A little early for decorating?!

I have long known about shuttle collections and personalised shuttles. I always said I would not get the bug, because I prefer functionality over appearance.

My first proper shuttles are made by Milward. They are bobbin shuttles, with a crochet hook and a tail for winding the bobbin. People call them Aero copies. Bad Aero copies. They have all the symptoms: jaggy edges in the plastic, bobbin not fitting on the tail and some bobbins fitting a bit loosely.

But these were quite my only immediate choice. Most of the time the shop assistants had no other brands or no idea what shuttles were. Milward are great, don't get me wrong. Most of their needles are very good for tatting and they usually have good quality products. But these shuttles had to be adjusted.

I chopped off the tail and hook (it was too big for most of my threads and I had a lovely tiny crochet hook inherited from my grandmother or even great-grandmother and amazing things came from it) and filed it smooth. And as any beginner who can't figure which shuttle comes next, I had to decorate them to tell them apart.

I saw nice tutorials for decoupage and bought some cute floral pattern napkins, white and clear nail polish (yes, I hear the agonised gasps) and got some sandpaper and our big jug of wood glue (did someone faint in the audience?) and got decorating.

The result is of couse far from perfect but I can use them very well, so who really cares?

I only just started shuttle tatting about a month ago. A bit too early, eh?

My two customised shuttles and an heirloom crochet hook. Although the hook's handle was fixed with tape and is not pretty, I treasure it more than the shuttles...