Dark Green Antique- I purchased this shuttle on eBay. I don't usually care for old
unusable shuttles but I had to have a few oldies in my collection! I was told it is Bakelite, so I assume it is.
I don't really care, and that's the attitude I think is best when dealing with antiques!
Update A nice web-surfer told me that this is probably a hard rubber called Vulcanite or maybe Gutta Percha, these shuttles were common in the late 1890's, and were sold in the Montgomery Wards Catalog! I think that's pretty neat. It came in 2 sizes, and I have the other one here I don't use this shuttle, because a) the tips are not tight and the thread slips out, and b) it smells even worse than my Celluloid Shuttle. I bought it because Bakelite sounded cool, and the shape appealed to me. It shows up as black in the picture, but it is really the darkest, mottled hunter green you can imagine, without hurting yourself. I don't know if it is the original color, or of it faded black or darkened green. It has a rubbery dusty feeling surface, as opposed to a slick plastic feel. Phenolic resin or Bakelite, "The material of a thousand uses," was discovered by accident around the turn of the century. It is a non-flammable, early plastic formed by the combination of carbolic acid and formaldehyde. It replaced flammable celluloid in the 1920s. Actually, I lied when I said I don't use this shuttle, because I did the little bit of tatting that is on the shuttle. I think the dirty tatting looks kind of cool, don't you? It is called a Hen-and-Chicks edging. (Pattern) | |
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