Italy

This was probably the most difficult tag of all for me so far. At first all I could think of was olives and wine, and then I remembered - opera!  I LOVE Italian opera. I also love the bold advertisements of tomatoes and other foods that have been reprinted as posters. So, I put on "Nessun Dorma" and set to work.

I wanted to experiment with printing on fabric, so I resized a poster and a playbill from a Donizetti opera (found on Google Images and Pinterest) and printed them on printer fabric in my inkjet printer. I used gel medium to adhere the images to a scrap of cardboard and then varnished them--thought it might resemble a painting. It was quite an uncertain mess from time to time!  I added map strips of Italy, a brass button, and a stamped curtain from Oxford Impressions that I cut out, spritzed with glimmer mist and edged with gold. I made a ruffle of striped ribbon and attached to the bottom. The hanger is repurposed brass ends and a dowel tied with a gold piece of cord. Whew! I was glad to see this one done!