Hera

We always have Clover brand hera marking styluses in stock and often have old bone ones as well. Hera were traditionally used to mark and crease fabric. They leave a silver mark on indigo cotton and were  used for marking sashiko patterns. Mrs Nagai who gave me my first sashiko lesson in Japan regularly used a hera to mark her work.  Modern hera are often made of plastic or resin but I don't think they work as well as old bone ones. They were made from ivory as well but I don't have any in my collection.
Here are the old and new hera that I have in the shop at the moment. I think I actually sell more for creasing paper than for using on fabric.

The rest of the photos are hera in my collection. Most of them have turned up in old sewing boxes that we buy to sell in the shop. An exception is this first one which has  my surname 'Ochi' written in katakana  and belonged to my mother-in-law Sonoko.

Most of my hera are made from bone and there is some variation in size and shape.

These are the smallest ones.  The shortest is 8cm long:

And finally a couple of plastic ones: