Saturday 11 May 2013

R is for Rotunda + Roman and L is for Fifty!


Hello everybody, hope you have all had a good week.  My first R this week  is for Rotunda.  Rotunda is the name given to the Gothic script of Sothern Europe, particularly of Italy and Spain, in which the letters have a rounded, spacious quality, unlike the compressed pointed styles prevalent in Northern European calligraphy of the same period.
I have written in the Rotunda style on a copy of an old map of the Mediterranean.

My second R is for the Roman alphabet.  The Romans produced the most beautifully proportioned alphabet ever created and spent many years perfecting the letterforms.  They considered lettering one of their major arts.
I cannot take any credit for this beautiful writing; it is actually someone’s examination piece that was Rescued from a skip a few years ago!





The Roman alphabet leads me onto Roman numerals and finally my late L tag because 'L' is the Roman numeral for fifty!




Here are the other Roman Numerals we use:
I =1
V =5
X =10
L =50
C =100
D =500
M =1,000











 The reason I missed a few weeks in March was that I was organising a family party over Easter to share my family history research and to celebrate my 50th birthday.    
To keep the children busy, part of their Easter Egg Challenge was to draw a picture of themselves on a leaf tag to hang on the family tree.

For my L tag, I made my own leaf tag for the family tree with some little leaves that say something about me . . . . first there is a leaf with lavender flowers, my favourite colour as well as a favourite of the bees, also a calligraphy leaf with a tiny quill pin. The third leaf has the number 50 on it.  In the middle of the tag is a large Roman ‘L’ and a printed tree.  I finished the tag with some Lace, with a pin and scissors charm to show my Love of textiles.
It’s Lovely to be up to date at last!
I’ve had problems with my laptop this week and not been able to see all your tags, hopefully sorted now,  so will be round later to see what you have all been doing.  Thank you for all your comments, they make me smile!
Bye for now, Jane xx

8 comments:

  1. Lovely work again! Belated birthday wishes to you, with 50 you are still s spring chicken! Valerie

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  2. Glad you had a great birthday! I love the tree and your tags are great, a real history lesson! X

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  3. very nice! Love the map background-- clever!

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  4. Sounds like you had a wonderful time :D Your tags are fantastic as usual. Hope your weekend is going well Jane :0) Mo

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  5. Wow! I love your calligraphic skills, and the family tree idea is marvelous. Blessings!

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  6. I love the tree idea - your tags are beautiful. Calligraphy just adds class to whatever the theme!

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  7. What a great idea to make a real life family tree. A great keepsake of your 50th or as I like to call it 40 10th birthday Jane. Belated best wishes x

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  8. What a great idea for a family tree! I love the leaf tag and the Rotunda old map one. Really lovely :)

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