It was a small box with a very cool gift in it. My husband is a mechanical engineer who has a 3-D printer at work. He used it and a copy of Solidworks, to print me three Turkish style spindles. The largest is 1.0 oz and 8" long. The medium spindle is 0.6 oz and 5" long. The tiny Turkish spindle is 0.4 oz and 3" long. He has told me that they are brittle and can break if dropped. If they do break, he says he can just print me a new one or a new part. He can also remove the wholes in the arms to make them heavier. I have not tried them but I trust him that they are balanced well. I think they are all excellent prototypes. I'd like a little more weight on them but I favor a heavier spindle. I'd like the shaft of the tiny one to be longer so I can fit more yarn on it. There is a point were they just get to tiny to use well and I think this might be there. The two larger ones are fantastic and I would not change a thing.
EDIT (12-27-14): I have found out from my clever husband that all of the shafts fit all of the arms; they are completely interchangeable. In addition we are going to add a small indent in the top of the shafts for the thread to hold onto. The surface has texture, so I'm not that worried about slipping threads like I have experienced on highly polished wood surfaces, but we both think I would look nice. The texture also makes me think this would not be a good spindle for silk or similar fibers. We might have trouble getting the arms out after we were done. I will post later of course, once I have had a chance to use them.
I must say, I love my husband because this is an amazing, thoughtful, and wonderful gift.
EDIT (1-28-15): Follow up blog here
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