Helena Hernmarck showing us a piece she is working on ... gorgeous! I wish I could explain to you how complex the work is that goes into each of her tapestries. For one thing, it's not just a woven picture: there are layers of weaving, one on top of the other, with some weaving done from the front and some from the other side ... upside down and backward. Everything is mapped out in detail, on paper, before any loom work begins. These preliminary, full-size renderings, called cartoons, look very complicated to me. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in math class because this form of art requires far more than mere inspiration to create a finished piece of work.
And most of Hernmark's pieces are enormous, which necessitates a clever way to view them properly while working on them at such close quarters. A small, hand-sized telescope of sorts is used ... but she looks through the "wrong" end and is thus able, at close quarters, to assess progress on a piece, as it will look when properly viewed from a distance.