Seabreeze Spinners

SOLD

I am selling Frank Fell Spinning Wheel on eBay HERE.

My understanding is that in 1884, Fell began working for the Mayville Furniture Company, which manufactured spinning wheels for sale both locally and to a broader market. When the factory closed in 1904, Fell purchased its lathe and opened his own wood-turning shop in his Mayville, WI home. He built German-style wheels, although he was the son of a British immigrant cabinetmaker and not of German descent.  Existing wheels are highly collectable and have a reputation for spinning extraordinarily well and this wheel is no exception.  Most rare and unusual, while most have been lost, this wheel retains a bit of the original distaff.  Spinners love these wheels and for good cause.

While this wheel has a beautiful patina and retains it’s original finish, there are signs of age and wear from use.  This wheel spins like butter (See video in previous article.)  I offer it without reservation and with more than a little reluctance.  It disassembles and reassembles easily and is light making it the perfect candidate to take out for demonstrations and re-enactments.  It is a single treadle, double drive, German Saxony style spinning wheel.  The functional difference between a double drive and a Scotch tension (for example Ashford Saxony), is while finding the “sweet spot” on a double drive may take a bit of fiddling, once found, you can spin without any further adjustments; you can even switch out bobbins and spin again without adjusting the tension.  The Scotch tension needs to be adjusted throughout the process of filling the bobbin.  While this may not be an issue for a novice spinner, it is an annoyance as one becomes more proficient and increases the rate at which they can fill a bobbin.

I have used this wheel when teaching new spinners and as an experienced spinner, I still find it a joy upon which to spin.  I am selling as I am attempting to reclaim the living areas of my home; I have more than a dozen working wheels and several in the process of restoration.  While I’m not convinced, my husband assures me that one cannot spin on more than one wheel at a time and therefore it makes no sense to have so many wheels.  That said, this wheel needs to be re-homed where it will be used and appreciated.

Frank Fell Spinning Wheel

Frank Fell spinning wheel.  Lovely spinning wheel … smooth spinner.

SOLD

German eBay import arrives in disarray but after some time on the workbench and some TLC, it has been put to work as a functional spinning wheel.

I saw this lovely vintage Tyrolean Spinning Wheel on German eBay. (Seller photos above.)  I loved the graceful hardwood turnings.  It appeared in-tact; I bid accordingly and won the auction.  But was shocked when the wheel finally arrived and I opened the box.  It looked like the wheel had been dumped in a box and shipped with hardly a bit of packing materials.  It was a jumble of broken pieces.  The photo below was taken right after opening the box (you can see the missing foot).  The packing material you see is all that had been provided for trans-ocean voyage.

The photo below is of the wheel as I attempted to re-assemble it.  One of the uprights that holds up the wheel, a foot and the distaff are broken off.

When I contacted the seller and confronted him with the damage (most of it old as evidenced by residual glue and not the result of poor packing), he acknowledged sawing off the distaff to fit the wheel in the shipping box but sarcastically inquired, “don’t they have glue in the US?” Ugh! My DH (dear husband) went about making proper repairs.  He drilled holes then pegged and glued the separated pieces and pegged the distaff.  I added bamboo “pins” to hold down the wheel.  Then I drenched the thirsty wood with a combination of bee’s wax and orange oil.

The wheel was beautifully turned by a master craftsman. Sadly, the builder appears to have had little experience with spinning wheels. The tension knob on the front of the table at first glance appears to be a screw which would move the maiden forward and back to create tension on the drive band. Instead of a spiral pattern of turns, the “screw” is a row of concentric circles. It doesn’t adjust. But, the weight of the maiden alone seems to create enough drag that the wheels spin with plenty of draw. The footman crosses in front of the spinner but to maintain proper alignment, the wheel can not be reversed. The wheel was constructed with apparent purpose to slant. But instead of slanting toward the spinner, it slants away, confounding treadling action.   Despite all the reasons it shouldn’t, the wheel spins and yarn it makes.  Lovely example of a Tyrolean Spinning Wheel.

Tyrolean Spinning Wheel is for Sale.  CLICK HERE

Recent rescue, antique brass & iron yarn winder.  Very heavy.  No manufacture’s markings.  Here are “before” photos, needs some TLC & polishing.

end view

side view

overview

brass yardage wheel/gear

Visitors, Welcome!

I was delighted that Spin-Off Magazine has accepted articles for Spring & Fall 2014. They’ve also accepted an article for Winter 2014, a Gallery of One-Of-A-Kind Wheels … antique and contemporary. The article was a challenge but it turned out really well.

“Antique Wheel Buyer’s Guide” Fall 2014  (That’s me.)

Florida Sheep, Wool, and Herding Dog Festival 2014 this weekend: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 4/25, 4/26, and 4/27/2014. I’ve loaded six, count ’em, six wheels already including Victorial the Dental Drill base Victorian Door Knob spinning wheel, a Frank Fell Saxony, Journey Wheel, imported antique French Metal Wheel, Ashford Traditional Spindle Wheel and Australian Wind Wheel.

I’ll be teaching:

(1) Wheel Mechanics 101 … spinning wheel tune-up; if it’s not broken or missing parts, we’ll get it spinning. Will include instruction re:wheel mechanics, i.e. double drive, direct drive and Scotch tension AND minor repairs i.e. new leather bearings, tightening joints. In addition, we’ll provide hints for evaluating a garage sale or Craig’s list wheel and the feeding of old wood. There will be a small materials fee to cover the cost printing and supplies.

(2) Spinning 101 … introduction to wheel spinning. Will include survey of fiber prep techniques and prepared fiber available to hand spinner, i.e. hand carding, drum carder, roving and batts, also learn about yarn composition, i.e. z vs s twist, plying and fulling. Lots of hands on time to learn or refine basic spinning skills to turn out small gauge knitable/weavable yarns, not “art yarn”. Spinners may bring their own wheels or “rent” a wheel for the session (by pre-arrangement). There will be a small materials fee to cover the cost printing and of fiber.

(3) Garbage Bag Dying – an intro to dying wool fiber. Lots of hands on experiences.

I am writing an article for Fall 2014 Spin-Off Magazine on One-of-a-Kind spinning wheels. I am soliciting photos. I am posting a guide for photo taking and a photo release which need to be returned with any photos.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GUIDELINES

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO RELEASE

The wheel below is a OOAK spinning wheel I created from a foot powered dental drill and an antique Victorian door knob and back plates.

Foot Powered Dental Drill Spinning Wheel

CLICK HERE to see Foot Powered Dental Drill Spinning Wheel Video.

I’ve been playing with commercial dyes and home dye techniques and I think I’ve nailed it.  I have several combinations which will soon be available on Etsy.

Carnival

Seagrass

Carabean

Jelly

Sand & Surf

Muted Morning

The Florida Sheep, Wool & Herding Dog Festival 2014 is being held April 25, 26, & 27 in Ocala, Florida.  I’ll be teaching two classes (Saturday & Sunday).

(1) Wheel Mechanics 101 … spinning wheel tune-up; if it’s not broken or missing parts, we’ll get it spinning. Will include instruction re:wheel mechanics, i.e. double drive, direct drive and Scotch tension AND minor repairs i.e. new leather bearings, tightening joints. In addition, we’ll provide hints for evaluating a garage sale or Craig’s list wheel and the feeding of old wood. There will be a small materials fee to cover the cost printing and supplies.

(2) Spinning 101 … introduction to wheel spinning. Will include survey of fiber prep techniques and prepared fiber available to hand spinner, i.e. hand carding, drum carder, roving and batts, also learn about yarn composition, i.e. z vs s twist, plying and fulling. Lots of hands on time to learn or refine basic spinning skills to turn out small gauge knitable/weavable yarns, not “art yarn”. Spinners may bring their own wheels or “rent” a wheel for the session (by pre-arrangement). There will be a small materials fee to cover the cost printing and of fiber.

These will be small classes with lots of one-on-one assistance. I have elicited the aid of my DH (engineer by training, wheel fixer by conscription) and look forward to a great weekend. My order from the Sheep Shed Studio just arrived so we’ll have lots of fiber to play with.

I plan to bring an assortment of wheels to demonstrate including Victoria (the foot powered dental drill wheel), and whatever antique and vintage wheels will fit in the back of my SUV, and we’ll have a free spin time for spindle and wheel spinners to hang out and spin just for the sheer joy of it.

(Photo is of Lacy my 15 year old Aussie mix.  She’s been struggling with age related issues the past few weeks.  We love her sweet soul and biddable temperament and will miss her when she is no longer with us.)

Here I’ll describe how to weave Fibonacci colors as I described in my article in Spin-off Magazine Spring 2014.

My first use of Fibonacci numbers was laying out my “Convergence Tri-Loom Shawl”. Every two years, the Handweavers’ Guild of America “converges” on a city for the HGA’s International Fiber Arts Conference. In 2008, they met in Tampa, Florida. To honor convergence, the Guild commissioned the creation of special yarn. The space-dyed yarn was dyed in colors of the tropics, brilliant pink, turquoise, green and orange. I plied the space-dyed convergence rayon singles with bright colored cotton for a tri-loom project.

I’m tall and wanted a generous shawl. Not satisfied with the available 7’ looms, I wanted an 8’ loom. That summer, we were planning a vacation in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, so I had my summer project. I had my husband cut three pieces of wood molding to create the tri-loom and had him bolt the corners together so I could disassemble it to take it to the mountains where I could reassemble it. He devised a transportation device, utilizing a PVC pipe which he capped on each end, the “limbs” of the tri-loom rode to the mountains on the roof rack in style.

Once we got to the mountains, I began to hammer nails. Yes, I’m obsessive, before the groceries were purchased, before the suitcases were stored, I was nailing. I carefully marked and nailed exactly the same number of nails across the top as were nailed into the other two sides of the triangle. When I started to weave, the threads became more and more angled; they weren’t straight up and down. I soon figured out that the ratio should be two to one; that is, two across the top for each along the adjoining sides. BUT, serendipity, it all worked out. When I first began to weave the shawl, I had found my weave very loose. I discovered that if I looped my yarn twice around the bottom nails for each time I looped the yarn around a top nail, I had a tight weave. (Twice the yarn and twice the work, but a very satisfactory result.) I finished the shawl by treating each loop separately, knotting fringe in each loop.

I wanted the stripes to blend into one another. I recalled when I was looking at sock knitting patterns reading that stripes are most pleasing to the eye when one uses stripes proportioned in additional adjoining numbers: 1, 1 (1 + 0), 2 (1 + 1), 3 (1+2), 5 (2+3), 8 (3 + 5), 13 (5 + 8), 21 (8 + 13), etc.  The number sequence was named for Leonardo Fibonacci an Italian mathematician who introduced the relationship, also known as the golden ratio, to the West; it had been earlier described by an Indian mathematician.

By the nature of tri-loom weaving technique, each pass creates both warp and weft. It moves from the bottom left side to the top of the triangle and down again; it then crosses the loom and loops on the next available lower right nail before going up to the top right and then reverses the process, ending on a nail on the lower left. This process creates two warp and two weft threads for each pass. Therefore, my widest stripe was 8 pairs of two. The next stripe of the same color on either side of the mentioned stripe was 5 pairs of two. The next stripe of the same color on either side was 3 pairs of two; then 2 pairs of two; then 1 pair of two and finally 1 pair of two. I overlapped the colors, placing the narrowest strip of one color next to the thickest stripe of another. I love the final results.

I worked on the shawl in the summer and had to wait ‘til fall to return to the mountains to finish the project. (P.S. My husband took pity on me and my struggles at nail driving and purchased for me in Ashville a beautiful cherry Hill Creek Fiber Studio 6’ 10” tri-loom.) That next summer, I wore my Shawl as I wandered through Convergence. Yes, Florida in the summer but thanks to the air conditioning, it was freezing (at least to this Florida gal). A Convergence shawl with a tropical twist was just the thing.