Product Overview
Celebrating 25+ years! This shuttle was introduced at Convergence in 1996. The concept is mine, but the actual design was refined by Terry Lavallee at Bluster Bay Woodworks who made them for me until 2021. The design is based on a damask shuttle, which is a low profile shuttle; the height is 1"(2.54 cm).
Actually the concept of putting a spindle in a shuttle is not new, but has not been in use industrially for over 50 years; the wooden bobbins you see in antique stores were filled with freshly spun yarn on an industrial spinning mule, then went directly into fly shuttles for weaving. When the weaving industry developed shuttle-less looms, the practice went by the wayside.
Handweaving boat shuttles that hold bobbins today have a rod that is not removable. This shuttle was developed without the rod in order to hold the charkha spindle so you can take your handspun directly to the loom.
Yes! you can weave with singles; khadi in India is made with singles in both warp and weft, and most commercial fabrics are woven with singles in both directions as well.
The shuttle was designed for Indian charkha spindles from 6"(15.24 cm) to 7.5"(19 cm) in length; the aluminum yarn stop on the book charkha spindle is 7/8"(2.3 cm) in diameter. Yarn stops larger than this will rub on the bottom of a closed bottom shuttle, so it is best to order an open bottom shuttle if you have yarn stops an inch or so in diameter.
Shuttles are closed bottom unless listed as open.
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