Saturday 12 January 2013

The letter A



Happy New Year to all you taggers, and welcome to any new faces on the Tag Team

I am looking forward to the alphabet theme and the challenge it brings.  I love calligraphy and use writing in my work wherever possible.  My first idea was to make a sampler of calligraphy styles over the 26 weeks, and my fist tag is a capital A written with gold ink on black.  I painted leaf punches in autumnal colours and made a border with them.  I was surprised how the tag shouts ‘Autumn’ without actually writing the word.




What to do with my tags and how to store them was an on-going dilemma last year.  Many of my tags were double-sided or 3D and not really suitable to be kept in a book.  My Autumn tags ended up in a box, and  this Tag would make the perfect label for it.
 










Here it is on the shelf:


It took a while to decide which way to go for the presentation of my Alphabet Tags, but after a flash of inspiration in the middle of the night, I finally decided to combine Tag Tuesday with my other obsession of Family History and create a real Family Tree comprised of tags with family names for each letter of the alphabet, although I’ll need to be creative when it comes to XY and Z!   
One of my favourite ancestral names on my mother’s side is ANGEL.  My 6x Great Grandparents were James ANGEL and Susanna EMMET who were married on 27 August 1781 in Melksham, Wiltshire, England.
On one side of the tag I overlaid 2 leaf shapes so they look a bit like wings. These are painted an ethereal shade of bluey-pink although it doesn't show in the photo! A large letter 'a' is written in silver ink and the other letters for Angel fade into the background.  It is photographed against a copy of the Parish Records I used in my research.



The two smaller leaves are attached to a larger one to which I have stuck a vintage style image of Angels, together with a snippet of antique lace.




I’d better go and look at your A Tags before I decide on a name beginning with B for next week’s tag.

Bye for now

Jane xx

12 comments:

  1. Lovely tag and you have a great concept for your tags! Hugs, Valerie

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  2. Great ideas! Nice job!

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  3. This is different! Great idea. X

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  4. Wonderful idea to make a family tree, your tags are lovely. I wish I could get into calligraphy, your letters are perfect. I have loads of books just not enough time

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  5. I really love your tag - all your work is always beautiful!

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  6. That's an excellent idea for an alphabet tag series, Jane, and its so well executed. Blessings!

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  7. This is beautiful indeed Jane. Lovely A tag, Angels and all. You're so creative - your moniker is perfect :0)

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  8. What a brilliant idea - and beautiful result too :o)

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  9. I am really taken with your idea for this theme - with a husband who is obsessed with tracing family history, I think this is a really fantastic and artistic way of sharing family information. Beautiful!

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  10. What a wonderful and innovative idea for your tags Jane. I love your A tag with the Autumn feel to it - my favourite colours, and they really zing on the black background.

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  11. Lovely tag Jane I like the contrast of the dark background and nice idea for using it :)

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  12. Those angels have such sweet faces!

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