Spinning Cotton With A Tahkli

Day 171: Looking at the top photo, you might think, "Oh, she's spinning yarn with a drop spindle," but the bottom photo puts my latest fiber-arts adventure into a different perspective. The spool of thread is there for size comparison only. I thought you might miss the needle without something to draw your attention to it. I am spinning cotton using a "supported spindle" device known as a tahkli. It works on the same principle as a drop spindle, but as you can see, the resultant product is much finer.

Cotton is a short-staple fiber, which is to say that the individual fibers are much shorter than those found in wool. Consequently, the device on which cotton is spun must be able to impart a lot of twist in a short distance. Some spinning wheels have a ratio which is high enough that cotton can be spun on them under low tension, but mine is a relatively "slow" wheel and isn't capable of supplying the necessary amount of twist to thread before it is drawn onto the bobbin. There are wheels made expressly for spinning cotton, the most common being the charkha as seen throughout India (-cough- waiting for the stimulus check to arrive...).

The tahkli is the simplest form of "spinning wheel" possible. Spin is imparted to the shaft by the fingers with the pointed end resting in a bowl. The whorl (in this case, a brass disk) at the base keeps it spinning for a long time while it is held upright by the newly forming thread. The loose cotton fiber is held in one hand and drawn out slowly until it reaches a comfortable arm's-length and then is pinched while the tahkli is spun several times to add twist. Then the thread is wound onto the shaft and the process repeats.

Even with my years of experience at the spinning wheel, it took me the better part of an afternoon and about a quarter ounce of cotton before I was able to make a satisfactory thread. I watched a dozen or so YouTube videos, most of which offered at least one clue into the device's operation. None covered the full process adequately. How to start the thread was discussed by one presenter, how to remove slubs by another, how to wind the cone by yet another. I was struggling and getting a little frustrated with how frequently my thread pulled apart or got too thin or too thick, but finally I hit on one description of how to hold the unspun fiber ("loosely"), and that simple suggestion provided the key to being able to spin a realtively consistent strong and fine thread. I won't say I have the technique perfected yet, but at least I'm well on my way to being able to spin my own cotton threads for incorporation into some very special weavings.