Spinning is both art and science. While the techniques can be learned, it is an artist’s eye that combines color and texture to produce the finished yarn. And that artist’s eye often goes beyond the yarn to the wheel itself. Few spinners have a custom-built, one-of-a-kind crafted wheel, but many personalize their wheels. Sometimes the wheel that emerges is a collaboration between spinner and artist, and at times the spinner performs the transformation.
Some commercially made wheels seem to attract customizers, while others seem rarely to be altered. Hardwoods such as cherry, walnut, and oak are prized for their grain and are seldom touched, but woods such as Baltic birch plywood, as well as PVC, beg for a makeover.
From steampunk to delicate floral displays, spinners embellish and personalize their wheels, burning, painting, and stamping them. This gallery of decorated wheels exhibits a range of wheels, artistic styles, and finishing techniques and is offered both as eye candy and as inspiration for your own personalization project.
Vinny. Photos By Sandra Milone
Vinny
Owner & Artist: Sandra Milone, Texas
Builder: Merlin Tree
Henna artist Sandi fused her favorite subjects of birds and trees with henna to transform a secondhand left-footed single-treadle Merlin Tree RoadBug. She completed the transformation before realizing she’d decorated the wrong side of the wheel (above, right). Noting that the mechanism of the wheel would obstruct the view of her “decoration” when properly assembled, she reversed the wheel and created a variation on the same theme on the opposing side, this time burning as well as painting the wheel.
Vixie. Photos By Caitlin Gussenhoven.
Vixie
Owner: Caitlin Gussenhoven, Kentucky
Artists: Caitlin Gussenhoven & Raeven Alvarez
Builder: Ashford
It was a joint effort when it came to decorating Vixie the Kiwi: Raeven drew the foxes, and Caitlin burned the designs and stained the wheel. A red stain was used to make the foxes stand out against the honey stain.
Öröm. Photos By Joy Currie
Öröm
Owner & Artist: Joy Currie, Michigan
Builder: Kromski
Joy purchased the Minstrel with money inherited from her mother, which her mother had directed go toward purchasing the wheel she’d been dreaming of for several years. “I found a photo of an antique Hungarian wheel as my inspiration for the decoration,” she says. “The name Öröm means ‘joy’ in Hungarian, my cultural heritage from my father’s family.”
Mouse. Photos By Stephanie Land
Mouse
Owner: Stephanie Land, Maryland
Artist: Betty Sperty
Builder: Ashford
When Stephanie’s Traditional wheel arrived after her eBay purchase, it was new in the box, but she soon learned that the original owner had stored it in an attic where it had been nibbled by a mouse. Most of the paperwork had been eaten, and the wood had been gnawed a bit. She decided that “a mouse in sheep’s clothing” had to be the wheel’s mascot.
Bertha. Photos By Christine Hart
Bertha
Owner & Artist: Christine Hart, Devon, England
Builder: Kromski
Christine chose her Fantasia wheel because she liked the double treadle, the contemporary lines, and the flat wheel for painting. She found “an old traditional Cumbrian sheep counting rhyme in one of [her] kids’ books, so decided [she] would find out if there was a similar one” used in the southwest United Kingdom. She penned the words in gold on one side of the wheel and drew little white leaping sheep on the other.
Lucy. Photos By Brandy Lennert
Lucy
Owner & Artist: Brandy Lennert
Builder: Babe’s Fiber Garden
A metalsmith, Brandy loves working with “copper and everyday objects to draw attention to the ordinary or overlooked.” Her love of old metal was inspiration for decorating Lucy. “I added a splash of glitter and color on her drive wheel for a bit of magic,” she says, “and etched her nameplate out of brass as if she were the artifact of a traveler or entertainer from long ago.”
Esmerelda. Photos By Andrea Gunnell
Esmerelda
Owner & Artist: Andrea Gunnell, Alaska
Builder: Merlin Tree
When Andrea was in cosmetology school, she did mehndi henna tattoos for friends. When it came time to personalize her first wheel, she painted it with patterns used for Indian brides. Since the wheel is a HitchHiker, “a portable wheel with a gypsy spirit,” she named her Esmerelda.
Linda's Wheels. Photos By Linda Ward
Linda's Wheels
Owner: Linda Ward, Minnesota
Artist: Connie Nelson
Builder: Rick Reeves and Majacraft
Linda had all three of her wheels decorated with Norwegian rosemaling because she loves the Scandinavian style of painted floral motifs. The rosemaling complements the wood grain, and the artist skillfully varied the designs to fit the differing shapes of the wheels.
This article originally was published int he Winter 2016 issue of Spin Off.