silk Cabinet for Sewing and Knitting. The last few drawers still had the wooden separators for the tiny balls of silk thread. 

And then, hubby uncovered this clever ribbon display case in the back of the antique shop. It was a circular wooden case on a turntable at the base of it. The sales clerk could open each side to change the galvanized metal spools of ribbon as needed. The ribbon was inserted into slots cut into the sides and if you wanted to purchase a length of ribbon, all the sales clerk had to do was to pull out the little stop knob to release the specific spool and pull on the ribbon until you had the amount you wanted, then she released the little knob and it sprung back into place to hold the spool still while she cut it. I have an up close photo so you can see the knobs and slots below.

You know, I was drooling! I love ribbon and laces and could imagine my ribbon & laces which are currently housed in shoeboxes fluttering in the air as I twirled the cabinet around to select one in my studio, but the bubble above my head burst when I saw the price tag. It was not to be! Sigh!

All Occasion Cards



I found this cartoon in an old magazine which leads me to ask you: so how many occasions have you made cards for? How about the one below?
 

 

Hand-crafted vs. Store-bought

 

It has come to my attention recently, through a reliable resource, that the Kansas City Toys for Tots Organization will only accept new store-bought toys in the original cardboard packaging. They will not accept hand-crafted toys such as wooden ones made by a local woodworkers guild.

Now that seems a shame, because those kind of toys were precisely the ones I sought for my son when he was younger (he's now 27) as they held up better than the cheap plastic toys, took more imagination to play with and didn't have to have costly batteries all the time in order to work. In fact, we still have many of his wooden toys in a basket under the coffee table for the some-day grandchildren to play with. All my friends' grand-children know where that basket is when they come over to my house. There is a wooden shoe lovingly made by a girlfriend's husband when my son was learning to tie his shoes and I later had it with me when I was teaching my Pre-K Sunday School class. My sister painted a bunch of wooden cars for his Christmas one year. The same girlfriend above and I painted wooden houses together for a village so his wooden cars would have something to drive to. We were making toys and memories. I have a wooden nativity set, Noah's ark figures and animals.

We searched historical museum gift shops for wooden toys and once bought a wooden climbing bear from Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. Wooden puzzles stand up better than cardboard ones and my toddler son loved building with his wooden blocks and knocking them over.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, as a crafter, if you are going to donate items to any organization, go to the top and find out precisely to the letter what their rules are. The woodworkers guild I mentioned above were heartsick when they found out Toys for Tots threw their wooden toys away after spending so much time, effort, and material to make them. After that, they did their homework and found another organization who was absolutely delighted to accept their hand-crafted toys.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone and a Happy New Year!