Enjoying a little ... apricity ...



Among the more serious, yet not the least worthwhile, tasks on my drawing board right now was this little one.

My local group Stitching & Beyond is currently preparing for their exhibition at the Long Gallery in Salamanca.  These tags are part of a broader collaboration, a collaboration that is inclusive of everyone in the club and a task that is fun and easily achievable.  Everyone has enjoyed putting their own bent on travel tags as little artworks.

Firstly, my idea was to have a simple ground with proactive words. Then, because we are wordy nerds, David suggested obscure (English) words.  He even went on to suggest that I prepare an alphabet of them.  Why didn't I think of that.  So then the process developed between us. We chose proactive obscure words, one for each letter of the alphabet. These are the results, and it was fun:





















Okay I have decided to set myself a task. To weave at least one if not two of these words into my lecture at the State Library of NSW next Thursday evening ... hmmm  "quaesitum" perhaps!


BTW we know all the meanings too. I would highly recommend the book Reading the OED, fabulous!

Comments

dinahmow said…
There was a move, a few years ago, to adopt words which were being phased out of the dictionary.Yes, I did. So you're not the only wordy nerds!
September 30, 2015 at 12:46 PM
Gemma Black said…
The more the better of us dinahmow!
September 30, 2015 at 1:09 PM
kate adderley said…
Hi Gemma, so love these tags, even if l have never heard or seen the words, they are still stunning, Love that they have the texture with the stitch hole, stitching on paper is another of my favourite things to do, l use to do a lot of embroidery before l started Calligraphy and now its all about letters really, but l try and add stitching to most of my art pieces, when l do my collage work, l think it gives it such an amazing effect.
September 30, 2015 at 7:57 PM
Gemma Black said…
It is funny Kate, the number of people who ask me how I get the piercing so perfect. When thread isn't involved people tend to forget there is something called the sewing machine! I look forward to seeing some of your work and meeting up in a few weeks. Thanks for your message of kind words.
September 30, 2015 at 9:31 PM
kate adderley said…
oh Gemma that is so funny, imagine if you had to do it by hand, you could charge $1 per hole , because it took so long- lol
l met a lady recently who brought a piece of my work and we now have become friends, she told me that she had also brought a piece of your work a few years ago too, l was so excited to tell her l was doing a workshop with you, my work is only average compared to yours and other teachers of Calligraphy , but this friend of mine just loves it, a few weeks ago we were at our calligraphy gathering and there is one lady there that always picks out very tiny mistake l make, my friend couldn't believe it, Later that night l got an email from her to cheer me up, her comment was " please dont listen to what that lady says, your work is lovely and you are my Gemma Black " it is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, please don't worry ,l'm no where near your standard, but l love to learn and l love that l enjoy what l do and l try not to listen to people who are not pro's at it who like to be critical - sorry for the long story, cant wait till November, its better than waiting for Santa........
October 1, 2015 at 9:04 PM
Gemma Black said…
As with all my work Kate I am only as good as I can be at any given time. The important thing to remember is how good it made you feel to do the work, how good it made you feel when someone bought your work and how good it makes you feel to share what you do with others. Whatever it is. Constructive criticism from a tutor or a friend when asked for is always welcome. But, from ill-meaning people, well bah humbug. You don't have a problem Kate, they do.

I (try to) treat all such people with a special kind of kindness ... ;-)
October 4, 2015 at 5:51 PM
kate adderley said…
thank you Gemma for your uplifting comment- you truly are a inspiration xxx
October 4, 2015 at 9:39 PM
Fiona Dempster said…
Love these Gemma - and the words too! My Library of Lost Words has a similar theme - I think we all have a little addiction to obscure and lost words don't we?!?! The tags are just fabulous!
October 4, 2015 at 10:20 PM
Gemma Black said…
Thanks Fiona. Yes!

You can get these tags in a tiny size about 3cm long. These are very sweet to scatter on a table ... any table ... a meeting, a show and share, and dinner party, an exhibition and the punters, whomever they may be, get to take them home.

Sweet!
October 5, 2015 at 9:08 AM
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