This self-made artist residency took place in Sundsvall, Sweden in the spring of 2014. I was hosted by my friend Eyja and her husband from the end of April until the end of May. During this time I worked in collaboration with Eyja with the goal of weaving a piece of cloth that would be historically accurate for Viking age Sweden. Upon arrival I worked with Eyja and her husband to finish assembling the warp weighted loom that they had already begun to construct, using trees from their property. For the next month we carried out research on the construction and use of warp weighted looms while proceeding with the hands-on work. By the end of the month we had produced one piece of hand-woven cloth in a tabby weave (just the right size to be used as a shawl) and had set up a second sample warp to weave in 2/2 twill. Prior to weaving we dyed our yarn using a mixture of local and imported natural dye materials.
Greta Pepper 