A handspindle is defined as any instrument that creates yarn
from fibers through the process of being twisted by hand. The drop spindle
spins while it is suspended in space and is under the influence of
gravitational forces. Although the exact date of its invention is unknown, the
practice of spinning fibers has been around for over 10,000 years and the drop
spindle was the primary tool used until the 16
th century. Spinning
was originally done by hand, simply through pulling and twisting fibers to
create yarn. The earliest known tools used for spinning were rocks. Spinners
from the ancient world likely used the rocks as weights attached to the fiber
in order to achieve the spin needed to create yarn. The newly spun yarn would
then be wrapped around the rock in order to keep it from unraveling. A stick rolled
along the thigh to create twist may also have been used in early forms of
spinning. It follows that these two
techniques were combined to create the drop spindle, which consists of a shaft
and whorl. It is thought that the drop spindle originated from the Middle East
as this is where the oldest known whorls have been discovered. Whorls were
originally created from clay, bone or soft rock. Ancient shafts have yet to be
found, most likely due to the fact that they were created from wood and have
since rotted away
(McCloy 2000).
Drop
spindles can be used to spin many different fibers including wool, cotton,
flax, hemp, stinging nettle and angora. Primarily a women’s tool, it was extremely
important in the Middle Ages as it allowed women to not only create fine, high
quality thread, but also perform other tasks while spinning. This is because
the drop spindle allows both hands some freedom while spinning. In most of the
depictions showing medieval women at work, they can be seen going about their
daily lives while spinning
(Robertson 2004). Often women also carried a distaff under their
arm onto which they would wrap the unspun fiber.
The first
spinning wheels were created in the late 1200s but were originally banned as
they produced inferior thread to drop spindles. The original spinning wheels
allowed less control in the drafting process since the spinner could only use
one hand (the other hand had to spin the wheel). Thus the drop spindle
continued to dominate the textile industry until the 1500s when the modern
spinning wheel was invented. Even today the drop spindle is used in some
cultures to produces threads due to its easy accessibility and quality thread
(McCloy 2000).
