Making tatting shuttles at home
A tatting shuttle is a device which helps you easily carry a small ball of threads across the loops while lace making. A shuttle has a special form which keeps the thread from untwisting. This device looks like a shuttle for making nets used by the fishermen, only smaller.
In this way special stitches are made, they are called the tatting stitches which form the lace. By size, design and structure tatting shuttles differ a lot. There's a big variety of shuttles. Beginning with the most simple - oval which have two holes, and ending with the solid devices which have, apart from everything else, a short crochet hook for convenience.
I have seen even shuttles with the detachable miniature handle for the convenient winding of the thread. Which kind of shuttle you will choose is a question of your individual preference. The tatting shuttles by their variety can be wooden, metallic, plastic, and some very special can be made even of bone and horn.
The old shuttles were made with love and care of ivory, mother-of-pearl, precious metals, silver and even gold, and were decorated by precious stones, carving and inlaid work. In old times shuttles were made of very large sizes and it was fashionable to arrange competitions between prosperous needle-women to find out whose shuttle was the best, famous artists created paintings portraying plumpy ladies, with tatting shuttles in hands, whiling away time by needlework.
A shuttle is made so that it will prevent the winded thread from unwinding which is very convenient for its movement. The thread from the shuttle is unable to get tangled at this time. While using the thread it can be partly winded off the shuttle easily. 
It's easy to make a tatting shuttle by yourself at home, and it will be handy at work. To do this take any plastic pot of 8-12 cm diameter. Plastic has to be about 1 mm thick. Now cut two equal ovals from this pot with very sharp edges, something like a boat. You will also need a spool for the sewing-machine. All you have left to do is to glue the spool between the boat-petals. Let the glue dry well and then you will get a very convenient device for the lace making. Believe me, this device is not a bit worth than those available in shops.
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