Crimson Coil

On the Y axisY0 = the night of Episode 1

• E1 0 On screen
• E2 about 60 Running
• E3 55–63 Open
• E4 about 63 Running

Ages at each episode come from the birth year and the episode's place on the axis, and are only as sure as the weaker of the two (their mark says which). Empty decades are drawn short, at the break marks. Crimson Coil on the whole timeline →

What25 lines

• On screenOil on linen; fourteen tubes, one knife, 76 days (the wall label and the credits). {E1 28:00; S44} edit
• On screenJefrie and BloodTailor in the golden ruins of the Storm Bell. {E1 00:35-19:58} edit
• SteelAaron's brief: recreate the old style reference while fixing its mistakes (her tail and weapon, his metal jaw, capes that can't be read). {Aaron E1 brief 2026-10-11} edit
• SteelPut the detail where the eye goes: the faces and the weapons. {Aaron E1 brief 2026-10-11} edit
• Running600 mm wide, 16:9, on a knife-laid ground of lead white and raw umber. {E1 treatment §2.0} edit
• Running18,927 marks in 159 chunks; at full size it reads more like an illustration than an oil. {E1 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE} edit
• On screenPainted on its own clock, DAY 1 to DAY 76 · 10:42, shown as a day stamp beside the window. {E1 19:58} edit
• RunningThe painting clock is the canvas's time, not the night's: 76 days pass in twenty minutes of a dawn broadcast. {WORLD_TIMELINE} edit
• On screenOne wait of 66 days for the crimson to dry, DAY 7 to DAY 73. {E1 16:21-16:55} edit
• On screenThe glazes go on at DAY 75. {E1 25:49} edit
• On screenThe day stamp runs backwards once, DAY 75 back to DAY 73, around 17:40. {E1 ~17:40; QA_REPORT} edit
• On screenUntil 20:00 it is seen only through a 3:2 broadcast window slightly too narrow for it. {E1 00:35-20:00} edit
• On screenHidden in it: the painted-out cabin, lower right in the ruins (The cabin). {E1 11:20} edit
• On screenHidden in it: a halo of window light round a blade that isn't there (the pentimento). {E1 09:37} edit
• On screenSigned twice: a small coil glyph low left in Coil Black, and J-E-F-R-I-E scratched low right. {E1 19:37; 28:10} edit
• On screenJefrie, of the scratched name: "That's mine. I signed it while you were looking at the palette." {E1 28:10; Q-E1-23} edit
• On screenIts last stroke is a catch-light one hair wide in her left eye, laid with nobody holding the brush. {E1 19:57.5} edit
• On screenX-ray: the lead white shows the halo and the cabin. {E1 21:05-21:40} edit
• On screenRaking light: every ridge throws a shadow and the scratched name stands up. {E1 28:07} edit
• On screenSodium light: the capes go grey and the picture still reads. {E1 28:18} edit
• On screenUltraviolet: the last speck reads dark; it went in last. {E1 28:24} edit
• On screenThe gallery number: "Number fourteen. Crimson Coil. Please don't touch." {E1 28:00} edit
• On screenWall label: CRIMSON COIL · oil on linen · fourteen tubes, one knife, 76 days · Lent by the girl in it. {E1 28:00} edit
• On screenIn the gallery Jefrie says "Keep this one." and "...I look like somebody kept me." {E1 28:00-29:05; Q-E1-01} edit
• On screenIts subjects talk, sing, act in a soap and a silent film, and at 29:02 leave the gallery frame empty. {E1 22:35-29:02} edit

On the Y axis5 lines

• On screenY0 Painted on air from 06:00 to 19:58 of the programme; finished at DAY 76 · 10:42 on its own clock. {E1 19:58} edit
• On screenY0 Hung in a gallery as Number fourteen, lent by the girl in it. {E1 28:00} edit
• RunningY0..60 It becomes "an old, well-loved painting from a televised paint-along", with prints and museum-shop postcards. {E2 WORLD_BIBLE §13} edit
• Eggabout Y+60 A framed print hangs under Teo's lamp. {E2 00:20} edit
• Eggabout Y+63 A boy's family has a painting in its hallway he is not allowed to touch. {E4 5:27.92} edit

By episode15 lines

Look2 lines

• On screenHer tail curling through the composition; his blood spiral in two knife turns; two capes as two red shapes; gold ruins with iron cage bars and bells; a window glow. {E1 19:58-20:01} edit
• On screenAs a postcard file it is mostly #7B5031, a warm brown. {E3 3:31-3:43} edit

Ties7 lines

• 
  On screen Its subjects are Jefrie and BloodTailor; its setting the The Storm Bell; its painter the The host. {E1 00:35-19:58} edit
• 
  On screen It hides The cabin. {E1 11:20} edit
• 
  On screen Begun from The old picture as a ruler, then finished without it. {E1 07:01; 09:52} edit
• 
  On screen Its black is Coil Black; its number is Fourteen; its last stroke is the The One-Hair Brush's. {E1 11:31; 19:57.5; 28:00} edit
• 
  Egg The girl with the tail Rosie asked for at nine is its girl (The pizza-box painting). {E1 04:39; E2 14:07.5} edit
• 
  On screen Its print hangs in the The end room, Teo Varga's study. {E2 00:20} edit
• 
  Egg Its palette dresses the The oil queen. {E4 5:27} edit

Must stay true2 lines

• RunningThe composition as painted: her tail from her lower back, one blade with the red eye at its root, his smooth iron over a human grin. {Q-E1-01} edit
• RunningIt lasts, and every later episode meets it second-hand, never as the original. {series gather} edit

Open10 lines

• OpenWhere the original hangs after Y0, and who lends it ("Lent by the girl in it": Jefrie is a painted figure). {E1 28:00} edit
• IdeaIn the boy's family hallway in Episode 4; it came to the family from Teo's study. {series gather} edit
• IdeaIt is Rosie's: the host gave it to the girl it was painted for that night, or her brother bought it; then Episode 4's family is Rosie's kin. {eggs sweep} edit
• OpenWhether the boy's hallway painting is Crimson Coil, and whether it is the original or a print. {E4 5:27.92} edit
• OpenWho M. is in the unsent letter about the postcard. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
• IdeaM. is Moth, the caller. {series gather} edit
• IdeaM. is Maisie, grown up. {series gather} edit
• RunningStale: Episode 3's SUMMARY and WORLD_TIMELINE still hang it in the Museum of Attempts, which Revision 1 cut. {EGG_REGISTRY E3-EGG-30} edit
• IdeaX-ray it again in a later episode and find a second thing under the cabin. {eggs sweep} edit
• IdeaA tactile copy for Mr. Hale is the egg still waiting to be made. {eggs sweep} edit