BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning How many wheels do you have?

The art teacher in our little town expected me to be paid about $100 USd for doing classes for her art classes, and that was per class. The "Artist in Residence" fund pays for those sorts of things. It is nice when the school system is willing to expend for "non-essential" arts classes and demos.

It is the big museums who come up as "pikers". They even want the guest artists to pay the gate fees to get in to be privledged to give the demonstrations. I have learned a lot about "pricing talent" in the last few years.

OH!! MY!!! the cost of your fuel!!! and I thought the price of diesel for my truck here in the USA was a back breaker! Ok, I will stop complaining about my measley $3.25 to $3.70 per gallon.

I have one wheel. It is around 100 years old. I bought it from a lady who collects antiques. I forget the exact name of it. I am sure it was Canadian something or the other. That's terrible isn't it? I love my wheel though.

Sheri

I have 29. They fascinate me so I collect them.

Right now I have a few drop spindles, a spindolyn, and a rake straw. I'm looking for a wheel that I can afford. I'd really like to have one with some history with it.

Unless you can spin on a wheel or buy one with some history behind it from someone who can demo that it works (and give you a spinning lesson)it's best to stay away from antique wheels. Why? Because these wheels may well have problems that are not readily apparent.

Know the history of an old wheel is nice, but it's seldom that any thing much is known about old wheels. Some old wheels have maker's names or marks, some have the initials of the original owner carved into them.

It's also highly suspect if someone purports to have a wheel used by a famous historical figure for sale (usually for really big bucks!). A year or two back, someone was selling a wheel on e0Bay - had it billed as Martha Washington's spinning wheel and claimed to have bought it from someone who had gotten it at a garage sale at Mt. Vernon. They said they had documentation on all of this but refused to show it to anyone but the buyer and then only after they had been paid for the wheel. Right!!!!

If you do know how to spin on a wheel. you can, on occasion find fairly good buys at antique shops. But if you spot one, be prepared to test it before buying. This requires being prepared with oil, a rag, drive band material, small pieces of wood to use to temporarily replace missing pegs or as shims, some sort of material to temporarily replace missing bearings (heavy cord will work in a pinch), a piece of rope to use as a temporary footman, and of course some fibers to spin. In other words, everything you need to make small repairs and get the wheel going. Most antique dealers will be happy to let you try to get the wheel going - after all, they may get a sale out of it But don't count on them to know anything of the wheel's history beyond where they may have gotten it.

If you find an old wheel that needs repairs, there are some very excellent spinning wheel restorers out there and often they can tell you something about the wheel - an estimate of when it was made and where at the least. There are also some good books on the topic of antique wheels and an excellent publication called "The Spinning Wheel Sleuth".

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here, but I have an old Haldane wheel that I bought on ebay, it's lovely and it seems to spin fine.Keep in mind that I am a beginner. I also have a kick spindle, which I love and a spindolyn that i use.

Alice in Cockeysville, MD
P.S. I'm hoping to take lessons at The Mannings this spring.

Hi Alice,

The Haldane is an excellent wheel. Do you have the Saxony style or the upright style?

Hi I am new here, but not to spinning.

I have 2 Ashford Traditionals, 2 Joys which I won, 1 Lendrum double treadle and a handmade oak wheel which Martin at P&M Woolcraft made for me. I also have a Navajo spindle and a couple of high whorl spindles.
For choice I use the oak wheel, at the moment I am spinning fine 2 ply for Heirloom yarns for a sampler for Sharons latest book.

Regards

Hi Sue,

Would Sharon be Sharon Miller, perchance? If it is, and she has a new book coming out, please keep us posted.

BTW, I used to work as a production spinner for the fly fishing industry

Hi Llyn,
yes it is Sharon Miller, I am not sure when her book will be out, but not for some time, I have only just received the Shetland for the sampler and I know for this one she is not working to a deadline.

What did you used to spin for the fly fishing industry? I spin some of my own threads for fancy fly bodies and use a lot of loose fibres too, it is such a good cross over of skills from spinning to fly dressing.