DEBORAH TILSON CLARK is lifelong resident of SW Virginia, and when young shelistened to her father talk about turning “the great wheel” as his grandmother spun wool from the family sheep to make yarn for knitting the family’s socks. This implanted a yearning to know the secrets of turning and spinning wool. She learned to do handspinning at Berea College. Later her husband made a beautiful spinning wheel by exactly copying the great wheel from her great-grandmother’s home. She takes much pleasure is sharing what she knows and helping others to enjoy the history, movement, and products of hand spinning.
BASIC SPINNING “OFF THE TIP” Beginner beyond
Spinning is a process of twisting flexible fibers together into stronger, continuous lengths. The first human spinners accomplished this work using only their hands. but soon they invented tools to help them spin more efficiently and with more consistent results. For millennia, these tools were variations of a stick-and-weight: the stick was a place to store the twisted fibers and the weight on the stick provided momentum that transferred twist to the fiber. The twisting took place at the tip of the stick, and so, handspinning on all early spinning tools around the world is called, collectively, spinning “off the tip.”
Many modern fiber artists find that spinning “off the tip” leads to more enjoyment of advanced spinning tools such as treadle wheels. Others find that the greater control and slower pace of off the tip spinning is the only kind of fiber production they want to do. Either way, in this class we will explore a variety of spindles including drop spindles, bedeezi (Navajo) spindles, charka spinners, “walking” wheels, and electric spinners for learning beginning skills or just sampling the spinning process. 3 to 6 students.
Prerequisite skills: None
Pre-class homework: None
Students bring: Curiosity and an interest in historic spinning methods
Materials fee: $15.00 for practice fiber
Date and time: Saturday June 7, 2025 1:30pm to 3:30pm
Class fee: $40.00