Photos by Michael Spanos and Mary Spanos.
I found a terrifically useful bush growing in my yard. I thought it was a bush, but after a few years of watching, it appears that it might be a tree. Maybe birds are distributing seeds in my neighborhood and I have been a lucky recipient of their largess.
This is how I've been spinning with these distaffs. I normally hold my fiber in my left hand, so the distaff is attached to my left hand with a ribbon. The ribbon holds the little stick snugly to my hand so all of my fingers are able to move normally to manage the fiber and twist. My distaffs weigh less that 5 grams, so with fiber they are still very lightweight.
The sticks provide side branches that I wind into the fiber bundle. That holds the fiber bundle in place, so it doesn't slide down and get abraded by my moving hand.
To make the distaff, I look for a bush, or young tree, that has grown enough to be shaped into a distaff, about three or four feet tall, I cut it well below the area that will be the bottom of the distaff. Below is an example that may provide enough information for readers to identify the type of plant. I think that many trees or bushes could be used to make these tools. It is just a matter of looking around for shapes that would suit your spinning.
I remove all of the leaves and stems that I don't want, creating a rough shape of a distaff. I leave everything longer than needed so I can make the final decisions as the branch gets closer to being the final distaff. My tools are simple, scissors, a handsaw with a fine blade, and the wooden thing at the top is a wood carving knife that has a neat cap and leather strap (it will be more visible later).
I have left more stems on the main distaff branch than I think I will want in the end, but it is better to leave them on so the final decision can be made later.
At this point I scrape off all of the bark and the layers of plant material between the bark and the woody center. I use a knife meant for carving wood. Any knife that you can use safely will probably work fine. We have some smooth blade steak knives that I am tempted to move from the kitchen to my tool box.
It is a simple process and one that needs to be done soon after cutting the branch away from the bush-tree, as everything begins to dry and it will become difficult or impossible to clean the wood thoroughly. I usually only harvest one or two distaff blanks at a time so I can go from cutting the bush to scraping the distaff clean all in one sitting.
Hold a sharp-ish blade perpendicular to the small branch and scrap off the bark and the layers below the bark, until the wood you see looks clean. The layers below the bark will react with the air and turn brownish. You'll see them well enough to know that you don't want them and need to keep scraping. Be careful while scarping in the crooks of the off-shots, so you don't cut off a small branch that you want to keep. Scraping is slow and meditative for me.
As I scrap I also trim away any stems I don't want and trim all of the parts to length using my knife and making small cuts. At this point, the new distaff is a bit rough, not as smooth as you'll want the finished tool. My burgeoning distaffs also feel a bit damp. I let it dry overnight and then sand the surface and the carved ends so everything is smooth.
I use narrow ribbons, or handwoven bands, to make a handle so the distaff is held onto my left hand and all of my fingers are free to mange the fiber on its way to the spindle.
I've
been making and using these distaffs for a more than five years and they are
holding up well. At first I used thicker bushes and stems because I was
afraid they would break, none have so far. Now I make them fairly thin
so they are light weight. They are stored with spindles, so those storage places provide a safe place for delicate distaffs.
Note: the small spindle visible in some photographs is a Mistral from Hipstrings. The red fiber is from Neighborhood Fiber Company, colorway Observatory Circle, BFL and silk.
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