Scary Sunday - the first Tiffany-inspired decorated spinning wheel

It's quite a step from decorating drop spindles to taking a new Ashford Traditional wheel out of its box and making permanent marks on it. I've had this idea in my head for a while, and have put the big moment off long enough. Yesterday I had some time and found the courage to begin.



Of the three Tiffany designs I have put onto drop spindles, my favourite is the clematis (although it's not the one I've sold the most of). An important lesson I've learned over the last year is to have confidence in your own convictions - so clematis it is. In case you didn't read my previous posts, Tiffany and stained glass is another love of mine.

It's a bit like tattooing someone. Every mark is there to stay. Once I'd made all of the outlines I was very happy with the way it was looking.

Half way through the colouring-in, I got that doubtful, stomach-turning "OMG have I done the right thing" feeling.


With the decoration finally finished, I'm chuffed to bits and have to keep going back into the room to look at it. I love the way that the grain of the wood interacts with the lines and the shading of the flowers.

I've really got the hang of how to get a really good wax shine on Ashford's New Zealand silver beech. It's taking much longer to wax all of the parts of the wheel, but I want this one to really look pukka, so I'm taking my time over it.

This is the wheel itself, decorated and shinyfied. This one is taken with flash, so the photo quality isn't as good as the pics above, but once I've put the wheel together I'll take some good daylight shots of the finished thing.