Key to terms used in physical descriptions
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The project is contained in an orange card envelope/folder. The folder is generally in fairly good condition but shows some signs of wear and tear. It is a bit grubby, and the corners of the flap are very slightly bent. There are faint water stains down the right side and top left, indicating that something has been accidentally spilt on it. Holes have been punched along the top edge of the folder (where the flap folds over), through the two layers of card (back and front). This suggests that it has been held in some kind of ring binder. It looks as if there have been two attempts to punch the holes in the right place. The holes are torn and there are sharp circular indentations in the card, next to one of the holes, indicating where metal rings have snapped shut on the card, catching it within their grip and damaging the surface. There are a few smudges in this area, along the top of the folder, where it has been handled.
Inside the folder there are 7 loose sheets of lined notepaper, containing drawings and writing by the child. All but one of these sheets appear to have been torn (quite roughly) from a school exercise book; one is a sheet of notepaper from an A4 pad. Each sheet contains writing; some also contain small drawings. On most pages only one side is used and drawing and writing are in a medium thickness grey felt tip pen (this can be assumed unless otherwise indicated in the page notes). There are a few small alterations to the writing, in felt tip. The sheets are not numbered.
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The words ‘FILES’ and ‘Private Documents’, and the underlining, are all written in 2 layers of thick black felt tip pen. One layer appears wider than the other, suggesting that a slightly thicker pen has been used for this. The line below the words extends over both the flap and the lower part of the wallet, indicating that it was completed when the wallet was closed, by running the pen over the edge of the card. The top line is very straight, suggesting the use of a ruler, while the lower line is quite uneven.
The other words on the wallet are in biro. The name, top right, is in tiny, black, evenly sized capital letters; this handwriting appears unlike the child’s and suggests that the name may have been written by an adult. The other words, and the lines filling in the space between the bars of the letter ‘F’, are in blue (this is the only letter ‘decorated’ in this way, and it seems a bit incomplete). There is a fine biro mark below the top edge of the wallet, which suggests an accidental slip of the pen.
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Attention has been paid to the structure of the letter ‘B’: two strokes have been used to draw the left side; it looks as if the line was going in the wrong direction, and was then straightened.
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This page is particularly crumpled at parallel points down the right and left side, suggesting the position in which it has been held.
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The corrections in felt tip indicate alteration to the first letter of the word ‘hawk’ (line 5) and the ‘a’ in ‘fascinating’. Compare the careful, quite delicate way in which the claws are drawn, with the more heavily worked line of the head of the bird.
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There are a few brown spots on this page, and some water marks over some of the letters (about half way down the page) which indicate that something has been spilt over it at some stage, after the writing had been completed. The reverse side of the page, when turned upside down, can be seen to contain some work in pencil: a drawing of a log, depicted with a careful, light, backward and forward, zig-zag movement of the pencil, with the word ‘Log’ written next to it, and below that, the words ‘hello’ (crossed out) ‘my names Edwin Dawes Hiy how are ye’, and below this, what appears to be a partly drawn box-like shape, with lines drawn to represent perspective.
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Notice the different kinds of strokes: the wiggly line under the title, and the slightly broken line in the drawing of the eagle, suggesting some care and hesitancy in its construction.
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In some of the lines of writing, the words seem to be darker on the left, suggesting that the strokes became lighter as the child moved his hand across the page.
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This is a sheet of notepaper from an A4 pad, with ready punched holes at the side; it is slightly crumpled, has a small tear at the top, and is creased at the corners. The writing is in orange felt tip. The title has been underlined using a ruler. Notice the alteration to the form of the inital letters (‘T’ and ‘I’) of sentences (lines 6, 9, 11). Notice the biro marks top left; the date and name at the top, and the words ‘Visits’ and ‘We’ appear to have been positioned around them, suggesting that the paper may already have been marked before the child started writing. This page is different from the previous pages in several ways: size of paper, orange felt tip, use of a ruler, and date and child’s name. Together, these features suggest that the page may have been constructed in a different place, at a different time, perhaps with access to different kinds of materials, and that it may have been transported between places, and generally received more handling, resulting in more ‘accidental damage’.
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This is the reverse side of the previous page. Names of birds are underlined using a ruler. Notice the slip of the pen on the third line.