The collections.

The collections.

I'm cheating. I've got my friend Sheila to make me two covered coathangers for this project, and it's taking her all week, she is so conscientious, and they are beautiful; they are as important as choosing the right frame for a picture. I've almost finished 'the collections', which means I've been generating Stuff, and now there are two heaps that might add up to enough for the project to go to its next stage. There are things I haven't done that I intended - symbols of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for example; they will get there.

But now I see it all laid out: it's a record of constantly living with a text and sewing what has come to mind. Now I have two heaps of stuff which I call 'collections', one for Sarah, one for Hagar. They look much like the start of a 'collection' in the fashion sense, and that isn't accidental, as the process has been very much like the work I did while doing the design side of my City & Guilds fashion course. Now it's all together, and if there is any sense of direction, coherence, it ought to be showing. Of course, the way it will be all put together is very important, and that is in my head, with various strategies planned which will heighten the symbolism of what is already there. There's a huge risk that the whole thing will just look awful, but I'm hopeful that it will come together coherently, and also with a bit of beauty thrown in. It's exegetical all right, no worry about that.

So I'm in bed very early, as I've been up till 1 am on several occasions lately. I need a good day tomorrow, which will be one of those make or break days...... wish me luck.