QEST - Catriona's Apprentice Journey
Introducing Catriona Archibald
I am proud, honoured and excited to work with QEST (the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) in offering an Apprenticeship for Catriona. Jaine Mahon
QEST provides invaluable support and funding enabling apprentices to learn from Master Craftsmen in traditional crafts.
Find out more about QEST here
Starting in January 2025, this apprenticeship will run for three years allowing time for Catriona to learn and practice all aspects of handweaving and dyeing silk.
Follow her learning journey below and also on Instagram
January and February 2025
It's been a busy time in the studio, despite it being in a quiet time on the island, January and February is the time for jobs, bitty jobs, disruptive ones. It's so lovely to be able to leave all the equipment out and get stuck into some messier things. The studio has been full of yarn for dyeing as well as our looms, the cone winder and a couple of heaters.
This has given us a chance to get used to working together more, it’s a big leap going from one day a week to three and Jaine has to put up with A LOT of questions!
Alongside all of the above, there’s been winding of wefts, a near constant job, striking a balance between staying ahead of the weaving and not getting a repetitive strain injury. There has been work on what I like to call “Weaving Maths”, practice converting yarn counts, working out warp threads per inch and how to achieve the desired “sett” for a woven product and the warp length and width. If you had told me last year that there was an equation to work out the fuzziness factor of yarn, I’m not sure I would have believed you! However, it felt good to be putting it all into practice and getting my first warps made. Of course there has been weaving, but starting slow and getting used to spending hours at the loom has been key. Jaine’s been keeping an eye on my posture so I can build up from a half day on the bench to a full day without aching the next!
Another big task we have been working on is a “Dye Book”, a collection of controlled dye samples which will not only familiarise me with how the colours looks, but allows me to understand how they can be used and see the physical colours side by side. A whopping 190 samples later, I have produced a book that will be useful for many years to come and will be an invaluable resource once I start dyeing my own warps. Extra dye practice has taken place with the mammoth task of dyeing yarn for the studio to sell during the season, making sure we have a selection of colours and weights means there's been plenty to do. And I have been dyeing my own wefts for the scarves on my loom. A simpler process than the complex painted warps Jaine produces as we cross with a solid colour to allow the background colours to show.
After the excitement of being awarded QEST funding to support my Apprenticeship had begun to die down. I started to wonder, how on earth I was going to learn everything I need to know in such a short amount of time. But with endless patience, constant repeating of information and so much guidance from Jaine, I can't tell you how the relief when the first bit of information finally felt like it had locked into place. A simple hemstitch, the way we start and finish each scarf in the Skye Silks Studio. On the day that I remembered how to start the stitch correctly without checking the reference book, it felt like a big deal, proof that repetition and steady learning is key to improving and securing information into my mind. On the last day of February, I cut off my second set of three scarves off the loom and was delighted to see progress. It seems that slowly but surely, things are sinking in!
A note from Jaine:
Where to start? At the beginning of course! Such a lot to learn (and for me to teach). It’s mentally tiring for Catriona to learn so much new information and skills, physically tiring to weave for hours on Winnie (the Schacht Baby Wolf floor loom) and concentration needed too. It’s great to see Catriona’s enthusiasm, her thirst for knowledge and to have her company in the studio. She is keeping me on my toes asking questions and we have a laugh whilst keeping busy. A great start to the year and her apprenticeship.
