Spindle (textiles)
A spindle (sometimes called a drop spindle) is a wooden spike (or shaft) that has at one end a weight, mostly a circular whorl.
Sometimes it has a hook at either end of the spike. It is used for spinning wool and other fibres into thread. Spindles or parts of them have been found in very, very old archaeological sites; they may represent one of the earliest pieces of technology available to humankind.
Spindle (textiles) Media
Modern top-whorl drop spindles. The hook at the top allows these to be suspended and the cop is built up below the disk-shaped whorl in a conical shape.
Spindle with cotton yarn, without whorl, representing the "spindle-shape".
A modern Turkish spindle is an example of a low-whorl suspended spindle where the whorl is made up of interlocking arms. Here the cop is wound around the arms to form a ball.
A grasped spindle being used with a distaff.
Ancient Greek spindle whorls, 10th century BC, Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens
Woman spinning. Detail from an Ancient Greek Attic white-ground oinochoe, ca. 490 BC, from Locri, Italy. British Museum, London.
A Tibetan woman spinning wool in Pokhara, Nepal
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Other websites
- Directions for making a handspindle using CDs Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- How to spin with a handspindle Archived 2008-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
