A woman in Bondakile spins cotton thread from raw fiber held in her left hand. She holds the raw cotton between her thumb and index finger, using her middle finger to provide tension as she stretches and thins the fibers using her right hand. The thread is wound thickly toward the base of the spindle (gԑndԑ in Nafaanra) above the spindle whorl (gԑndԑ kan in Nafaanra) which is barely visible at the base of the spindle. The woman uses (what appears to be) a turtle shell (carapace) as a surface on which to spin. She has stabilized the shell with a piece of folded cloth which sits on top of an enamel ware plate. A calabash and a plastic bucket site nearby. Spinning was a routine household activity done by women until commercially manufactured cloth became commonplace (second half of the 20th century). Two photos. Bondakile, 1994.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Bondakile
Subjects:
Plastic containers; Women' s work; Cotton thread; Techniques