In 2014, I retired from a career in the museum sector that had begun over four decades earlier. One of my daily concerns during its first half was describing utilitarian objects in varying degrees of detail both for institutional documentation and lengthier publication. A fair amount of effort often went into ferreting out contextual information about an object’s origin and use.
As the technology advanced, I became increasingly involved with computerizing the management of museum information, and my activity ultimately centered on its dissemination via the established digital communication networks. This started in pre-Internet days and had me on the front lines when the museum community began to establish its identity on the new platform.
That was all quite an adventure but I promised myself I’d return to hands-on creative endeavor when my time became fully my own. The choice ultimately fell to needlecraft — a relationship that began in the late 1960s. Nevertheless, the museologist in me proved unwilling to permit my efforts solely to be devoted to honing manual skills.
In consequence, I’ve maintained a parallel interest in investigating the historical details of whatever my current interest might be. That attention centered for quite a while on various techniques based on looping — hence the name of this blog. However, five years after starting it my focus shifted to musical instruments, which was my initial field of academic research. The purpose throughout has been to share information I’ve come across and raise questions that may be worth further investigation.
Nice start!