Make Your Own Drop Spindle
Written and Designed by Brittany of @Bee _ Ritt _ Fiber_ Arts on Instagram Please follow her for more inspiration and creativity with the fiber arts.
This blog was written during the 2020 lockdown for reference of why we were all making crafts in the house.
Create Your Own Spindle at Home
We are living through a weird time now. People are mostly confined to their homes. Many have been laid off or furloughed from their jobs. Even the essential workers are finding themselves spending more time at home. Many are using this time to learn new skills, pick up a side hustle, tackle a hobby they've only participated in via Pinterest boards.
Homesteading hobbies are perfect for times like these. A personal favorite I've dove headfirst into is fiber arts. You could (and many have) invest thousands of dollars in fiber arts supplies. A spinning wheel alone generally runs from $400-$1200 (even more for extra features and supplies), but spinning, like all fiber arts, has very humble beginnings. People originally made all their own tools.
I personally have been doing a lot of yarn spinning. Even though I have an e-spinner, I found myself gravitating towards my single drop spindle. Something about the slow process is very calming, and since I have an infant and a 4 year old I need to be able to put it away quickly when they need something. My e-spinner requires a table near an outlet and for me to be seated. It got to be very annoying to constantly get up and help my daughters because the process of moving the table and the cords and my tools was just taking too much time and effort. I can also move around with my drop spindle, so I feel like I'm getting a bit of exercise.
I came across a problem though: since I only have one spindle, if I want to ply yarns together or work on a different yarn I would have to wind my current project off my spindle. If you've never done that, it is a long and tedious process to do by hand. This inspired me to try to make my own spindles.
There are multiple DIY drop spindle tutorials out there. Most require a trip to the hardware store. But that's not exactly practical right now. Also, with many people (including myself) out of work during this time, spending extra money is kind of out of the question. However, you really don't need any fancy tools or supplies to make a good drop spindle. Here are the basic supplies you need for a top whorl drop spindle:
A stick of some kind- this can be a dowel or a skewer, or even an unsharpened pencil
A hook- I found a paper clip works the best! You also could use floral wire, an old dangle type earring or even cut up a wire coat hanger.
A whorl- CD's work great because they have some weight to them already and (added bonus) a hole for your spindle. But I've used corrugated cardboard, plastic, and even a cork coaster. You could really use any sturdy circular shaped object, as long as you can make a hole big enough to fit your spindle through. A peanut butter jar lid would even work really great!
DIY Drop Spindle
Your whorl does need to have some sort of balanced weight to it. Otherwise it will spin for only a few seconds and you'll constantly need to keep re-spinning it. If you use cardboard, I would suggest hot gluing pennies (or other coins that are the same size and shape as each other) evenly spaced around the whorl.
Glue (hot glue works great!), tape, or otherwise attach your hook to the top of your spindle and secure your whorl about ⅓ the length from the top of your spindle. Its really that simple! Then watch some drop spinning tutorials and try it yourself. You can change up your spindle to fine tune it to your liking. Add more weight, adjust the hook, or even make it pretty.
Some things to consider:
My commercial drop spindle weighs 1.5 ounces on it's own. If you have a kitchen scale or postage scale, it may be to your advantage to weigh your spindle as you are adding weight to get it to an optimal weight. If it's not heavy enough it will not spin very long. If it's too heavy it will break your yarn.
If you do cut a whorl from corrugated cardboard like I did, you may want to put tape of the edges to keep them smooth and prevent snagging your fiber.
If you use something for a whorl that's not smooth on all sides, make sure the smoothest side is facing down, otherwise you will have snags and issues when you are winding your cop (that's a fancy fiber word that just refers to the yarn you've already spun and wound around your spindle).
We would love to see your drop spindles! Let us know what worked and any tricks you found! Share pictures on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #feralscene
Want to have a step by step look at making your own spindle and unlock lots of discounts on fiber supplies. Check out our fun mini course “ spin from scratch “ This is a step by step video system that will take you from building your own spindle to spinning your first yarns with a free workshop. There’s even a bonus section with spinning on a spinning wheel for comparison.
$23 worth of coupons for fiber inside.
After much request I’ve made an online version of my local drop spindle and intro to spinning workshop. This is 12 video online workshop designed to take the student from having never held fiber or a spindle all the way through 2 plying your final yarn. There are also 4 bonus videos covering common troubleshooting that has been covered in local classes as well as how to set your yarn after it’s spun, and how to chain or “navajo ply “ on a drop spindle for beginners.
