Hand spinning
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Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibres are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fibre was spun by hand using simple tools, the sp
The Spinner by William-Adolphe Bouguereau shows a woman hand-spinning using a drop spindle. Fibers to be spun are bound to a distaff held in her left hand.
Woman Spinning by Théodore Jacques Ralli c. 1890, shows a Greek woman hand spinning in a small village.
Woman spinning, fanned by attendant with whole fish on table, 700–550 BC from Neo-Elamite period in Susa
Woman spinning. Detail from an Ancient Greek attic white-ground oinochoe, ca. 490 BC, from Locri, Italy. British Museum, London.
Distaff
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A distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax and sometimes wool, b
Hand spinning
…synthetic fibres are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fibre was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff. After the introduction of the spinning wheel in the 13th century, the output of individual spinners increased dramatically. Mass production later arose…
Queen Bertha instructing girls to spin flax on spindles using distaves, Albert Anker, 1888
Alsatian spinner with wheel and distaff
Russian distaves displayed at the museum of folk handicrafts at Ferapontov Monastery