By Rebekah
Edwina made her great debut at the Whidbey Island Spin-In. We had a wonderful time, and while I was there I bought some beautiful, boldly colored roving. I finished it tonight, and hunted through my dresser – the place where many people keep clothing but where spinners stuff yarn – for something to ply it with. I came across a pile of crudely spun yarn, stuff from my early days with the drop spindle. I thought, sure! And then as I got into the rhythm of it I thought about how there was a lot more going on here than I had initially realized.
Smell and touch can trigger memories in a potent way, and as I felt the clumsy old yarn slip through my fingers, and watched it come together with my sleek new yarn a time came back to me, a time when we were faced with losing our gallery, and my parents were faced with losing much more. Hard as it was, I wouldn’t trade that time and the lessons I learned from it for anything – although I have to admit I wouldn’t volunteer for another time like it! Seeing the yarn from that time come together with my bright new yarn, well, it wasn’t closure, though it felt like closure. Maybe it was synergy, multiple strands that came together to form something greater than the sum of its parts. But the big question I have now is..ooh, what will I make with this yarn?!
This promises to be a busy and fun month as I begin three new wheels. One spinner loves rabbits, and I need to figure a way to incorporate a rabbit into a spinning wheel. I’ve spent some time lately surfing the net and looking at rabbits for inspiration. Have you ever heard of giant Flemish rabbits? I hadn’t and was very surprised to see rabbits this big. Check them out!
The second wheel will feature a unique and much loved one eyed cat and her chewed-up toy mouse. The chance to let these two characters interact on a wheel is very appealing. This evening I will be spending time with a sketch pad and a pencil and hope to firm up some concepts. An eraser will probably come in handy, too.
The third wheel will be a bit more poetic and subtle. The spinner loves to collect special things like rocks and driftwood and such. We love these too and have spent countless hours on beaches nearby finding wonderful things. An idea struck me as I read her letter. I have two figured maple wheels that I’ve set aside because the figure was less interesting than I thought it would be. Perhaps Mr. Lathe took the pretty stuff off in the turning. Today I put each wheel back on the lathe and recessed a space between the rim and the hub. In this circular area I will epoxy “stones” carved from a variety of interesting wood. I’ve got lots of little pieces of wood begging for a chance to shine. Perhaps along with these will be real stones, shells, beach glass, or whatever else sneaks in. This will break new ground in my attempt to make wonderful wheels. The photo shows the wheel on the lathe with the new recess and the other wheel is holding some of the eager little scraps ready to be shaped and sanded into little stones.
Rebekah’s chicken wheel is finally ready to photograph and the testing stage will commence this evening. This has been such an enjoyable project in many ways. I was able to experiment freely and do pretty much whatever I wanted. I also was able to put little odds and ends of wood to use. This is both challenging and rewarding. There are small things that make this wheel entertaining. The vegetable ivory turned out to be a nice complement to the other colors. The design of the big wheels reminds me of the rising sun, and this is appropriate when roosters come to mind. The handle that holds the flyer arm in place is meant to look like a chicken tail. Crazy but true. Tomorrow morning, when the cock crows, we will be headed to a spinning event on Whidbey Island. We will be taking this wheel and it will be the first chance Rebekah will have to see her finished wheel and to use it. It will be fun to share this introduction with the folks at the event.
I’ve learned a few lessons over the years as an artist and woodworker. One is to think long and hard before you burn scraps of wood. You never know when they might come in handy. Consequently, my shop is brimming with buckets and boxes of wood scraps just waiting for their day. Another lesson is to always listen to the little suggestions that pop up out of the blue. Putting both these lessons to use is what this story is about.
Since the chicken wheel is for Rebekah, I feel I have a little more room to play and goof around than I would for a regular customer. I know my daughter and I know that she is a flexible and fun person who will not shrink from a crazy idea. So, I had these two small canary wood wheels – only 12″ in diameter. I love the color of the wood and it goes very well with the chicken figurehead. But how could I expand 12 inch wheels to get the 14 inches I need? I went out to the shop and cut the padouk hubs for whenever the wheels were ready. I love the crazy red color of this wood. When finished, I had eight little corner pieces left over. I almost tossed them into the burn pile, when a little voice said to me – “Wait! You can use those around the canary wheels.” I laid them out to consider. I called my trusty partner and voice of reason, Amy, for her thoughts. Then I showed Maxine, my strongest voice of reason (I say with great respect), and from both of them I got a go ahead.
This photo shows the scraps of padouk surrounding the canary wheel. I cut them to exact shape and epoxied them into place. While that was curing, I thought about what wood to put in between the padouk shapes. Two choices seemed interesting. One would have been a very dark wood, but upon searching through all of my little scraps, I found I couldn’t go this route. The other option was to go light, and I remembered a stick of birdseye maple left over from another wheel. Just the ticket! So now we have the wheels figured out, and in some strange way following the bird theme – canary wood and birdseye maple! The photo below shows how one of the wheels look when close to finished.
In keeping with the chicken theme on Rebekah’s new wheel, tentatively named “Edwina”, we thought it would be fun to use tagua nut accents on various places, such as the knobs, to give the idea of chicken eggs. In case anyone is curious, tagua nuts are about the size of an egg and have been used by carvers and others in place of ivory. Maxine collected buttons for a number of years and she had many beautiful tagua nut (also known as vegetable ivory) buttons. It is a pleasure to work, and this is the first time I’ve turned it on a lathe. One HUGE plus is that when I have carved regular ivory, the strong smell instantly takes me back to a place I never like to go – the dentist’s office! Tagua nut has no odor.
Two things I need to mention before I launch into this carving. First, I could never do this blog without my trusty daughter Amy setting up everything and walking me through all the steps. She is my proofreader as well and co-conspirator in this spinning wheel business. Thanks, Amy! Second, I am finding this blog writing fun! My goal will be to share these little things in a way that is enjoyable for you as well. Feel free to comment (and criticize) as I value your input. Now about chickens….
My other daughter Rebekah picked up a bug a year or two ago. She became fascinated with the idea of raising backyard chickens. They have proven to be a lot of work and chicken maintenance projects never seem to end, but she gets a lot of pleasure out of this little farm venture as well as quite a few eggs. In fact I enjoyed a farm-fresh egg for lunch today! Rebekah is very interested in fiber art and a die-hard drop-spindler until, after a bit of prodding, Amy got her to try a spinning wheel. Drop spindles are great, but we needed her in our camp to help market and demonstrate our own wheels. She currently has our very first Model A, and while it is beautiful, it isn’t state-of-the-art. She wants a new one. Enter the chicken wheel!
Rebekah is the one who came up with the idea of using a hen’s head for the handle. She also thought it would be great to have a carved worm on the front foot of the wheel as potential prey for her chicken handle. We may still do that but as things evolve, there may be another way to tell a story. I may put a worm in this chicken’s beak and from its wiggling body could hang the needful orifice hook. For you that aren’t spinners, this is a wire hook with a handle used to pull the yarn through the orifice in the flyer. The problem is always where to put the orifice hook when you are not using it. Hence the chicken’s accommodating beak.
This wheel has a long journey ahead before it spins but it could be a lot of fun to build. The main wheels are already made and they are figured maple. The hubs are beautiful red padouk and I turned them a couple days ago. The chicken motif will be used as often as possible. The adjustment knobs will be padouk with a dome of tagua nut at the end. Tagua nut, also referred to as vegetable ivory, looks just like ivory when carved and polished. Hopefully this will remind everyone of eggs! We even are seriously considering making the pitman rods (the wood pieces that connect the big wheels to the treadles) in the form of chicken legs. This way the chicken will be running furiously whenever the spinner treadles. Corny but heck, when you make a chicken wheel, nothing is out of bounds. Follow chickens around for a while and you get a feel for how they are.
One final thought: we woke up to a gray, cold snowy morning in Port Townsend, but that gloomy start gave way to a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. I thought it might be appropriate to photograph this chicken out in the green grass, where chickens love to be. After taking several photos, I looked up from the view finder, and that crazy carved chicken was staring up at me, just as I saw Rebekah’s chickens stare at me after I had tried to photograph them! It was uncanny, and a happy moment to see that fierce little stare from what used to be a block of wood.
As an artist and craftsman I find a lot of satisfaction in making things that are beautiful and in many cases function well. But I also know that there is a great deal of pleasure in the process. Setting myself up with a problem and slowly working things to a satisfying conclusion is the way I spend my days. When a work is finished I am happy to have it displayed or used by others. But usually I am the sole beneficiary of the many steps along the way.
I just made a head/handle for a new spinning wheel and thought it might be fun to share this with whoever is interested. Someday soon it will be finished and hopefully someone will fall in love with it and want to have it. I’ll sell the wheel but keep the memories and lessons it has given me. If you are interested, here’s what has happened so far….
We just finished a wheel for a wonderful lady from New Hampshire. She travels a lot to the British Isles and wanted a wheel to remind her of those adventures. We talked about possibilities and decided to have and Icelandic Ram’s head function as the handle. I did a lot of research and ultimately a ram evolved out of a few pieces of walnut, some epoxy, and a little paint. It was almost scary to push beyond my comfort zone and commit to something I didn’t know if I could actually do. Slowly and surely the ram came to life and brought me and my family a lot of pleasure. He was named Duncan Macleod by his new keeper and he left our fold today in a big plywood crate. Bittersweet.
As I worked on Duncan I realized that there is no limit to the things that can be incorporated into our wheel design. I have produced a lot of art over the years that was inspired by Northwest Coast native traditions and legends. I loved to explore the forms and learned a lot about the art and history of the people of this rich, beautiful coast. One thing that always interested me was how a design of any creature could be made to fit a given space. For instance, an eagle design could grace a totem pole, a spoon, a button blanket, or crest hat. A knowledgeable viewer would recognize it as an eagle by the specific stylized features used over and over again by artists for thousands of years. I realized that our spinning wheels are a perfect place upon which to display these creatures. I love ravens and so my first attempt is a raven wheel.
I was over at some friends’ house the other day. They have quite a collection of contemporary Northwest Coast art (mine included!). I admired masks and carvings and other items. One thing I noticed with the carvings was that every one looked clean and fresh and like it had been made yesterday. They were beautiful of course. But in my studies I have always gravitated to the old pieces. Carved by unknown hands, weathered and worn by centuries of use, shrouded in patinas no artist could consciously create, these artifacts glow with mystery and secrets. So that became the guiding principle for this raven wheel. Rather than make it look brand new, I want it to look as if it has always been. Even though it is made from foreign woods, steel, brass, nylon, epoxy and aluminum, I want the raven to overshadow the modern media and have a serene and complete and timeless life of its own.
The head is about finished now and I like it a lot. The abalone shell in the inlaid eyes and the disc held in the beak add a classic splash of wild exotic color to the subdued tones of the wood. It is walnut (my favorite wheel wood) and yet the finish makes it into anything you want it to be. I applied wax after varnish and though it doesn’t change the appearance much, it changes the feel. I can hardly keep my hands off it! That’s the way a handle should be and I think I have touched on a concept so important to the old unknown masters. I don’t remember actually creating ANY Northwest Coast art that had to work in the real world. All it had to do was look pretty. Well this handle will work!
While I have a lot of other ideas, the rest of the wheel will begin to dictate its own design. If you are interested, I’ll be writing more about this wheel.
Olympic Spinning Wheels 