I learned to spin fibers into thread at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. The fibers class was taught by Prof. Joan Austin. At the time I found the whole project uninteresting and was anxious to get on to something more “substantial”.
Today, spinning fibers is, for me, truly MAGICAL!
You take short, insignificant fibers – put a TWIST to them and they become a long, continuous line – potentially hundreds of miles long!
Imagine! Up until the 1400’s in Europe, all yarn or thread – used to make all the clothing…
all coverings for floors, beds, windows…
all sails for sea-going ships…any fabric at all…
was spun on a drop spindle like this! And it is still used today, in many parts of the world!
PURE MAGIC! A SOURCE PROCESS FOR SO VERY MUCH CONTEMPORARY CREATIVE WORK.