International drop spindles

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392
Location
Cornwall, England
I make quite a bit of stuff for other craft people and was asked about Russian drop spindles. Looking it up I find that there are a load of different styles so did a few of those then had a go at a Thai one as well.




Three longest are 12" smaller one is 11" should be 12 but the end went :(

Odd bits of hawthorn and mahogany from the offcuts bin.

Pete
 
Correction to description, the Thai one is actually a Tibetan one. :eek: I'll do a Thai one later and post it if anyone is interested. There are a lot of spinners in the States so I would imagine they would sell pretty well over there

pete
 
Look good Pete but what are they used for. Excuse my ignorance.:eek:


:rofl::rofl: I had to look them up when first asked to make one. To make yarn for lace, knitting etc you need to spin the threads from a fleece twisting them together as they are all short. Drop spindles are used to do it by hand as opposed to a spinning wheel. The spindle is spun like a top (some say that spinning tops originated from broken spindles) and the fibers are twisted and then wound around the spindle. Some spindles just dangle in the air and others, like these are supported in a bowl, different ways of doing the same thing.When it is full it is wound into balls or skeins and the process is started again. Does that make sense?

If not there's a video tutorial here though she is using a top spindle (weight is at the top)

Pete
 
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:rofl::rofl: I had to look them up when first asked to make one. To make yarn for lace, knitting etc you need to spin the threads from a fleece twisting them together as they are all short. Drop spindles are used to do it by hand as opposed to a spinning wheel. The spindle is spun like a top (some say that spinning tops originated from broken spindles) and the fibers are twisted and then wound around the spindle. Some spindles just dangle in the air and others, like these are supported in a bowl, different ways of doing the same thing.When it is full it is wound into balls or skeins and the process is started again. Does that make sense?

If not there's a video tutorial here though she is using a top spindle (weight is at the top)

Pete

Hey Pete wheres the link to the video :dunno:
 
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