Try, fail, learn, repeat

 

Drop Spindle Experiment

 

 

My first experiment with making working drop spindles was a mixed bag. I hand built and textured solid clay whorls from some porcelain that I had. They're quite handsome, I think, and they spin very well. For a really long time, actually. My engineer husband tells me that if I put more weight on the outside of the circle (a rim, perhaps?), they'll spin even longer. So that's good news. The failure is in the spindle portion. I used a dowel that was considerable larger than the dowel that's on my original spindle (second from the right in the picture.) The spindle on my two is also quite a bit shorter than the original that I bought. AND, I though it would be nice to have a notch (like a crochet hook) rather than the metal hook that's on the original one. I was wrong on all counts! The shorter spindle is much harder to wind the strand of yarn on after it's spun. Between the shorter length and the increased thickness of the dowel, it just feels awkward in the hand. Not impossible, as you can see from the far left left spindle. One can spin on it, but it just doesn't work as well.

 

"Hook" closeup

The metal hook is also much more efficient to use than the carved notch in the wood. The yarn just slips into the metal hook, but has to be looped and slipped over the wood with the notched variety. Well. That's why we experiment, right? Being a metalsmith, the metal hook will be a fun exercise. Next time I will post a video of using them both. . .assuming I'm not in "try, fail, learn, repeat" still!