OK, I might’ve cheated a little with this one! Because Model 7 isn’t one spindle, it’s two – a holly and ebony Russian lace spindle “set”.

Mind you, they weren’t meant as a set. You can tell by the shape of the spinning tips. A Spanish Peacock matched set of spindles (Russian or otherwise) would have identical shapes. Even if they were two different sizes, the same curves would be reflected in both spindles.

Both spindles are also “seconds” – those poor spindles who aren’t of sufficient quality for a customer. The ebony one has a wormhole that bores completely through the shaft, and the holly is cracked near the spinning tip. You can just see both flaws in the photo above.

Even though I have to be extra careful with them, I love these two spindles as a set because they look good with literally any fiber I care to spin with them. They love the screen too! Observant readers might have noticed they were the spindles Mike worked on during the Fixing Spindle Tips video.

Unfortunately I had to break up the pair for Tour de Fleece this year. I may have gone overboard (just slightly) matching my spindles to my fiber, and the holly, well, it just didn’t match. At all. You’ll see what I mean when I post about Tour de Fleece (assuming you haven’t been following along on Instagram, of course).

If you watched the Supported Spindle Fashion Show live feed, or read any of the previous posts, you might have noticed these are the first (and only) Russian lace spindles in my top ten. I will be completely honest: when I spin supported, I prefer a spindle with a whorl because my particular technique uses the spindle’s momentum, rather than just the constant flicking of my hand. This is the exact opposite of traditional Orenburg lace spinning, which requires that spindles be super lightweight because the hand almost never stops flicking the spindle. “Russian” (or rather, “Russian-style”) spindles made in America tend to be heavier than their predecessors, so they do have more momentum. But not as much as a spindle with a whorl, like a Tibetan, bead, or ninja.

Three more “models” after this one! Stay tuned to see the next supported spindle in my top ten favorites!