Cipher

The Craft

The Cipher is the most demanding piece in the collection to execute. A continuous line drawing of this density figures overlapping, forms shared, registers stacked requires the tufter to hold the entire composition in mind at every point, understanding which line belongs to which form and where each thread of the narrative leads. The silver grey line must remain even in weight across the full surface, neither thickening in the dense central passages nor thinning at the edges. It is work that sits at the boundary between craft and draughtsmanship, the tufting gun becoming, for the duration, a drawing instrument.