My place, New York, is coming along well

Things are going along quite well with my place alphabet - the embossed map of New York City and letters for things that are wonderful memories form our last visit there.

E - is for Empire State Building; such an iconic symbol of New York and a glimpse against the skyline always makes you smile.

F - the Flatiron building - we wandered past it several times this visit; and again it's quirky style just makes me happy.

G - "Girl with the Pearl...." is how I refer to Vermeer's painting "Girl with the Pearl Earring". We were fortunate that it was on show at The Frick Museum whilst we were there, and to stand in front of her and gaze at her was a magical moment indeed.

H - the Highline. One of my favourite parts of New York City - the old disused railway high above the streets down near Chelsea.  It is now a garden and a walking path and place for people to gather and enjoy. There are great views from up there and it's a bit surreal to walk above the hustle and bustle, yet still be nearby.

Completed "Tricks" Alphabet

Carol DuBosch

Completed "Place" Alphabet

Carol DuBosch

My next six, will shortly start putting them together.
Penny

free letters part 2

The summer has been so rainy and cold this year that I had a lot of time for my letters, so here are four more, E, P, T and X

and to answer one of your comments, this is the page that inspired me :

Here are the next letters in my free alphabet.  Once all of the planning and putting the plan on paper was done, things really started to move.  I'm having way too much fun here.  Thanks for looking.  Anita

Quilt completed

First Alphabet Finished

A few edges needed straightening, but the baby quilt has been put together. My friends were delighted (and so was I, because it was a small quilt otherwise) that signature panels from the baby shower were included. It ended up more white than I expected, but on the whole not a bad effect :)







These are the actual alphabet letters:

And the back panel:

Now to get a move on with my Place alphabet!

The complete set, taped to my kitchen window shows up their transparency. I really like this aspect.

My Final Letters Completed

JGR SECOND ALPHABET

Hi friends, I hope all is well in your corner of the world. Around here-back-to-school

is in full swing and the heat is peaking in the low to mid 90's. Ahhh SUMMER!

 For my second alphabet I painted a series of abstract textured backgrounds:

 As always-some subtle, some wild and some . . . in between . . . .

 I used an 'Art Nouveau' font for some contrast: Simplicity of letterforms over chaotic textures/colors.

It's totally different from anything I've done in the past and I am enjoying it.
Thank you for visiting!

my place alphabet .....

Hello everyone,

I have been such a poor blogger this year and just realised that I posted on my last letters of my first alphabet on my tracemarks blog and not here.  One I have finished the book I will make sure to be back here posting on the results.

A beginning has been made on my second alphabet - my PLACE - which will literally be about the place in which I live.  I am working on larger pieces in the same vein, or will be in the future, as I have in mind a large project on "My Place".  You will even recognise some of this imagery in my latest collaboration with Fiona.  

I am showing you the preparatory work at this point because I don't want to actually emboss the letters onto each piece until have have done all twenty six letters as I am going to make a quilt book and want to arrange the pieces before I decide what letter I will attribute to them.  Because this will be a hanging piece, I will need to work both front and back of my little squares.

Here is my beginning!  I will post about the middle and the end too!

This year has seen me a little time poor (probably because I am working on so many things in the studio) and though I have not been leaving comments, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching all the wonderful alphabets emerge.

Alphabet of Tricks - Y & Z

My final letters in the Alphabet of Tricks set. The Y was made using an eraser stamp that I carved, stamped and then sprinkled with embossing powder while the image was still moist. I then heated the embossing powder to make it raised and shiny. The Z is 23 K Gold Leaf on an Instacoll base. Now I need to bind the alphabet, and photograph the finished project.

Place

Well, I work in a library and all around there are letters! I love working there as a designer/community information library assistant. I am surrounded by books - I am in heaven!

So I have taken photos of the spines of the fiction collection from A to Z, eg,

then I had a play with them in photoshop with the polarising feature and came up with:

They look like little pizzas!

I now have to work out how to apply the letter to each one, keeping in mind that I have to have a final presentation in mind - oh, so much to do!

My Second Alphabet

So, I've started on my "free choice" alphabet.  I've tried some of the ideas before but never progressed beyond a few sketches.  I'm using a Japanese theme focusing on traditional Japanese objects etc.  It's fairly hard to fit all the letters in as the Japanese syllabary does not contain some of the sounds we have in the Roman alphabet - "L" for instance, so I have to do a bit of creative interpretation.  I plan a book with the letter on one page and the explanation facing.  So here is A.
 

The font is Polo, which I like for its fluidity and vague Oriental look.  The paper is a lovely smooth Zerkal and the letter and illustration painted with gouache.


My first four letters:

A is for AKACHOUCHIN which is a large red paper lantern hung outside a drinking establishment to show they are open.

 B is for BONSAI which is a plant or tree which has been trained to grow in miniature

 C is for CHABANA, a simple flower decoration used for the tea room for a tea ceremony.  The letter C is only used to transliterate the CH sound.  K is used for other C sounds.

D is for DARUMA.  The word comes from DHARMA and the doll represents Bodhidharma who sat for nine years in meditation and lost the use of his legs.  Thus the rounded bottom of the Daruma. It is considered as a symbol of perseverance and thus a charm for achievement.

Fiona's first four letters

 So having embossed my paper and cut my squares I have started to write my alphabet.

I was thinking of words as memories of our time in New York City and sometimes I found it hard to choose which memory to use!  Here are my first four.

A - the Apple store. It is such an iconic building and a whizz-bang kind of experience. It feels like an "only in New York" kind of place.

B - Bagels. we love bagels and where we stay is just around the corner from one of the best bagel stores in the city. We visit every day.

C - Centra Park, what can I say? A magical place and last time we were there, a winter wonderland of white beauty.

D - Downtown, we head there a lot!

Premier Projet - Callie - Lieu / Place

Bonjour,

Je vous prie d'excuser mon retard à démarrer, j'ai eu du mal à trouver du temps, même les petites vacances ont été difficiles pour la calligraphie...
I apologize for my late start, I struggled to find time, even small holidays have been difficult for calligraphy ...
Tout d'abord j'avais pensé à utiliser des cartes géographiques comme fond... Mais je n'ai pas retrouvé le livre des routes que j'avais jadis... Et puis comme j'ai eu de retard de fabrication, l'idée a été utilisée avant que je me réveille...
First I thought about using maps as background ... But I have not found the book of the roads that I had once ... And as I have of late manufacture, idea has been used before I wake ...
Ensuite, je me suis dit qu'il était dommage de ne pas profiter de ce projet pour faire un petit tour de France, histoire de découvrir des endroits que je ne connais pas, ou de faire découvrir aux participants des endroits qu'ils ne connaissent pas... Donc je me suis dis que j'allais travailler avec des photos... Le problème restait encore de ne pas trop occulter les photos avec les lettres... et de trouver des photos libres de droits des dits endroits...
Then I thought it was a shame not to take advantage of this project to make a small tour de France history, discover places that I do not know, or to introduce participants to places they know not ... So I told myself that I would work with photos ... The problem was still not too obscure pictures with the letters ... and find royalty free photos of the said places ...
Mais c'était compter sans les "choses à faire" et les "emplois du temps bien remplis"...que ce soit pendant l'année scolaire ou même les vacances... Et pendant les vacances d'été, j'ai eu une autre idée, et davantage de temps pour la réaliser...  Mais avec tout ce retard, j'ai du faire tout l'alphabet d'un coup...

But that was reckoning without the "things to do" and "schedules well filled" ... whether during the school year or even the holidays ... And during the summer vacation, I had another idea, and more time to achieve it ... But with all the delay, I had to do the whole alphabet of a sudden ...

J'ai commencé par réaliser les carrés... Le papier épais a été tartiné d'eau au pinceau. Puis j'ai jeté des gouttes d'encres de différentes nuances bleutées pour figurer les "mers". Elles ont diffusé. Quand ce fut un peu sec, j'ai ajouté des gouttes d'encre "marron irisé". Quand l'ensemble fut complètement sec (et vraiment sec), j'ai tracé tous les contours "marrons" avec un feutre noir fin... Histoire de figurer des "îles" ou des "terres"...
I began to realize the squares ... The paper was thick spreadable water brush. Then I threw drops of inks of different bluish shades to include the "seas." They circulated. When it was a little dry, I added ink "brown iridescent" drops. When all was completely dry (and really dry), I sketched out the contours "brown" with a black fineliner ... History include "islands" or "land" ...

Ensuite j'ai pu calligraphier les lettres, dans une écriture "Chancelière" afin de figurer les écritures "italiques" des cartes...
Then I could calligraphy letters in writing "Chancellor" to include the scriptures "italics" cards ...

 

 

 

Voilà une rapide vue d'ensemble...
Here's a quick overview ...

Il ne me reste plus qu'à relier tout cela pour réaliser un petit livre de lettres.... :)
It only remains for me to connect it all to make a little book of letters .... :)
Bonne soirée
Good Evening