“Absolutely love these video’s! Now I have Jane in my studio anytime I want! I think this was a fabulous idea to create this online Guild, so many helpful tips and learning moments! And as usual, I had big smiles and chuckles as I watched Jane in her unique teaching style!” – Mary, Seattle, WA, USA
Why the Online Guild?
Guilds in North America have been the keepers of knowledge. They are the places where you find those out-of-print books that hold such a wealth of information. The old books hold the knowledge, the history and the passion of weavers who have gone before us. It is the idea of a library that inspires me most.
The Online Guild is our library; instead of books we have videos.
When you join the Online Guild your yearly dues help pay for the production of the videos. No matter when you join you will have full access to everything that has been published to date and you membership lasts for a full year. Whenever you join you get access to everything in the library that has ever been created. I plan on creating content for many years and it could take me 40 years to get it all onto the shelves 🙂
Let’s share the journey together. Become part of the JST Online Guild family.
The unstoppable Jan Korteweg
Last week I had a surprise visit from my very first weaving teacher. You can blame everything on her. Ha ha. When I was 21 and the idea of being able to create my own cloth to make my own clothes was just taking root it was Jan Korteweg who showed the way for me. Some 39 years later she is still a strong thread in my life and when she popped in to get more yarn I was thrilled. Not only did we have a great visit, she brought along a study she had just completed on stripes. Jan is now in her eighties and is using up her stash of yarns. She works from a source of inspiration as do I. Hers was the painting by Canadian icon Emily Carr, Blue Sky. Jan went through her stash of colours from the photo: cottons, linens, those great yarns used for making towels and a billion other textiles. She pulled her palette together with the aim of using up all her stash of those colours. The result was five warps all exploring stripes. She wove them at 20 epi and approx, 16 ppi, so they are warp-predominant letting the colours warp shine through.
The brilliance of Sherella Conley
I first met Sherella Conley in 2009 when she wanted to purchase a new multi-shaft loom. She choose a David 90 from a special edition that Louet had produced in oak. Then she started attending workshops and her brilliance became apparent. Sherella turned 90 last year and her ability to turn out stunning traditional textiles is very apparent in the runners she is weaving for her daughters. Like Jan Korteweg, Sherella is intent on reducing her stash of yarns too. She combined all her yarns that were alike, and that had similar shrinkage rates, and used them for weft on a linen warp. Her pattern is from Marguerite Porter Davidson’s eternal source of inspiration A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.
Sherella used 2/12 Natural Linen sett at 18 epi and her threading was the traditional Rose and Star overshot pattern.
High Five Charlotte!
Charlotte came to work in the studio five years ago as my office manager with no intent to become a weaver but, as you know, weaving is contagious. She is now creating her own stunning textiles and selling them on Salt Spring Island.
Charlotte was commissioned to weave a stole as a special gift and she choose her favourite yarn, silk. This piece is a testament to beauty of plain weave. A 2/30 silk in two colours sett at 24 epi and woven at 24 ppi. She designed a beautiful graphic and played with her weft colours. When she was finished the piece she had enough of her warp left over to create a gift bag. The long fringes on one end were the loom loss going through her heddles to the back apron rod. She has hand sewn the leftover fabric into a bag with long fringes on one end. The person receiving this gift is very lucky indeed. High Five Charlotte, I am so grateful you walked into the studio five years ago and became part of our family.
