Weave with your handspun singles! With this
shuttle , go directly from the charkha to the loom.
The shuttles hold either the spindle from the charkha or a bobbin
or paper quill on the removable rod that comes with it. These
shuttles are made exclusively for New World Textiles by Bluster
Bay Woodworks. Ask about availability of woods--shown are
Machiche(top) and Walnut (bottom).
The first difference between this special shuttle and an off-the
shelf boat shuttle is the removable rod. While a bobbin can
be placed on the rod, the rod was made removable in order to accommodate
the charkha spindle. A latch holds the spindle (or rod) in place
without restricting its rotation.
The
second difference is in the action: by virtue of the yarn being
on the spindle rather than on a free floating bobbin, the free floating
aspect is removed. This means there is no continued rotation of
the spindle when the shuttle stops. This is an advantage as far
as tension is concerned. Selvages are much better with this shuttle
than with a shuttle holding a free floating bobbin. Tension
does increase with the decreasing diameter of the yarn on the spindle,
but this does not affect the selvages. However, there is a
point at which either the yarn will break or the shuttle will go
off course if you are weaving at high speed. This is the point
at which the spindle is almost empty and should be replaced with
a full one. The use of this shuttle requires careful buildup of
the yarn on the quill in order that it will feed evenly during the
weaving.
Some ballpark estimates: it takes me about 10 minutes to
fill a spindle using about a yard of sliver, and another10 minutes
to weave it off. One spindle full weaves approximately 80
to 100 square inches. Translate this to spinning the weft
and weaving a 10" x 72" scarf in about 3 hours using about 9 yards
(1.5 oz) of sliver.