Spindle Whorls and the ancient art of spinning yarn

First it was clay, a tree and some lovely corridale wool. Hand crafted at Shipwrights Cottage they are now a spindle and wool yarn. The spindle to make more yarn for the years to come and to teach on. The Yarn to make more baskets or a scarf or ...

To make the spindle, first you take clay and mould it into a bead. Dry the bead over lots of days inside slowly. Light a fire in a pit and warm the bead next to the fire. As the bead warms slowly add the bead into the coals. Build a fire above it and let it burn. Let cool. Some will have exploded but other will be fired and ready to use.

Then you attach it to a shaft. This can be a stick, a hand carved piece of crab apple or a chop-stick. Rave a notch in one end. If the whorl is near the notch its a top worl spindle, if its near the base it a low whorl spindle. Both can now be used to spin fibre be it wool, cotton, hemp or something exotic like possum or labradoodle hair.

Wonderfully simple and connected to all those thousands of spinners before me across time.

We have another workshop coming up soon on spindle spinning so come join us for some fun.

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