Hi, i'm not sure if i'm mistaking you for someone else but you also carve your own spindles sometimes right? Do you think it's possible for a beginner spinner and carver to make their own spindle? or is that a *really* bad idea? 😅
i suffer from crafting hubris and going "i can make that" about everything so i thought i'd get an expert opinion first for once :D
also is there anything to look out for in regards to making the spindle?
hope you have a nice day!! ☀️
That's me ! Although I haven't in a while due to hand issues, but I digress. Also there are a few people posting about making their own spindles now which is very nice :)
I don't think it's a terrible idea, but I do see room for issues if you are totally new to spinning--it's entirely possible to make spindles so bad that they don't spin, and if it's not working you won't know whether it's the spindle, your technique, or both.
That said, if after a couple spindles you still can't get it to work at all, you might try buying that kind of spindle made by a professional and practice til it works. Then you'd be good to go.
Btw, if you have access to clay (either oven bake clay, air dry clay, or real clay and a kiln of some kind), you can make your own whorls as well ! Otherwise to make wooden whorls you'll really want power tools of some kind, in my experience.
If all you have is:
a knife to whittle with then you can make spindle sticks and supported spindles. you will want thin branches/thick sticks or some thin wooden batons such as found at the hardware store.
a knife and some clay then you can make drop spindles as well as spindle sticks and supported spindles. same kind of wood used as above.
powertools (such as a lathe, or possibly different kinds of saws although I have never done that myself so idk what kinds work !) then you can make drop spindles, spindle sticks, and supported spindles. BUT you will probably not want sticks/branches; batons or blocks of wood etc will be much easier to work with.
(A note on whorls: they exist to create momentum and also stability. They can range from circular beads to flat discs to, in the case of Turkish spindles, two interlocking arms.
All drop spindles have whorls, either removable or not, as it is necessary for them to spin correctly without already having a lot of yarn on them.
Supported spindles often have whorls but also sometimes have thicker sections of wood to act as a non-removable whorl. Sometimes they don't have a whorl of any kind, in which case they will usually be a little slow to use in the beginning until yarn is built up on them.
Spindle sticks never have non-removable whorls, but can be used both with and without removable whorls, depending on how you are spinning with them.)
I also recommend having a few different grits of sandpaper as well as oil/wood wax to make it pleasant to spin and easier on your fingers. Unfinished spindles can really tear up your fingertips, especially before you develop spinning callouses.
If you're working with sticks/branches I recommend a hand saw as well--this will make your life a lot easier but I have made spindles without it, it's not too terrible so long as your stick/branch is already roughly the correct length.
I wrote a piece about picking sticks/branches for spindles that may be helpful btw. It also goes into how to make a supported spindle in the style that I, specifically, preferred at the time.
I'm not putting info for learning to spin on this ask though because that will strongly depend on what kind of spindle you end up making. Drop spindles have by far the most beginner tutorials on youtube as they are the more common type of spindle these days. Supported has a small handful, but I wasn't able to find any at all for spindle sticks (which isn't to say they don't exist). You may be able to work off of non-beginner tutorials, though !