Real People Online: Avital Pinnick (Part 2)

I don't know a lot because not a lot is known! Seriously, it's an under-researched area and I would love to turn my academic training to researching ancient textiles. It's on my "to-do" list.

One of the problems is simply identifying spindle whorls. There are many round stone "thingies" sold on the Web, described as Phoenician spindle whorls, when the truth is that it's very difficult to identify it as such unless it was found among textile tools with fibers or with its wooden shaft intact (very unusual but not impossible). In the Israel Museum, you can see rows of these stone whorls, which the curators have cautiously labeled "spindle whorls/pin heads/ornaments." By "pin head," I'm referring to large straight pins made from wood or metal which were used to fasten clothing (no buttons in those days).

However, I should add that in the Muraba'at excavations, a carved bone whorl was found with a tiny piece of a wooden shaft intact. You can even see the iron hook sticking out. In this case, it was clearly a spindle and probably high-whorl. That is a very important piece of evidence.

Dr. Azriel Gorski presented a paper on the threads used to sew the parchment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, at the annual symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although Azriel is not a spinner, he is a top-notch forensic (optics) scientist on the Israeli police force, and a self-described "dust man."

How has being on the Internet influenced your own fiber work?

I can honestly say that if it weren't for the internet, I probably would have given up fiber activities many years ago. Slowly I've come into contact with other fiber people in Israel (I was asked to give a lecture/demo on bobbin lace for the Israel Craftsmen's Guild on Dec. 31, 1998) but for many years, I couldn't buy materials, I couldn't find books and, more significantly, I had no one to talk to or to encourage me in my "eccentric" hobbies. Until I started putting some of the miniatures on the web site, I didn't even realize that other people would find my work interesting or impressive.

Having access to e-mail allowed me to bounce ideas off other people, arrange barters for materials, tools and books (I once traded

Go To Page: 1 2 3