I'm Spinning Cotton with a 3D Printed Charkha and Chatting with a Fiber Friend!

This video is all about the charkha spinning wheel! Let's assemble a charkha from 3-d printed parts, learn about the charkha's history, chat with Radhika aka The Spinning Professor, and *attempt* spinning some cotton. I'm new at spinning with a charkha so I'm really glad to show you my thick and lumpy yarn. Hopefully it will inspire you to try spinning cotton as well because it doesn't have to start out perfect!

Let's Get Spinning!

~Equipment and Materials~

~Sources~

🔎 Spinning Wheel in Freedom Struggle by Satish K. Kapoor

🔎 Specification for The National Flag of India

🔎 Information about Gandhi's life

🔎 General information about the Swadeshi Movement

Video Index
0:00 Introduction
1:13 Preparing the Charkha Base
2:41 Assembling the Charkha
5:59 Brief History of the Charkha
7:54 Chatting with The Spinning Professor
16:56 Setting Up the Charkha for Spinning
20:20 Fiber Prep for Charkha Spinning
22:39 Spinning with a Charkha

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~~ Social Media ~~


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[alenacarnes]

You look like a fiber DJ! Lol. Love this video and love low cost fiber tools!!!

[GoodandBasic]

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with the Charkha! I loved the history you shared and the interview with the Spinning Professor. I'm so pleased you're enjoying your wheel!

[jonni]

I really love how the videos are half history lessons and half tutorials it feeds both my needs at once

[sherilynsquibb]

Love how you try every aspect of the fiber journey including different wheels and spindles!

[tracyirwin]

I'm always so impressed with your ability to pick up new skills and that you take the time to learn the history behind your projects. Thanks for sharing your experience with your beautiful new charkha :-)

[bethbutler]

Perfect timing! My husband just got his first 3D printer and he's been asking me for things he can make for me. He's working his way up to more complex makes, so I included a charkha in the list I gave him from Thingiverse. I think he's going to try an Electric Eel Nano bobbin next. Josefin Waltin had a review of a 3D-printed charkha, and she mentioned the drive band slipping issue. Your rubber band idea is genius! I'm definitely going to try that.

[AnimeShinigami]

Thank you for providing me company and mental stimulation. I'm struggling through clearing out my apartment that hasn't properly been cleaned out since COVID started. Every time I try to really buckle down and get some work done my allegies go insane and I've had to work at a pace I can't handle. I need 2 benedryl to sleep at night plus my normal allergy and asthma meds. And this is after my downstairs neighbors set their apartment on fire a little over a week ago. Neither I nor my pets (cat, Bandit and angora bunny, Rukia) were injured, nor were my personal belongings destroyed. But the landlady's contractors have to get into the apartment to check it for smoke damage and clean it out (hopefully a new coat of paint will be a thing that comes with it, maybe even some linoleum tile) and being on the autism spectrum (high functioning) I tend to go at a slower pace. I am binging your content because its too early for loud rowdy rock and roll or nerdcore rap. To add to the stress my mom has to rabbit sit my bunny because her room was where the worst of the smoke was. I don't have the relaxation of plucking my living cloud and spinning it. I've even had nightmares where my bunny got killed because I wasn't there. Even though I trust my mom implicitly and she's just up the street I can visit whenever I want. But it shows just how traumatic the experience was even though nothing was physically damaged and nobody was killed.

I love the briefcase charka. I want something like that. I'm glad you got the professor in to talk about Ghandi's history with the charka spinning wheel. Part of its charm for me is the connection to Ghandi. But I also want one because its portable. I'm an apartment dweller and I live on the third floor. I don't have the space or the muscle for a giant spinning wheel like the one in your livingroom.

One challenge I'd like to issue, can you make a spinning wheel from an old bicycle wheel? There's a lot of pedal powered blueprints out there. But I'm talking about just taking the bike apart and using it to make a spinning wheel, not simply powering a spinning wheel by peddling on the bike.

[autismocharismo]

For cheap wool carders I find that brushes made specifically for dogs or cats with long, wiry hair make great DIY carders on the cheap, some of which have a little button you can push that pushes the fiber/hair off of the wire! Ross sells them for like five dollars each!

[lorimurphy]

this is very cool and yet another extremely interesting history of spinning

[motherroshiya]

Puni!!!! So, I live along a route that the trucks take cotton from the fields to the gin and clumps fall off onto the side of the road, so cotton is my easiest fiber to get ahold of and spin (man did the first forrays into wool freak me out because of how much longer the fibers are!) and so I looked up things and I found the word, I can't remember which youtuber, but then I kept watching videos and no one else was calling it a Puni, they kept saying Rolag and I was getting confused, so the fact that Puni is in your video with the definition and the fact that it is mainly a cotton thing makes me so excited!! I love the word XD

[FreyaWarr]

I’m so happy I came across this video! I’m so fascinated by the history of spinning. It’s a craft that spans the entire world with such beautiful differences. I was just looking for some historical information on spinning in east Asia, Korea specifically, and didn’t have a lot of luck. But it’s nice to see this.

[angiekyle]

Purple and teal were my wedding cake colors.

[esmecat]

ohhh nice to see you colab with G&B. another favorite channel of mine.

[pwhite]

It looks like PLA was used to print your parts. PLA (a type of plastic) can be brittle if stressed too hard. The final upright part that holds the spindle may be too thin to hold properly. It is being deflected while drafting then springs back. Also, PLA will melt if the spindle turns too fast! Use plenty of oil on all moving parts while in use. Wonderful machine. Least number of parts to do the job!

[theothertiffany]

DIY is the name of the game, at least my game right now. I am in the process of attempting to design and create a charkha-style kick spindle because I want to be free to use both hands for drawing the fibers.

[PeaceLoveAndRico]

i finally made a little flyer bobbin assembly from my junk bike charkha, but i think i like spinning charkha cotton more than anything. that's all i want to spin, now. my bambo and silk are sitting in front of me with sad eyes. What a great color for that board!!!

BTW, my ancestors, it has been said, used barrel cactus to card their fiber (not cotton, i think they just separate seed and beat the floof out of it with switches and then rolled into cigars) it's in our blood to use what is in front of us to create... Humans are wild...

[sleepydrJ]

Cool! Thanks for exploring more diverse traditions of spinning!

[EliDeNeige]

I loved to see you spin on the charka. Thanks. Nice videos.

[marymcandrew]

I'm really enjoying your channel! I know nothing about spinning, more of a felter, but I've always been fascinated by weaving and love all things wool. I'm finding it interesting to learn more about the process!

[susaneweinberg]

Wow! Such a nice video. I always want to see how a charka worked.