Sunday, June 26, 2011

Spanish Peacock Australian Cypress Top Whorl

Snapped up in an Etsy rush. Super light, makes frog hair. Absolutely gorgeous grain. I love the twisted hook, it holds the single very nicely.

Australian Cypress whorl and hard maple shaft.
15 grams (+/- .5g) .5 ounces
2 1/8" diameter whorl
8" shaft, 7" below the whorl (going up against the whorl), just over 1/4" diameter
8 1/2" from top to bottom

The man is a genius with wood. The way the flow of the grain echoes and complements the shape of the spindle is just beautiful. The pale maple shaft shows just a bit of darker grain in elongated swoops along its length. The Australian Cypress is a warm yellow-brown, a light honey swirl on one side with darker rings, with some smooth puddling on the other side. It's got a smooth matte finish.

The shaft flares lightly where it joins to the whorl. There's a finial top and bottom. Would need a quill to slip the cop off without unwinding, but it didn't catch at all. The whorl is deeply concave on the bottom, slightly scooped on the top.

The hook brass-coloured metal, twisted in a corkscrew that works amazingly well. Pretty much my favourite hook style now. It lets the single come straight up from the shaft but still keeps it on (about a quarter circle clockwise). No notches, but between the hollowed out underside and the corkscrew hook it doesn't seem to need any bracing.

Rim-weighted but light overall. Very fast spin but not a whole lot of momentum. Makes amazingly thin yarn. Purely a frog-hair spindle.

Spun BFL (was going for too thick, couldn't keep spinning), pure merino (made three-ply thread beautifully), 80/20 merino/silk (aiming too thick again).


In use:
SpanishPeacock.jpgAustralianCypressGrainDetail.jpgAustralianCypressDetail.jpgBirthday Fibre sampling.jpg

Original Etsy Listing
Spanish Peacock Shop
Spanish Peacock Website

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