Spindle spinning is the ancient art of making thread with a small whorl. In today’s world we are so surrounded by beautiful and inexpensive cloth that it is hard for us to remember how laborious creating a garment used to be. But think of this, up until a few hundred years ago all cloth was made with a drop spindle which is much slower than spinning on a spinning wheel. Everything, clothes, sheets, towels, even tents and ships sails were spun thread by thread on a tool no bigger than a child’s top.
In the last fifty years there has been a resurgence of interest in spinning, and it is now a great recreation and therapy for the modern mind. Spinners are spinning on spinning wheels and on numerous types of drip spindles. Here is history through the eyes of the spindler.
What is a Hand Spindle?
Hand spindles come in many sizes and shapes, and are spun in various ways. But a spindle is basically a stick with a whorl on it. It is very much like the little wooden tops we played with as kids and operates on the same principle. The whorl is round and its weight creates centrifugal force when spun. Just like a top a spindle is usually flipped off the fingers into a spin. Unlike a top it is not allowed to spin free, but is attached to a thread which catches up all the spin as the whorl whirls.
To make yarn or thread the spinner feeds fibers into the spin, drafting backwards as it turns into thread. Once a length is created the spinner stops and winds the thread onto the dowel, then starts again. Spinning thread on a spindle is a long slow process, but as many artisans know, it is also a pleasant and fun occupation.
The spinning wheel has only been with us a short time. It’s innovation is that the wheel creates the spin, and the mechanism helps the spinner wind the thread onto a bobbin, greatly increasing the speed of spinning.
A Spinning History Timeline
Think of it this way: If you took human history and calculated it so each year was a day: Most of us would be somewhere between one month and two months old, (30-60 years).
- The industrial revolution, (which produced automatic spinning frames and commercial cloth such as we use today), happened only six to seven months ago.
- The first wood spinning wheels, like you see in antique shops, came into use less than a year and a half ago.
Before that all cloth and thread, made by any human being, for any purpose, was made with a hand spindle:
- Back past the time of Christ, five and a half years ago,
- Past the time of Buddha, 7 years ago,
- Past the first cities of man, 13 years ago,
- To at least the first agricultural groups - 27 years ago,
- Whorls have been found in Cro-Magnon sites a comparative 95 years ago!
Spindle Spinning for Cloth
That's a lot of spindling. People twirling spindles in their hands did it all: fine cloth for Egyptian princesses, sails for ships, canvas for paintings, silk Chinese kimonos. Jesus’ robes were made with a drop spindle; King Tut's wrappings; all spun on a simple little stick with a whorl.
In the Andes Mountains of South America the Incas had an animal, the Vicuña, whose wool was so fine it was determined it could be worn only by the Inca royalty: anyone else caught with Vicuña wool was immediately put to death. So fine and precious: and all spun on a simple drop spindle (with permission, of course.)
Spinning has played such a large part in making us who we are. Historians consider spinning and weaving as a prerequisite for civilization.
Ancient History
We spent a comparative 136 years before that (in our calculated time), running around the jungles wearing skins until spinning enabled us to develop our fine fashion sense and subsequent inventions - like the wheel, cities and social order (well, we're still working on that...).
But human history goes way back - to the invention of fire and the first humans dancing and singing songs... 2,000 of our calculated years. They were just wearing their birthday suits.
Today there are many cultures who keep the spindle spinning. In fact, it is estimated that more handspun yarn is produced on hand spindles across the globe than is spun on spinning wheels. Our fancy wooden spinning wheels, with plastic bearings and precision tooled bobbins can't hold a candle to the plain spindle for versatility, portability and economy.
Connie Delaney - Connie Delaney writes from Salmon, Idaho where she is a web designer, occasional funny girl, and Dances of Universal Peace leader.
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