Bolt of Silk

A Bolt of Silk is a rare crafting material required to craft certain armor types/parts for Elementalist, Mesmer, Ranger, Warrior and Ritualist classes (see Usage, below).

Acquisition
There are Artisans who can craft Bolts of Silk in Factions, Nightfall, and the Eye of the North expansion, but not in Prophecies. See the Artisan list for details.

All Artisans who can craft Bolts of Silk charge:
 * 10 Piles of Glittering Dust
 * 10 Bolts of Cloth
 * 250 Gold

The most effective means of farming Bolts of Silk for Prophecies characters is to spend time hunting for spiders in Pre-Searing Ascalon. Spiders in Pre-Searing (except Moss Spiders) frequently drop Spider Webs, which can be later salvaged into Bolts of Silk with an Expert Salvage Kit. Another way for non-Tyrian characters is killing Stalking Nephila directly outside of Sunspear Great Hall in Plains of Jarin.

This item is commonly dropped by Outcasts in Factions, and can also be salvaged from their armor. Soloing them will generally yield a large quantity. Jade Brotherhood Knights will also occasionally drop Bolts of Silk. Another alternative is to farm The Halcyon Job in Hard Mode, in which Bolts of Silk drop fairly frequently.

Bolts of Silk can also be bought from Rare Material Traders or salvaged with an Expert Salvage Kit from some Salvage Items. Known items are listed at the bottom of this page.

Usage
Bolts of Silk are required to craft certain armor types/parts:
 * Mesmer Asuran armor
 * Mesmer Performer armor
 * Mesmer Elite Elegant armor
 * Mesmer Krytan armor
 * Mesmer Tyrian armor
 * Mesmer Shing Jea armor
 * Mesmer Canthan armor
 * Mesmer Elite Canthan armor
 * Mesmer Kurzick armor
 * Mesmer Elite Kurzick armor
 * Mesmer Luxon armor
 * Mesmer Elite Luxon armor
 * Mesmer Sunspear armor
 * Mesmer Elite Sunspear armor
 * Elementalist Krytan armor
 * Elementalist Shing Jea armor
 * Elementalist Canthan armor
 * Elementalist Elite Canthan armor
 * Elementalist Kurzick armor
 * Elementalist Elite Kurzick armor
 * Elementalist Luxon armor
 * Elementalist Elite Luxon armor
 * Elementalist Istani armor
 * Ritualist Exotic armor
 * Ritualist Elite Exotic armor
 * Hunter's Mask

Common crafting materials

 * Bolt of Cloth
 * Piles of Glittering Dust

What salvages into it
The following Salvage Items may yield Bolts of Silk when you salvage them with an Expert Salvage Kit: {| width="70%"
 * valign="top" |

Salvage Items

 * Grawl Shaman Gear
 * Luxon Garb
 * Torn Robes
 * Margonite Robes
 * Silken Spider Web
 * Tundra Giant's Bracer
 * Spider Web (Tyrian)
 * Spider Web (Elonian)
 * valign="top" |

Collectable Drops

 * None
 * valign="top" |

Weapons

 * Ceremonial Spear
 * }

Special Note
Silk tends to have a comparatively low sale price for a rare crafting material. Since it salvages into Piles of Glittering Dust (or cloth), and dust has a high price as a result of its usage in three different highly desirable consumables (see Piles of Glittering Dust), the best use of silk (obviously dependent on prices) may be to convert it into dust for use in consumables, which can net as much as 3 to 4 times the sale price of the silk when compared to buying dust from traders. Even if the dust is subsequently sold it may net as much as twice the direct sale price of the silk.

One set of results: --- --- --- --- --- Silk sale price: 15 each Dust purchase price: 230/10 Dust sale price: 120/10 Cloth sale price: 30/10

100 silk salvaged into 4xDust 42 times, 3xDust 37 times (275 total Dust), and 21 times into 3 or 4 cloth (75 total Cloth) This required the usage of 4 full basic salvage kits, costing 400 gp.

So silk worth 1500 gp when sold directly was transformed into 275 dust (6325 gp purchase, 3300 gp sale) and 75 cloth (225 sale).

Assuming the Dust didn't need to be purchased for consumables, the net value was 6325+225-400, or 6150 gp, which is a profit of 4650 gp. Even if the dust was simply sold, the net value would be 3125 gp, or 1625 gp more than the silk would render directly.

Clearly, the exact prices of Dust and Silk will vary and effect the results, as will to a much lesser sense, the exact results of the salvaging, but this appears to be a remarkably better use than direct sale if the above price relationships are even remotely true at the time of consideration.