View the highlights & photographs from our current issue.

Current Issue: #47 - January 2005

As we begin our twelfth year, we focus on contemporary spinning-wheel makers. We have reports on two wheel makers from the western states. Then two wheel makers from the East describe the special wheel designs that they have studied and now re-create. Finally an update on a very elusive patent holder.

A Special Reeves Spinning Wheel
by Linda Noble

Linda Noble of Tweed, ON, Canada, researched her own Reeves spinning wheel as part of the requirements for the Ontario Handspinner Certificate. She discovered that her wheel was very special in several ways. With help from Rick and Marge Reeves, now of Park View, IA, she tells the history of their spinning-wheel company.

Reeves spinning wheel #5976 - "Janet
Photo by Linda Noble

Close-up of wild rose carving

Marge and Rick Reeves, June 2004. Photo by Kaye Collins.

Herb Myers: A Western U.S. Spinning-Wheel Maker
by Willard C. Taylor

Willard Taylor of Martinez, CA, writes about his friend, Herb Myers, of San Jose, CA, and the unique spinning wheel that Herb designed. Compact and lightweight, the "Lišl Herbie" wheel has an interesting accelerating-wheel configuration.

Herb Myers, 2004. Photo by Willard C. Taylor.

"Lišl Herbie" spinning wheel - front view

"Lišl Herbie" spinning wheel - side view

A History of the Attaché-Sized Charkha
by Jonathan Bosworth

Jonathan Bosworth of Acton, MA, has been fascinated with charkha spinning wheels for more than 40 years. He recounts the story of the Yerawada-style attaché-sized charkha and its place in the history of 20th-century India.

Yerawada-style charkha with two compartments

Yerawada-style charkha with two compartments

Re-creating the Canadian Production Wheel
by David Paul

While restoring a series of Canadian production wheels, David Paul of West Glover, VT, found himself studying the characteristics that make these wheels so popular. Seeing the need to replicate some parts, he went ahead and re-created his own version of these wheels.

David Paulšs Canadian Production Wheel

In Memoriam: Dorothy Burnham
November 6, 1911 - October 24, 2004

A brief profile is presented of Dorothy Burnham, the well-known textile archivist and curator, who dedicated her life to the study of handwoven Canadian textiles.

Update on Patent Holder Timothy Dewey Brown
by Florence Feldman-Wood

While in California in March 2004, I did some research on patent holder Timothy Dewey Brown in the Oakland and San Francisco Public Libraries. I had some success, but it led to other questions to which I couldnšt find the answers. So the quest goes on.

Index to Issues #1­46 - Now Available

Pat and Dave Bownas of Poughkeepsie, NY, have again done the annual update of our Index. It is available as a printed copy or you can view a PDF file on the Back Issues Page.