Month: March 2023

JST’s UNIQUE HAND DYED SILKS

Have I told you how much I love weaving with silk? So much so that a number of years ago I partnered with a Salt Spring dyer to create my own line of silk. We had a lot of fun choosing the colours and the names for each silk, giving them a uniquely JST and Salt Spring Island look. For instance – Old Man’s Beard isn’t named after a person I know 😉 but the wonderful lichen that drapes off the trees in the rainforests of our island. Peachy Keen reminds me of the peaches we grow in the summer and Salt Spring Sky is reminiscent of our often grey sky that helps our forest and peaches to grow. Each silk skein holds a memory.

JST’s Hand Dyed Silks

There is a lot to choose from in our JST silks – we dye our colour range over two different types of silk. Bombyx is pure white and gives a clear bright colour when it’s dyed. We also dye on Tussah which is naturally a soft beige (Tussah is produced by tussah silkworms that feed on oak leaves and other leaves that are rich in tannin and create that beautiful soft colour). Using these base yarns gives us two different colour ranges in our silk – the bright dyed on Bombyx and the more muted using Tussah as a base. We dye both lines in 20/2 weight silk – but … if you are looking for something finer – we also have the full range of colours dyed on a 30/2 Bombyx base.

The fun begins when you start mixing these fabulous silks with linen, cotton, or Zephyr as the warp or weft of your next project. The results are wonderful. This week we are featuring some of our kits and giving our silk a chance to shine! Scroll down to check them out …..

Some of our favourite silks kits!

Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kit

On the west coast of BC, we rarely have snow into March but this year we were “gifted” with it 😉 And, we are certainly dreaming about Spring – are you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to weave a scarf with the colours of spring and summer right now?

It’s a perfect time to weave our Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kits which would be a real treat to warp and weave while we wait for spring to appear. There are 2 versions of this kit – one with 40/2 linen as the warp and 2 30/2 Bombyx silk as the weft and one with an extra 2 skeins of silk for the weft. When Jane was designing and weaving this scarf she wanted to weave more colour into the warp and created the Ganges Sunrise kit that includes 2 more skeins of Bombyx, so your kit would come with more colours to play with as your weft. So – if the idea of weaving for spring appeals to you – you can choose between Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kit (which comes with 2 skeins of 30/2 silk and 2 cones of 40/2 linen for the warp) or Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kit with Additional Silks (which comes with 4 skeins of 30/2 silk and 2 cones of 40/2 linen for the warp). Choose between the two kits from the dropdown option when you order. Just to see how fabulous this scarf can be – scroll down to read From our Inbox below and learn Joan Goddard’s story of the weaving she did for her daughter’s wedding day.

Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kit

Ganges Sunrise Scarf Kit with Additional Silks

Fulford Mist Linen & Silk Scarves

Do you want to weave something with silk but representative of the mists that sometimes cover Salt Spring Island? This beautiful and elegant scarf is woven with linen and silk and is a joy to weave and wear …..

Merino & Silk Scarves – Melting Ice

From our Inbox

Joan Goddard of Boulder, Colorado shares the story of the shawls she wove for her daughter on her wedding day last August. She also wove a shawl that she wove for herself as the Mother of the Bride. Joan designed the bride’s shawl using snowflake twill while her scarf is our Ganges Sunrise Scarf kit. It feels wonderful to know that – in a small way – I was able to add something to that special day in both their lives and the memories wrapped up in both the shawls.

We saved the photo and story so we could share it with you in a “silk” newsletter – and Joan has made our JST silk sparkle!

Jane

Hi Jane and co.,

Here is a photo that was taken of my daughter and me wearing the shawls that I wove for her wedding in Vermont.

Her shawl is a snowflake twill that combines 20/2 bleached tussah silk in the warp and 20/2 “rainy day” bombyx silk in the weft. Elizabeth was very helpful when we were putting together the colors/textures for this shawl.

My shawl was made from the Ganges Sunrise Scarf kit, but I expanded it to 8 shafts, rearranged the warp to put some blue stripes in the green, and designed/wove it in turned twill a la Season 5 Episode 1. I used the original 3 inch stripes in the center of the shawl and thinner stripes at each end.

To see more photos of the bride’s shawl:
https://joanweaving.wordpress.com/2022/05/12/wedding-shawl-for-l/

And to see more photos of my shawl:
https://joanweaving.wordpress.com/2022/01/28/ganges-sunrise-shawl/

I do have to confess that it was so warm that evening that we didn’t really need the shawls, but we put them on for the photo!

Joan Goddard
Boulder CO

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