Signed, Sealed, Delivered
After many months of planning and making my piece is finished at last for the exhibition The Threads of Time 2. This exhibition has asked over 50 textile artist to respond to the Delme Radcliffe Family documents held at Hertfordshire Archives.
The Ship’s Articles of the Officers and Crew of the Delawar (1746) was my inspiration. I was intrigued by the visual impact of the regimented text and red wax seals. A chain was created with fabric, paper and sausage skins…yes sausage skins which were once used to repair and conserve the documents. Each chain was stitched with a designated name from the crew list and their job title and joined with a red wax seal. A stowaway sneaked into the chain….a little known artist by the name of Sian Fenwick!
The chain is draped over an anchor and the sari silks suggest seaweed but references the exotic Delawar cargoes of that time. The chain suggests fragility yet strength in numbers
Here is my finished work on display
We were encouraged to keep a sketch book to display, mine took the form of a ships journal
MDF, craft pelmet, felt, 3D paint, double sided tape, staple gun, heat gun, sealer, sausage casings, wadding, fabric printed with old documents, yoyos, was seals, and sari silks