Eddie Sulca


eddiesulca
Eddie Sulca is a master weaver born and raised in the remote Andean city of Ayacucho, center of the ancient Wari Empire. By age 11 Eddie knew he wanted to be a weaver and began spending long hours at a loom. Ambrosio Sulca, Eddie's grandfather had come across the last of the old Wari weavers in 1923. Ambrosio learned the techniques from the old weaver and has handed them down to his sons and grandson Eddie. Today Eddie is Peru's preeminent weaver in this ancient art form.

Eddie's vision, skill and genius combine to produce stunning tapestries that appear so three-dimensional they seem to stand away from the wall. Other weavings appear to have shadows cast across the surface from some outside source. Eddie Sulca is the sole originator of these unusual effects and while many try to duplicate his work, none succeed.

Every year during the rainy season Eddie and his wife walk for miles in the rugged Andes Mountains, surrounding Ayacucho, to gather leaves, berries, branches, roots and insects. These natural ingredients are used to create secret formulas that produce the beautiful natural colors used in Eddie's tapestries. Only Eddie and his wife know most of these color formulas. These natural dyes create subtle color effects unobtainable with synthetic chemical dyes. Eddies wife cleans, cards and spins the Peruvian sheep's wool and assists in the dyeing process. Upon request Eddie uses alpaca or vicuna wool, however the fineness of sheep's wool produces a much closer weave.