From 1180 to 2024 – Norwegian Weavers are Still Devoted to the Baldishol Tapestry

A Norwegian weaver, Marie Kvistad Eikum, recently posted to the Billedvev [Norwegian tapestry] Facebook group that she is moving and needed to downsize her extensive collection of tapestry cartoons. In her sets of patterns, the Baldishol Tapestry was listed five times – 100 x 50 cm, 90 x 50 cm, 80 x 50 cm, 45 x 80 cm, and “½ size.” Within days, all of the Baldishol cartoons were claimed. She had five Baldishol cartoons? I wrote to ask whether she had woven all those sizes. She has woven fleire [several!], she replied. She sold a full-sized replica, and the one she kept for herself is 100 x 60 cm, half-size.

Another weaving friend saw my question to Eikum and wrote to say that among weavers in Norway, informally, the Baldishol Tapestry is seen as a svennestykke [examination piece], like the completion of a weaving skills exam, to display your mastery of technique. But recently, she thinks, Frida Hansen’s Melkeveien [Milky Way] has become “the big” Norwegian tapestry to reproduce.

But still, why so many Baldishol replicas? One answer is that the image is charming, stylized, and fun – despite the fact it was woven in the 1100s. Kristen Elisabeth Juvik recently completed a gorgeous full-size replica. She wrote to me, “I think this is the most fun picture I have woven. The motif is so fun to create, and the original tapestry at the National Museum in Oslo is exceptionally good handcraft.

She not only wove it with beautiful technique; she dyed all her own yarn! This description is from her Facebook post (my translation).

The tapestry has been woven in many copies in recent times, due to the its incredible history and uniqueness. This is my copy, which was woven approx. 900 years after the original, and it is the tapestry I have had the greatest pleasure in weaving so far. In addition, I have gained even more admiration for the original tapestry, and how skilled the person who wove it was in weaving technique, as the very expression and distinctiveness of the original tapestry is difficult to copy. I didn’t spin the yarn I used, but like the weaver about 900 years ago, I dyed the yarn with materials from nature.

…Large amounts of yarn were used for the tapestry, so I chose to dye the yarn along the way during the weaving process. The varying dyeing processes meant there are large variations in the colors in the image, as it is difficult to achieve the same colors with different dyeings. The colors are made from material from nature consisting of pine cones, birch leaves, kjuker (?), birchbark, bark from apple trees, madder, and indigo (Japanese polygonum, woad and indigo).

Most of the colors are made by using several of the materials, and I overdyed the yarn in several dye baths to get the right shades. I have great admiration for the knowledge they had in the 12th century about plant dyeing. The colors have an evenness and depth, which I find difficult to reproduce. The colors in the original tapestry are for various reasons, including little light exposure, well preserved.

The size of the weaving is 118 x 230 cm, the same size as the original. I wove it on an upright tapestry loom, with weights. The yarn I used was Hoelfeldt Lund thin kunstvevgarn. The warp in my rug is linen, unlike the original tapestry that had a wool warp.

As an American weaver, I find it interesting that we don’t have the same sort of iconic cultural touchstone tapestries, ones that many weavers feel they should weave just once. I don’t think there are any iconic American tapestries, ones that would be recognized by all tapestry weavers, much less the general populace.

Kristin Elisabeth Juvik’s enthusiasm and her bright Baldishol almost made me want to weave one too. Almost. I’m excited to see her next tapestry. She wrote that she is considering a Frida Hansen design.

Robbie LaFleur

Read more: Randi Lium “Baldisholteppet – A Treasure from the Middle Ages.” Norwegian Textile Letter, February 2019.

It’s not only Norwegian weavers who have felt such an affinity to the Baldishol Tapestry that they want to weave one as well. Baldishol-love extended to the U.S. I recently learned of a Norwegian-American Minnesota weaver who wove two replicas on a loom she bought in Norway in 1927. I’m visiting her granddaughter on Friday. More on that story soon…