Media Category: issue

On left open box attaché charkha showing spindle at top, accelerating wheel and drive wheel. Open Journey Wheel at right shows at top bobbin/flyer unit next to accelerating wheel, bobbin storage, drive wheel, and two treadles.

Above end of wooden base, two turned short posts hold a spindle at an angle in leather bearings. Behind the spindle can be seen the binding between the two sets of spokes. The drive band will go around the binding and the grooves in the spindle whorl.

Five new spokes with lighter wood set into hub. Leather binding around the top of each spoke to hold them together.

Two hands hold pieces of wood, Upper hand has old spoke, lower hand holds fresh light wooden dowel of approximately the same diameter and length.

Wooden spindle wheel has two small turned maidens at one end of flat rectangular base. Large drive wheel with two sets of numerous spokes held by taller posts at other end of base. Several spokes are missing. A diagonal piece of wood goes from next to the maidens to the top of the post that holds the drive wheel.

Ernest Mason Swiss-style wheel in walnut. A rectangular wooden frame is formed by four horizontal pieces, however the back piece extends out on the right side and has another long piece attached that is parallel to the other long pieces. A treadle is hinged between the front of that piece and the one in the middle. Two uprights fit into the middle of the two sections of the frame, with a board across the top and one a third of the way down. About a third of the way up is an axle that holds the wooden drive wheel with six spokes. A metal footman connects the drive-wheel axle to the treadle. Horizontal maidens in the mother-of-all, a quarter of the way down, hold the wooden bobbin/flyer unit. A threaded screw set into the board at the top adjusts the location of the mother-of-all that moves in slots in the uprights. A board above the axle holds two spare bobbins.

Ernest Mason Chair-style wheel in cherry. A wooden frame with four vertical outer posts and four horizontal crosspieces at top and a quarter of the way up, with two pieces in the middle of the front and the back. A treadle fits between the bottom of the two front posts. A footman attaches to a drive wheel set on an axle about one third of the way up the center pieces. A crosspiece between the top of the middle of the front and back holds a hinged mother-of-all with a wooden bobbin/flyer unit that has a doubled drive band. A crosspiece between the lower side pieces, in front of the drive wheel, holds two spare bobbins.

Small spindle wheel from Korea. A crudely made wooden base has a cross piece at the left with two small posts to which a spindle is tied with string. The drive wheel on the right has two parallel sections that consist of a wooden disk into which 24 bamboo spokes are inserted. A strip of bamboo goes around each set of spokes and short pieces of bamboo connect the two parallel sections at each spoke. A drive band goes around those short pieces.

Cage swift from Greece. Wooden T-shaped frame holds at the middle of the long end a removable cage consisting of five chamfered rods set into two circular ends. At the other end are two nicely turned posts with finials with three rods between them. White yarn is wound in three places on the cage and drawn separately over the rods.

Charkha from Afghanistan. A wooden base has two ends with carving on them. At the left end are two turned short uprights or maidens. The spindle passes through holes in two wooden bearings that fit through slots in the maidens and are held in place by pegs. At the right end are two turned wheel support posts, the one in the front has a turned handle. The drive wheel, which fits between these posts, is constructed of two disks. Each disk is made from four riven pieces that cross at the center. The outer edge of each disk is notched, ready to receive the zigzagged string that joins them and creates a rim. The drive band goes around this laced rim.

Detail of Spin-Well label. Two color paper label on wooden upright.
On gold section at top in red letters, “Spin-Well.”
In red section with white lettering “Mfg.’d [abbreviation for Manufactured] by SPIN-WELL Manufacturing Co.”
In gold section at bottom in black letters “Sifton, Manitoba Patent Pending.”

Detail of Spin-Well bobbin/flyer unit. Aluminum flyer with wooden bobbin with white yarn on it. Sections of drive band shown over end of bobbin and whorl. Flyer sits on a wooden block in rear maiden. There is a slot in the rear maiden for the block to move. It is held in place by a wing nut.

Spin-Well wheel. Wooden spinning wheel with vertical frame consisting of four corner posts with horizontal crosspieces at top and one third up from the bottom. Two pieces, that extend above the frame at the middle of the front and back sides, hold the bobbin/flyer unit. Towards the bottom of these center pieces is the axle for the drive wheel, which is solid wood. The treadle is a wide board, with the footman connecting to it. A metal rod running between the three front pieces holds two spare bobbins.

Bright blue double-table spinning wheel. Rectangular table held by three legs, two in front one in center of back; treadle; vertical posts hold drive wheel with twelve spokes. Secondary table at opposite end held up by four short posts with two bobbin holders between them; mother of all on this table; two long threaded rods go from secondary table to wheel posts. Placed on driveway.

Single-flyer upright wheel with delicate turning on legs; cast-iron drive wheel with six spokes and decorative half spokes in between. Descriptive page in holder on table to left.

Front to back – track wheel with horizontal table with four legs and treadle; drive wheel with eight spokes on post; two posts hold track with a metal rod on which the accelerating spindle head travels. Middle wheel – Wooden frame with two solid wheels and treadle on right end; accordion arm holds spindle head. Last – X-frame for pendulum wheel has drive wheel and treadle on right; counter weight on end of X-frame, pendulum arm and spindle missing. Each wheel has descriptive page in a holder in front of it.

From left to right – reel with yarn around it; three single flyer wheels the first has fancy distaff, two reels; fancy upright double-spindle wheel with distaff. Each wheel has descriptive page in a holder in front of it.

White peg board holds six spindle whorls, two each made of basalt, bone and clay; two small hand distaffs, one Egyptian-style top whorl spindle; one Medieval-style spindle; seven examples of bottom whorl spindles from Peru, Turkey, Scotland, and Russia.

Cluster of spinning wheels and reels; can see old reel with clock face, wheel with two wheels one above the other painted red on a black frame; a dressed distaff; group of great wheels in back; top of pendulum wheel.

Low horizontal building with overhang held by posts. Four cars parked in front, one on left, three on right.

Detail of top of right side posts showing flyer-type knob that holds unmoving orifice with red and white threads coming through the orifice twisted and going into separate loops on the wire.

Rectangular wooden frame holds two vertical posts on right and one full height and one half height on left; treadle on right side; crosspiece between right and left in back and front holds the axle for the drive wheel with four spokes; top of left post holds disk with rim to which is attached a reel. Between the two posts on the right is a rod with a pulley about a quarter way down. A crossbar joins the two right side posts. On top on the right side is a wooden flyer type piece that goes around an unmoving orifice. On the other side facing the reel is a U-shaped wire bent into a series of six loops.

Horizontal single bobbin/flyer spinning wheel has a table with three legs, a treadle, a drive wheel with twelve spokes and a narrow rim, a brace behind each slanted wheel support post. The turnings on the legs, wheel support posts, maidens and spokes are fairly simple. Set on a braided rug with a woodstove in the background.

Elliptical metal plate with the words
“Dryad Handicrafts –
Dryad Ltd. –
Leicester”.
Two nails attach it to table.

Two horizontal single bobbin/flyer spinning wheels; each has a table with three legs, a treadle, a drive wheel with twelve spokes and a narrow rim; braces are behind each slanted wheel support post. The turnings on the legs, wheel support posts, maidens and spokes are the same on both wheels. They are placed on grass.

Objects from ATHM (American Textile History Museum) now at Marshfield School of Weaving. The objects shown are at least 12 spinning wheels of various constructions and designs, including several great wheels.

DStretch enhancement of the stencil markings, with the exaggerated “psychedelic” coloring that is characteristic of the program. The yellow in the wood is greatly enhanced, providing contrast to the black letters.

Water-damaged stencil markings on the table of the Ernst Mechelke German-style flax wheel. A dark band of unreadable text arches over three or four lines of lighter (and even more unreadable) text.

Restored Ernst Mechelke German-style flax wheel. Single treadle bobbin and flyer wheel with an angled table and a simple, 6-spoked drive wheel.

A painted example of Style #1 belonged to Mrs. John H. Williamson, who lived on the Tordenskjold farm in Burk Township, Minnehaha County, South Dakota, in 1885.

Gylland spinning wheel Style #3 is a rare hybrid wheel with both the canting screws and braces behind the uprights. It is marked AEG.

Gylland spinning wheel Style #2 has the same basic structure as Style #1 but has only one pair of uprights to support the drive wheel, with a reinforcing brace behind each of the uprights.

Gylland spinning wheel Style #1. A horizontal treadle wheel with a bobbin/flyer and drive wheel on a tapered, rectangular table. Four uprights: two short uprights toward the mother-of-all and two tall uprights support the drive wheel. A canting screw connects the short and tall uprights. It is marked OEG

American style horizontal treadle wheel with mother-of-all set into a block of wood on top of table.

Detail of mother-of-all and tension adjustment on American style horizontal treadle wheel.