Tuesday 14 May 2013

S is for Sea-shells, scrolls and spirals




Hello everyone! We are nearing the end of the alphabet so fast; these weeks are just flying by!  I hope my tag this week will remind you of the seaside and take your mind off the rather depressing weather of late!


My tag was inspired by some drawings of shells I found while sorting out my old artwork.
I wanted to write something in a calligraphic Spiral ~ beautiful writing that forms a continuous curve around a central point or axis. Having found my shell drawings, that old tongue-twister ‘She Sells Sea-Shells’ sprang to mind:

She sells sea-shells on the sea shore;
The shells that she sells are sea-shells I'm sure.
So if she sells sea-shells on the sea shore,
I'm sure that the shells are sea-shore shells.

The whole rhyme made rather a large spiral which was difficult to read, so I just used half of it and wrote using spiral guidelines on one side of my shells.  Start reading from the center.
 
Here are the spiral guidelines I use:


To decorate my tag I made a mini scroll.  I wrote on the paper using my scroll nib pen.
Scroll nibs are double pointed nibs which make double lines, they are ideal for decorative writing, shadow writing, borders and lining a mount.

I coloured in some of the letters using coloured pencils then rolled up the paper into a scroll.  I had one broken scroll nib, so bound it onto the scroll with a length of embroidery thread, making a tie to match.

I did some more shadow-writing using the scroll pen to go with the other shells in my Calligraphy Abecedary.
I have had such fun this week for this tag! Thank you for looking, and for all your sweet comments.
Looking forward to seeing all your creations this week,
Bye for now
Jane xx

13 comments:

  1. Love your S tag, I remember doing a similar drawing when doing my City & Guilds in creative embroidery ad a design source :-)

    Sally

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous sketch of the seashells Jane. I have never seen a double nibbed pen before! So clever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Really nice-- love the shells drawing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The softly coloured shells and the beautiful spiral writing go so well together. Lovely tag.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic tag, writing and ideas! Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the spiral writing - so fitting for the seashells. A really lovely tag. Carolyn xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the classic artistic feel of your tag. Your craftsmanship is amazing. Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is beautiful, makes me dizzy trying to follow your beautiful script! Lovely shells, great work. X

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOW! Fantastic pencil drawings. Love your writing too. Great tag really works well together.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Big sigh - to be able to draw so very well!!!!
    sandy

    ReplyDelete
  11. This work is fabulous; so very beautiful & creative :0) Mo

    ReplyDelete


Great to have you here, thanks for commenting and hope to see you again soon! Please be aware that by linking to us you voluntarily enter your own name and link. To view the privacy policy of Mr Linky, please visit here. http://www.misterlinky.net/blog/