A moratorium has been imposed

My new baby

Well it happened as you can see after my last post the Aura came home with me. Yes, yes I was all talking about customisation but hear me out. As I mentioned in my last post I got the opportunity to go try the wheel. I got to sit down with the lovely Jenny from Virginia Farm Woolworks and try this wheel I have been ogling for the past number of months. When I sat down she span so well and one thing I found that even between two different types of wool I tried I had a lot more control over the thickness of the wool that I haven't had before. This was just on the setup they had, no tweaking. So I sat there spinning and talking. After much conversations about how I can always laser engrave in later, the back log of even standard orders and the worry about trying to convey a design internationally I knew I was going to have a friend on the drive back. I already talked about my experience at Virginia Farm in my last blog so this will be the Aura, what I have experienced initially (so I can chart thoughts and progress) and what I am excited for in the future with this wheel.

The Majacraft Aura
Built in collaboration with an accomplished spinner Pluckyfluff this was Maracrafts jump into not only double drives, but reinventing the wheel (sorry had to). Like traditional double drive wheels one the flyer and bobbin get spin by the drive band. This wheel has a unique set up with two independent drive bands (not just one looped around twice as per standard double drives). One drive band spins the flyer and the other spins the bobbin. This allows for the ability to individually change both the tension and the twist.

The flyer is also a little bit different in that dual function orifice for fine or thick spinning. The drive band for the bobbin does not actually go over the bobbin itself. It has a special whorl on the front (which has two different ratios) and the bobbins slots into two pins that spin it.

While this wheel is a folding wheel so in some ways would be considered a "portable" wheel it is a heavy sucker. It has some lovely Rimu wood that is native to New Zealand and ethically harvested.

Majacraft in general hand makes all their wheels. Majacraft has been owned by the Poad family since 1996 (Originally owned by John Arlott from the late 1980's who was the original creator of the first Suzies). There are already two brilliant posts about the history and family here and here. One feature I love is that each wheel is hand signed and numbered by which ever Poad makes it. This number is also used to register your wheel on the Majacraft site for your 2 year warranty.

Hand signed!

There are a lot of amazing videos available that explain the unique properties of this wheel better than I can explain. These are better seen than explained.

I also decided against an overdrive head as I don't need an even bigger bobbin and would prefer the different range of flyers I can use with this and cheaper bobbins.

As this wheel was primarily designed for art yarns so the ratios are a little low 4.1-7.3
However you can change the whorls and the different whorls can change the ratios down to 3.6 and up to 19.4  (I will have to see if my Suzie whorl fits, as she predated the Poad families Suzies). I have seen lots of info about spinning lace weight easily on the standard Aura.

I am going to name this lovely creature Serenity. Why you ask - because of this cute anecdote I read Apparently Andrew Poad (whose name is on my wheel)is a Firefly fan and originally the Aura wheels code name was Serenity. I am a Brown Coat myself and a major fan so I love the link there!

Andy, Glynis, Owen and Rod Poad from NZspinningwheels.info

My first thoughts.... I like it better than my Suzie, she is beautiful and I am very happily surprised how much more control I have over my fibres size as I have struggled getting consistent thicker yarns and within moments could do it. So I can only imagine what some practice will achieve!

So what is next for the Aura? Well now I am on a moratorium as the title mentions. So no buy on spinning except if I need more bamboo fibre or dye for my entry in the Easter Show. Next post will be on the upcoming shows in Sydney!  However I eventually want to get a tensions lazy kate to fit these bobbins and the lace flyer system.

Suzie eyeing down its cousin. 

I think this is wheel 10.....double digits...I swear this is the last for a very long long while unless I come across some $10 beauty!

Posted in: Majacraft, spinning