Tambour Embroidery - Beautiful Hooks

While we're on the subject of tambour / aari embroidery there really should be more mentioned about the hooks involved.  My personal hooks are plain pedestrian things I bought online and at the craft store.  They suit both my interest and skill levels just fine.  But my significant other, Phillip, got grander ideas.  Partly it is because I have been researching palais royale sewing tools, Regency boxes and all the lovely things that go in them.  There are sewing tools out there that make my fingers want to dance for joy.  He is also an artist, and a sculptor, so its only natural that I should share the prime bits of beauty with him when I find them.  I'm sure the intensity and momentum of my sitting night after night obsessing over that peacock piece contributed to the mix.  Then one night he asked me for my spare hook so he could mess with the collet  (the metal fitting on the end with the screw that holds the hook).   I grumbled a little and grudgingly parted with it.  While I ordered a replacement online he vanished into his studio.  By the next morning, there was this .....

Three roses tambour hook by Phillip Montgomery - giraffe bone - 5 inches

Three roses tambour hook (top detail) 

  Only about 5 inches in length with those 3 delicate tiny roses - amazing.  It is made out of giraffe bone because it is extremely hard and will polish up to a brilliant translucency.  It is also wonderfully durable and will stand being used, not just looked at.  He had me order a few more hooks online so he could have the collets.

A few days later he made this one.  It is antique estate ivory - a piece we got from an estate sale years ago that dates from the 1920's so guaranteed not poached.  Voila - Neo-Classical elegance at its finest topped with a fresh water pearl.  And it fits so beautifully in the hand and feels like silk.  Not stopping there, the end unscrews to provide a storage cavity for extra hooks.  No, they are not mine.  One day, when and if I have mastered the skill I will ask him to do one for me.  My plain wooden one is just fine for now.  We will be selling these in our Etsy store for those with the purse and taste for them.  I just had to share the beauty of them.

Neo-classical Tambour Hook by Phillip Montgomery

Neo-classical Tambour Hook by Phillip Montgomery - open lid

Neo-classical Tambour Hook by Phillip Montgomery - open lid detail