making thread
Velma asked if my new Akha spindle was good for spinning paper/shifu?
it is made for spinning cotton and other fine, short fibres
in the summer I experimented with dyeing kiraku kozo paper with indigo
I cut a half sheet but was disappointed and tucked it away
as it was cut I decided to try spinning it on the Akha
it needed to be coaxed into co-operating and I spun it twice to produce a firm, even twist
save this spindle for cotton
it does a beautiful job
the skein is the easy spin Pima that came with the spindle
the green cotton, on the spindle, has very short fibre and needs more care but is producing a fine, smooth yarn
spinning tussah silk on the Turkish spindle from IST Crafts
with the rim weighted arms one flick of the shaft and it continues spinning all the way to the floor
and there is that lovely little ball all finished and ready to proceed
fun to watch your endeavors although they sound like chinese to me 🙂
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I spent the moments after the last post with a serious serious case of spindle envy. It has yet to go away, lol.
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Renee’- they are small, beautiful,addictive and very collectable. good luck!
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I’m glad you addressed ‘shifu on the akha’…I had someone ask me yesterday if it was good for spinning shifu and I told them I didn’t know…but my suspicion was “probably not” since it has so little mass. Thanks for answering ‘our’ question.
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Kristin – paper is so very different from cotton that it seems to make sense. it did spin and the results are ok but there are other choices that seem more efficient. The cotton is lovely.
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What type of spindle do you think is best for shift?
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Kristin – always spin shifu on my wheel. When I cut more paper I’ll test different spindles but I think mine are all too light – the rim weighted IST would be my guess.
Neki – he he! as machine knitting is to me. sure wish I could leave a comment on your blog – keep trying but the comment format doesn’t acknowledge that I’m even an anonymous entity.
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