Spindle

Collected by Mavis Balshaw while living near Paracas, Peru, c. 1968.

textile production

Small spindle and whorl. The long, thin wooden shaft is pointed at both ends, thicker at centre, where it pierces a clay bead. Small sections of black paint, very worn, decorate the shaft on both sides of the bead. The bead is wide and bulbous pointed at midpoint, with a line of dripping black paint above the midpoint, and a single encircling line of red brown below.