Bedouin women near Haifa, Palestine, 1927. Maynard Owen Williams

Spinners hold the wool roving in their left hand, and rotate the spindle with their right, rolling it along their thigh in a clockwise direction for Z-spun yarn, or counter- clockwise for S-spun yarn.

The drop spindle (maghzal) used by spinners in the Ramlat al Wahaybah has a shaft made from the dark heart of the salam tree, and a butterfly-shaped whorl (falkah) carved from ghaf or sidr, and incised with geometric patterns. Woollen fibres are held by a metal hook at the top of the spindle. The Bedouin spindle differs from the shepherd spindle, which has the whorl at the bottom and an angled notch at the top in place of a hook.

For Bedouin women who live along the coast or on Masirah Island during the winter months, seashells serve as a handy repository for kohl, made from the soot of burned shark's liver.

A poultice of powdered sandal is applied to the face as a sunscreen, and as an aromatic skin conditioner with exfoliating properties.