With all this talk of cage distaffs, I thought I'd offer up my solution
to building a very functional cage distaff. I used Tinker Toys that I
raided from my nephew's long outgrown toy box. I used the classic round
Tinker Toy as the bottom hub. That is the one with the hole in the
center and the 8 holes around around the circumference. I used a 1/4"
dowel through the center hole of this Tinker Toy, which just fit
snuggle. The top hub is what I guess is a Tinker Toy wheel. It is larger
than the bottom hub, has a hole in the center, and I don't remember if
it already had 8 holes around the center hole or if I drilled them, but
they are on the flat side of the "wheel". The cage is made from large
basket reeds cut to size and inserted into the holes in the Tinker Toys.
All of this was glued together and I topped it off with a large round
bead that I tie the ribbon to. By wetting the basket reeds I was able to
form them into the classic lattern shape. This distaff functions quite
well and has an interesting look and my only outlay of money was for the
dowel and the large wooden bead from the craft store, may be $1.50 at
the most. (the basket reeds were lurking in my basement) And, every time
I use it I think of the fun my nephew and I had playing with his Tinker
Toys 25 years ago.
Teresa
in Michigan
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