Make a Drop Spindle with Polymer Clay

Make a drop spindle using polymer clay for a custom look.
Materials and tools:
- Parchment paper: amzn.to/3vaoLg0
- FIMO clay: amzn.to/3sHllj0
- Project tray: amzn.to/3sJ4cFz
- Rolling pin: amzn.to/3ax39Cq
- 2 objects ¼” thick and flat
- Baking sheet
- Oven
- 1/4" diameter wooden dowel: amzn.to/3xbUVcF
-Saw
-Cup hook: amzn.to/3ekvFbN
-Gorilla wood glue: amzn.to/3x9vcSp
- Sanding paper
- Mason jar lid, container lid,
- Heavy book
- Large plastic clamp
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Chapters:
00:00 Materials and tools
03:30 Preparing the clay
08:29 Making the whorl
21:27 Creating the spindle shaft
24:02 Adding the whorl to the spindle
27:12 Inserting the cup hook
29:20 Join the Textile Indie community
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[@veviticushumphrieswallace2546]

I've learned so much. So blessed to find your channel! THANK YOU.

[@TextileIndie]

Yay! You're welcome 😃

[@misspugandpomeranian]

Hello! Wonderful video! Can the darhl be lacquered? I've noticed they are not, would it affect it in any way? Thank you.

[@TextileIndie]

Veronica,
Great question! Yes, you could finish the wooden dowel. I didn't and you don't have to, but it definitely would make your spindle look more professional and the wood wouldn't be able to snag on fibers.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

i would think that would be personal preference? I know where to get a lot of willow, and have some fresh so if I were making a spindle that's what I'd use rn. hand carved and sanded. er, with clay for the whorl

[@AnimeShinigami13]

considering whether or not to make a smaller drop spindle than my basic wooden or to order it. but I realized as far as spindle sizes I've got no idea what I'm doing. I may just order one to be safe. I need a cotton spindle for working milkweed bast fiber.

[@TextileIndie]

Working with milkweed fibers sounds exciting! I'm not super familiar with cotton spindles, but I do know they are quite small and lighter than the ones used for wool because cotton fibers are so much shorter and so need less weight to twist them together. Maybe purchasing one at first to get a feel for working with the Milkweed and then exploring different sizes later😁

[@AnimeShinigami13]

@@TextileIndie yeah... alright I was gonna give the fimo clay method a try but you may be right. i managed to sort this batch into longer and shorter fibers and the long ones spun up fairly well, if a bit coarse.
It's actually quite messy working with this fiber. I tend to work in my skivvies or pjs and i've just cleaned fibers out of places you don't scratch in public. The debris is scattered around my desk in spite of my best efforts.
Unless it's damp you don't need a knife for the dead stems, and if you do you don't need a sharp one, just a scraper. With milkweed you're working with what's called the "bast". Bast fibers come from just inside the outer bark of a plant. The silky bits can be used as stuffing but they're too slick to tangle when spinning and their staple length is too short to make up for that.
I used cat slicker brushes (though I wish I'd gotten dog sized) for carding combs, and it works fairly well for shredding the outer bark off. If you don't get it all the stem bits will create brittle spots that will snap when spinning. your fingernails go a long way towards removing stem bits that you didn't find before they went onto the spindle. I used a homemade heckling board made from nails in a small scrap of lumber. But a very large toothed comb works as well. I'm going to need to vacume my keyboard out soon, and check the vents on my computer for signs of clogging. The screening covering them is very fine, so it should protect the machine.
Other wild fibers on my list to try include dogbane and stinging nettle. The latter's leaves are very nutritious and it grows freely by roadsides wherever it colonizes. Dogbane is poisonous, but the dried fibers spin into a shimmering auburn brown color. I haven't been able to find it yet. You can't get poisoned by something unless you ingest it, so touching it is fine.
I'm currently binging a youtube channel that deals extensively with primitive textile and clothing manufacture methods; Sally Pointer. She focuses on an area called experimental archeology, in which you try to figure out how an extinct culture did something. She's made stone, bronze and iron age textiles and tools for weaving. She's even covered washing clothes with primitive detergent and natural dyes, which she's produced herself.

[@TextileIndie]

Wow! That sounds intense and fascinating. I've not processed baste fibers before, sounds really cool...and very messy😋. Dogbane and nettle would be interesting to try. I've heard of the nettle being used as a fiber, but not dogbane. I'd love to hear how it goes!
I'll have to check out that channel too. Exploring primitive textiles and techniques from other cultures...fun stuff!
It occurred to me that if you happened to have clay on hand it might be worth making a small whorl and attaching it to a dowel to play around with. Clay can be heavy as a whorl but if you worked a 1/4" thick piece that was about 2 or 3 inches in diameter it might be a good weight for short baste fiber work. Just an idea.
Thanks for the inspiration! I'm fired up to explore more natural fiber foraging now😁.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

@@TextileIndie I have clay... but it's not fimo or the storebought kind. >.> I found some last year when a crew dug up a dead tree in the center of town. It was this orange stuff, but it was pretty damn pure. I used a lot of water to seperate all the sand, gravel and rocks out. Then left the lumps to dry in a bucket all winter. Not sure if they're workable. I just forgot about it.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

@@TextileIndie as an update, I ordered a cotton spindle and then made a bunch of whorls. I scrounged up different things to use as a distaff. I've made two whorls from air dry clay. I made one primitive spindle from air dry clay that uses a pealed and sanded willow twig and will dry as one piece with the twig fused into the clay as it dries. I made an air dry clay spindle bowl because my apartment has carpet and I still can't keep the drop spindle completely in the air. And then using two blocks of simple black fimo I made two whorls and then two rings for macrame/fingerweaving and a heart shaped belt buckle for the same. The fimo bits are in the oven rn. The air dry bits are on a clean scrap of pine lumber and the one piece spindle (meant to try and reconstruct saaaay, a stone age spindle perhaps?) is drying propped up on a narrow neck glass vase, but any glass bottle will likely do. Plastic is too light and will likely tip.