Key to terms used in physical descriptions
cover | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
The project is contained in a slim, plastic grip binder. The back of the binder, and the spine, are made of opaque red plastic and the front is transparent. Inside the binder there are 12 sheets of plain white A4 notepaper, containing the child’s work. The pages are not protected in any way, but the project appears clean, neat and tidy, indicating that it has been handled very carefully.
Except for the front cover, where pencil and felt tip are used, the writing throughout appears to have been word processed, and printed on a dot matrix printer. Underlining, throughout, is ruled in fine black fibretip pen, or biro. Most pages also contain imported materials: cuttings from magazines, and a single photograph taken by the child. These are stuck firmly to the paper with glue.
On some pages the surfaces of the cuttings are very wrinkled, suggesting generous use of glue and possible difficulty in attaching the pictures to the page. On later pages, the glue has not been spread right to the edges and the surfaces remain smoother, suggesting that the child has worked out a better method, learning from his earlier, less satisfactory experience.
cover page [ next page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (Cover Page)
This is the intial view of the cover page, through the transparent plastic cover of the binder.
page 1 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (title page)
This is the only page containing handwriting, and this is very varied. The title has been written in felt tip; the word ‘BIRDS’ is in very pale pink, hardly visible. Carefully ruled pencil lines are also visible in the words ‘BIRDS’ and ‘PREY’ (the pencil lines look as if they may have been written on top of the felt tip, but is not very clear); in the word ‘BIRDS’ there is a correction to the angle of the line in the letter ‘R’. A very faint pencil draft of the word ‘Prey’ (smaller, block letters, an extremely light stroke) is visible beneath the later version, indicating alteration to the form and size of the letters; this is the only word which appears to have been drafted in this way. The rest of the writing is in fountain/cartridge pen, in a rather ‘shaky’ stroke; the word ‘sparrowhawk’ has been written in minute letters, up the side of the cutting, and the date, in capitals, has been squashed into the bottom right hand corner. The edge of the cutting is straighter at top, bottom and right, suggesting that the child may have been following a ready made frame on these sides. The cutting, and reverse side of the sheet on which it has been mounted, is very creased and wrinkled, indicating generous amount of glue and possible difficulty in attaching the cutting to the page.
page 2 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (Contents page)-
page 3 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 1)
This page contains imported material; a glossy cutting. The cutting, and the reverse side of the paper on which it has been glued, is very creased and wrinkled.
page 4 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 2)
This page contains imported material: matt cuttings. These cuttings are different from the others in this project, in that they are printed on quite good quality paper, with nothing on the reverse side. In the pictures on the left, the child has followed the fine red line of the frame already provided in the imported text, when cutting out the picture. In contrast, notice that he does not appear to have done this in the picture on the right (in which no such frame is visible). In this picture, a small cut in from the right, almost at the very top, forms an extremely thin (fraction of a milimetre), very short (1cm) loose flap of paper and indicates that the child has started to cut, then started again at a slightly higher position. In addition to this, the cut edge rises slightly towards the centre, so as not to cut off the top of the bird’s head. These features indicate that decisions regarding the starting point and direction of the outer edge of the picture were made while in the process of cutting. Notice the careful positioning of the four pictures.
page 5 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 3)
The wider spacing above the penultimate line may be unintentional, suggesting that the child may be in the process of working out how to control the wordprocesser.
page 6 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 4)-
page 7 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 5)
This page contains imported materials; two glossy cuttings. One has been very carefully cut out to follow the shape of the bird. The rectangular cutting is loose at the top left and bottom right corners.
page 8 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 6)
This page contains imported material: a glossy photo. It is loose around the edge.
page 9 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 7)
This page contains imported material: a glossy cutting. It has been mounted on a piece of white paper, which is visible between the cutting and the main working surface. The edge of this paper does not quite follow the edge of the picture; this suggests that the picture was initially cut out and stuck onto the white paper, then cut out again, once it had been mounted. There is a tiny piece of sellotape on the top left hand corner of the cutting, and this can be felt to extend under the surface, suggesting that the picture may have originally been mounted using sellotape. This double-layer cutting was finally stuck down with glue onto the main page. Notice the very careful positioning of the picture (it almost but not quite touches the fullstop in the last sentence).
page 10 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 8)
This page contains imported material: a glossy cutting. This is one of only two pictures which have been cut out following the line of the bird’s body.
page 11 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (child’s page 9)
This page contains imported material: three glossy cuttings. Two of the cuttings have been carefully cut out in an octagonal shape, unlike the other cuttings in the project.
page 12 [ next page ] [ previous page ] [ top ] [ JJ53 index ] (bibliography)-
Some of the words are faint, indicating uneven printing (the printer may need a new ribbon).