The Importance of Documentation
color combination notes and rough sketch with finished piece
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time the past two weeks playing ‘catch up’ in my weaving journal. I’m about to start a new one and have been hugely remiss in keeping this last one up to date with images.
There are many ways to document your projects and process. Some people put actual samples in their notebooks. Others keep digital files. Whatever works for you. My method has been to keep a chronological record of my work, inspiration, sketches, and often research notes all in one place.
inspiration and sampling photos, along with yarn clippings and notes
In terms of the tapestries, I’m (usually) careful to record whatever seems relevant. Notes on what yarns to use, sampling before getting started, design choices along the way- that sort of thing. And when I’m done with a project I go back and print out small images to glue in beside the notes of the finished piece along with start and end date.
pile of photos to add to journal
Sometimes I slip up. If I’m involved in multiple projects or working on classes in between a tapestry I will often draw a rectangle or square on the page to come back to and add the image later. That’s what happened to this journal. It runs from September last year to now and there are very few images and a whole lot of blank boxes.
example of boxes drawn and a few notes taken
As a result, I’ve spent quite a bit of time going through my iPhone images looking for those to include. Right now, I’m looking at 35 recovered photos that should have been included in this journal. Yikes!
Small images randomly inserted into a file to print, cut, and glue into journal
Next step is to copy them to a file and resize to fit the boxes I drew. Then print, trim, and glue into place. I don’t always get the images the same size as the boxes and sometimes it’s not a very pretty page, but at this point I don’t really care.
a not so pretty page in my journal…
Not a quick progress and not one I’d recommend you follow. So much simpler to keep it updated in real time!
Do you have a routine for keeping track or your projects?
Care to share?