threads of time - 2

since the second project meeting (was it only last week) i've focused in a bit and am drawn by some account scrolls with tally sticks - we were shown these when we went down to the archive storage rooms, along with documents from a scrapbook including a grant of land dating back to 1060 - i didn't get a close look at the documents but made a note of what i wanted to investigate more closely and hope to return to the archive soon for a closer inspection

i know that i want to include script or writing in some form on my piece - i know it sounds a bit obvious but record keeping stands out as a common theme, apart from the project being about a collection of documents in an archive there seems to have been a lot of record-keeping being done by family members:

• jacob wittewronge was a notary, a maker and keeper of legal documents
• sir john kept his weather records and wrote a short history of the family for his children
• the scrapbook was a way of recording events in the family's history 

a few months ago i went on a workshop where we were shown a way of using script as a design motif - i have been wanting to use this approach ever since -  in theory i should be able to do this with free-machine-embroidery but i'm not good enough at it yet, so i have been hoping to use my new computerized sewing machine and it's software to digitize some script and stitch it out - early experiments are promising

this is a sample of my own writing, digitized and stitched out - i filled in the outlines with neocolour crayon, it looks even less legible without the colour fill, creating an interesting pattern reminiscent of writing

i intend to try it out on some soluble fabric, aiming for a sort of script-lace ......

meanwhile i have started on a sort of journal/sketchbook for my own record-keeping - i tend not to keep these going but this time i really want to see it through