Review: Frank Williams Turkish Spindles

Many moons ago I acquired some spindles. Now that I have had extensive time to play I feel I can give a much more thorough review. My previous experience with spindles has been chunky no name drop spindles. These are my first grown-up spinner spindles! So as of yet, I can't compare between spindle makers. So please enjoy my review of Frank Williams Spindles. 

I had seen these spindles at class with a fellow spinner  gushing about her recent buy. As I had been in the market for a Turkish spindle I was very happy to see Frank was selling at the Winter Wool Festival coming up soon .

When I rushed to his table I was greeted with a table of delightful tools (picture conspicuously absent). There was a mixture of Turkish spindles, drop spindles and various support spindles. Even a cursory glance informed me that this was going to be a difficult decision. 

Frank himself was manning the store and his affable nature allowed for a delightful discussion on his spindles.  As well as spindles he also created an assortment of tapestry bobbins (and hopefully some distaffs in the near future after our chat).  He sells off Etsy where he also has a loyalty club where  your 11th is free (including shipping). There is an associated Ravelry group for people to chat and share their goodies. You will also see him at assorted fiber festivals, especially the smaller sydney ones and bigger regional. 

As I only have his Turkish spindles (so far) I will reserve my review to them only.
Most important is the price. One can have beautiful spindles, but if they cost an arm and a leg..... I have also found the dissatisfaction of cheap and lousy. Frank's spindles cost $55 each, which I think is a very decent price range. One which allows for far too much impulse purchasing! The Turkish spindles are the slotted arm type and available in 5 different sizes.

From Frank Williams Etsy store photo

I purchased the Olive Ridley and Hawksbill (Mini and Small), these sizes are made for lace weight spinning. The shafts have slightly pointed tips and notches on each end to fix your leader yarn. The benefits of Turkish spindles over other common types of spindles is the ability to make a centre-pull ball while wrapping your freshly spun yarn. 

When I first got there I mainly checked out the visual appeal of different woods used (and have conveniently forgotten the wood types of my spindles).  I got to work spinning a few on my hand and did find the different wood seem to spin slightly differently at least to my feel. The small spindle I bought was not the one I was initially drawn to. I don't know how to describe it but the slight weight differences and densities of the wood did make a difference at least to me. I don't think it's enough to worry someone purchasing online. Though if you get the chance to see a bunch in person give them a little spin as well. 

The shafts are all made from West Australian Jarrah which is nice and light without feeling weak. 
While I forgot the wood types of my spindles I investigated online and think I know. 

Small wood: Cherry Wood by the look after checking out the Etsy store

With cotton

Mini wood: East Indian Rosewood or Western Australian Banksia, I can't decide as it doesn't have long grain, but more "speckly" and a dark colour. It also feels slightly softer compared to the Cherry Wood. 

Spinning wise, these are very well balanced with a nice spin time. Everything slots in well and the finish and wood choice make for a beautiful tool. It is very hard not to just buy some more now. The only thing I wish was that when purchased in person they came with some info. I noticed the business card he gave me has a space for info on the back to be filled out so he obviously does such things at least for the online sales. So if I were to buy one in person I would just ask him to fill it out in the future - easy fix. 

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Winter Wool Fest!

As I mentioned in my summary post my credit card got a huge working out at the Sutherlands Winter Wool Fair held by Sutherlands Spinners and Weavers. This group is very close, but does its classes when I am at uni sadly.

As you can see I have already started on one

I went there on a mission. It was 2 days after my birthday and I had missed the Canberra Wool Day. My first stop after saying hello to some friends was straight to Frank Williams Spindle booth. A friend who had gone to Canberra had bought one and I just had to have one after seeing it. I knew I wanted a small one, but was hard put deciding between the small and mini. So I got both! I had a great chat with Frank while I stood there spinning the different spindles (had to have the right spin as well as the looks). I even suggested/asked if he would possibly do distaffs as many of us were looking for some, but were only able to get them from America at a steep price. He seemed quite keen and is going to check things out after Bendigo Wool Show (wish I could go!).

After getting my first buy I decided to do a general look around before purchasing more.

My next purchase was at Virginia Farm Woolworks, they had a lovely set for scar felting with lots of little fun things to add. I also spied one of the Majacraft limited edition coloured bobbins (they are my local Majacraft dealer). While, there were some jokes about it spinning differently they started bringing out these limited edition yearly colours last year. This was right when I started spinning, so I am going to get one for each year of spinning and put the years on them to mark each spinning year. 

Lime bobbin! Scarf is grey and black with mauve

Then I stopped in at Glenora Weaving and Wool and fell for some silk for knitting and also the pin looms I have been seeing such cute designs from. 

Lovely coloured silk! Now for a pattern!

Finally I hit up Feltfine and got some felting supplies with this cool water, wetting bulb thingy.......look like an apple. It sprays water nicely and I have seen it in action before. I also fell in love with another silk colourway and got another skein. 

Water spray thingy!

I picked up two more items from general stands including a lovely merino/silk top that actually matched the tie-dye top I was wearing and a Kumihimo starter pack that has the disk. 

Fun day!

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