Artistic traditions of the Sami people are manifested in the decoration of practically all kinds of products: traditional costume (headdresses, shoulder clothes, belts, sashes, gloves, mittens, gaiters, and shoes), household products (dishes, tablecloths, interior items, cradles, fur and leather saddle bags, cases, needle cases, and blankets) and tools (knives, spinning wheels, spindle whorls, spindles and others).

For spinning, Sami people use spinning wheels, but they are also good at making yarns without these tools — with the help of a spindle and a spindle whorl. To make tow, they comb wool on rectangular brushes with metal teeth and put it next to them. The yarn from the tow is spun with the left hand, while the right hand rotates the spindle with a massive spindle whorl.

The ethnographer Anna Pavlovna Kosmenko wrote,

The spindle (noalte) was carved round from birch, thickened in the middle and narrowed towards the top. On the lower part of the spindle a rounded spindle whorl (noallte vyjem) made of birch root or reindeer horn was placed. The size of the spindle whorl was quite large: diameter — 4–6 cm, width in the center — about 2 cm. The spindle whorl is spheroidal, convex in the center and tapering to the edges. In the center of the product a conical hole was made for putting it on the lower part of the spindle.