Stylus for my mSpinner

As I have posted previously, I have been enamored of spinning cotton and when I saw this video of a stylus with a bobbin attached, I thought it was the bomb - literally.

I could not stop thinking about this stylus and Majacraft wheels in general.  I tried a few times to pick up a Majacraft wheel on destashes on Ravelry, but every sale fell through as I was a day late and a dollar short.


I took this as a sign from the universe that I was not to have one of these wheels and the cool stylus attachment for spinning cotton and other short fibers.


One evening, I was just hanging out and looking at my craft stuff.  I had previously purchased some orifice reducers for my mSpinner but they don't fit with my newly upgraded specialty wood mSpinner.  They have been sitting around in a bag so I figured, maybe I can DIY something similar.


I carried around this orifice reducer for weeks and when I hit the asian markets and even the home improvement stores, I could find nothing to fit the bill.


I just happened to go by a booth at Convergence called Heartway International that calls Hawaii home and most of the goods in the booth were fabrics.  On one of the tables next to the cash register was a jar of chopsticks.  I picked up two at random - a metal set and a wooden set.


When I got home, I tried the wooden set first and the end of the stick was too big to fit in the orifice reducer but the metal set was a perfect fit.  The chopstick is tapered and has small grooves in the tip.  I pushed one inch of the end of the chopstick into the reducer and had 8" of play.


I then dug around my bins for plastic storage bobbins that I got in a destash from a weaver and these were the perfect small size.  I had to wrap the chopstick in some painters tape (green, my favorite color) for the bobbin to stay in place.

Next I had to wrap some tape around the orifice reducer so it would be a snug fit and viola, I have my very own stylus.

I did notch one end of the bobbin so the leader would have a place to rest.  

This took a special dremel tool and black plastic powder went everywhere.

Here is a video demonstrating spinning cotton sliver.  

I took out the bobbin so the woolee winder gear would not move so the brake band is off and the speed is pretty slow.


A good job if I do say so myself.