> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Birgitta Nordstrom > Reference:: Nordström, B. and Groth, C. (2022) ‘The role of the weaver in the encounter with life and death’, in T. et al Westerlund (ed.) _Craft Sciences_. Sweden: Kriterium. > Date:: 2022 > Tags:: #warp #Sweden > WeftLinks:: [[Psychological value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - Objects made by hand have great meaning and value]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > Birgitta Nordstrom weaves ritual textiles for funeral palls and infant wrapping cloths. She argues that material process of weaving the cloths can assist with the process of grieving. ### Highlights >It’s about the activation that weaving or any crafting allows while reflecting, while being occupied with something meaningful. Having something at hand and “doing” something can be a solution to helplessness, and a way to reach out to others >Sometimes a sentence can fill your consciousness, serving as a recurring reminder or encouragement. Throughout the long process of weaving funeral palls for Södersjukhuset hospital, one thought kept repeating itself in my mind like a mantra: 2248 threads and someone is going to die. >The draping of a coffin with a funeral pall by a loved one is symbolically similar to making up a bed—an ordinary everyday gesture we are all familiar with. While there is nothing ordinary about a funeral, the act of draping the pall and symbolically preparing a bed for the departed can help us to come close to and to be present in the situation. It gives us something to act on in a helpless situation >The great challenge in terms of craftsmanship in the work was how I would be able to weave the palls with the texture and lightness of a soft blanket that follows the contours of the body and yet that can tolerate a lot of handling and hot laundering at sixty degrees. >Craft, through its time-consuming and physical practice, makes time visible in this space.