Handmade Tags

Hello Friends!

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments on my previous blog.  I was apprehensive over the subject matter, but your responses gave me a Big Thumbs Up!  I'm so happy so many of you enjoyed what I feel is a fascinating subject.

I came across a very simple technique for making tie on tags using recycled tissue paper, so thought I'd share it.  All you need is some clean, used tissue paper preferably the absorbent kind, not the coated kind although that will work. Some pva glue, a paintbrush, spritz water bottle, and a rubber stamp. You will need something to punch a hole and something to tie the tag with, and optional gilding wax.

Here's what I did.

First, I scrumpled up the tissue paper into a ball, gave it a good squeeze to get it all wrinkly, which helps make it absorbent. I then flattened it out and put a couple of layers down on a non absorbent surface, such as a glass craft mat and spritzed it with water. Damp it, don't soak it.  I then took some lightly diluted pva glue and lightly brushed over the damp tissue paper then added a couple of more layers of paper, spritzed and glued, and repeated this until I had about eight or ten layers of paper stuck together every two layers with some PVA glue.  Finish with just dampened paper.  I then took the stamp of my choice and pressed it down firmly into the damp paper until it made a good impression. I then left it all to dry overnight.

Once it was fully dry, I cut out around the round the shape  then using a bradawl I carefully pierced a hole for the tag. You can use the whole punch if you have one. The design wasn't showing up as well as I would have liked it too, so I took some of my gilding wax and just lightly brushed it using my fore finger.  You could just lightly sponge on some "dry" paint if you don't have gilding wax

Using the thread of your choice, secure the tag to your present. Simple. but very effective.  Here's my finished tags

Until next time.

Stay safe stay well.

Debbie.  xx

P.S. I'm "really excited" about my next blog to be published, so keep an eye on this page in a few days!

Hagiography

Hello Friends!

One of my lesser-known interests, I don't call it a hobby, is hagiography.  

Hagiography is the history of the lives of the Saints, a sort of biography of holy people.  I developed an interest in hagiography when I was studying art history for one of my degrees.  It is a fundamental tool for any studies involving the art of the Rennaissance, where images are full of symbolism which would have been as well known to the contemporaries of the era on all levels of society in a way that we, for the most part, do not relate to.  

During the Rennaissance very few people could read, so pictures and paintings depicted stories to educate the masses much in the same way comic books illustrate a story without words today.  Churches were full of illuminated images of biblical stories, and everyone could read the story depicted knowing the central characters by identifying their attributes.  Art was a way of teaching, as well as giving people something to focus on when attending services in the days before printed Bibles and hymnals.

Colour was important, as I will explain, and every saint is depicted holding an attribute which is something particularly associated with each individual.  For example, a symbol of their martyrdom or something that was a dominant feature of their life.

The palm, frond or branch, is sacred to many religions, and to most of us is probably best known for being cast before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on what is now known as Palm Sunday.  Consequently, most Christian saints are depicted holding a palm frond as an attribute of their faith, and distinguishing them from lay people in crowd scenes.  It is symbolic of triumph, victory, peace and eternal life.

Probably the most important colour in hagiography is lapis blue.  Lapis blue paint is a pigment made from the expensive and highly prized mineral composite Lapis Lazuli.  Due to it's costly nature, it was reserved only for the most important saints, so the most important of all saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary is immediately identifiable as she is almost always depicted in Lapis Blue.  Amongst other things Lapis is symbolic of transcendence, purity, royalty, and the divine. 

Saints were immediately identifiable by their attributes.  In the main, attributes were symbolic of a saint's martyrdom, although not always as not all saints were martyred, sometimes they indicated the prominent events or characteristics of the venerated.  Some examples of attributes are:

Saint Catherine: a broken wheel {tortured and condemned to death in a spiked wheel which broke when it touched her; the origin of the firework that bears her name}

Saint Laurence: a gridiron {grilled to death}

Saint Barbara: chains and a tower {imprisonment and torture}

Saint Peter: keys {keeper to the Gates of Heaven} upside down cross {crucifixion}:

St David: Bishop with a white dove on his shoulder {appeared to him}

Hildegard of Bingen: book {prolific writer}

Francis of Assisi: Stigmata {first person known to experience this}

Joseph: Carpentry tools

John the Baptist: a lamb {the one chosen by God to baptise Jesus Christ}

Mary Magdelene: Alabaster box {a myrrh bearer; anointed the feet of Jesus}

Patrick: A shamrock, snakes {the Trinity; he expelled all the snakes from Ireland}

David depicted with a dove on his shoulder and a Bishop's crozier, rood screen St David's Cathedral

The Four Apostles are depicted thus:

Matthew: A winged man, or an angel

Mark: A winged lion

Luke: A winged ox or bull

John: An eagle

and they are depicted N,S,E,W positions of this beautiful Rose Window in the west wall of St David's Cathedral.

As mentioned earlier, a knowledge of hagiography and saintly attributes is an essential tool for any scholar of history.  I find it a fascinating area of study, and hope you have found it interesting.  It is something which without it, it can be impossible to understand many works of art, particularly pre the era of printed books.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie xx 

Christmas in Iceland

Hello Friends!

I thought today I'd share a little bit about Christmas in Iceland. In some ways, it is similar to Christmas in Wales but in other ways, it is very different indeed. First, we'll take a brief look at the National Folk Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik. It's a small collection of traditional Icelandic buildings constructed from wood and turf.

Please note: the majority of these photographs are photographs of the original 35mm film images.

National Museum of Iceland 

A small brass band entertains, while the guide in the foreground is wearing a traditional cloak woven from Icelandic sheep fleece.  She will be warm and cosy in her cloak, whatever the weather.  It was a very beautiful garment, of which I was quite envious!

l

A few various photographs of interiors. There is a traditional fir tree as we would know it, however, the majority of the decorations will be handcrafted. Very often they are made out of recycled materials.  Until fairly recently, post WWII, importing of manufactured goods to Iceland was often intermittent, unreliable and expensive, so there is a strong history of make do and mend, recycling and upcycling.  Improvements to transport may have changed all that now, but the museum continues to preserve the ethos of bygone days.

Trees were hung with paper cones of sweets, and small baskets made out of hexagonal shapes cut out of last year's Christmas cards and stitched together with yarn would be filled with cookies and other sweet treats.  These ladies are making cones and baskets to sell.  The homemade tree was commonplace, instead of a real fir tree.

The emphasis is very much on home made, recycling, good food, and above all, family time.

Knitted ornaments, shapes woven from straw, woven paper hearts, and candles are also traditional Christmas decorations.

A traditional food served at Christmas is Laufabrauð, an unleavened flatbread {you can read more here} made using a special type of cutter.  The cuts are then folded into intricate patterns before the dough is cooked.

I purchased this paper cut replica at the museum, as made by the ladies, above.

This is a traditional cutting iron for sale in the museum shop {photo from site}

Another tradition in Iceland are the Yuletide Lads. These are the thirteen sons of the ogress Grýla and they come down from the mountains, one a day until on the 25th of December, all the boys are here. and then one by one they return to the mountains.  Each of them has an attribute for creating havoc, with Anglicised names such as Pot  Licker, Skyr Gobbler, Door Slammer, Sausage Stealer, and Window Peeper.   

You can read more about Grýla and her infamous Black Cat, and there's a full list of the Lad's names here.

Icelandic children do not put out Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve. But for the 13 days before Christmas, when the Icelandic lads are coming down out of the mountains, they put a shoe by the door or the window sill and if they have been good children they get a treat in their shoe, but if they have been naughty, they receive a potato.

Over the years, the fear of Gryla and her sons has softened somewhat, but in centuries past it must have been a very frightening time for small children especially in the deep dark days of an Icelandic winter!

A wonderful Christmas tradition they have in Iceland is the Jólabókaflóðið. It literally translates to flood of books. in the weeks coming up to Christmas, all authors release their new titles. Then, on Christmas Eve, the tradition is that the family gathers in the living room by the fireside and they all read their new books while eating chocolate.  What could be better: It is a tradition that would be worth observing!

Speaking of books, I am making a donation to the Book Trust in lieu of sending Christmas cards this year. Books have always held a special part of my heart for all of my life but as a small child, Christmas wasn't Christmas unless I had at least one book And thankfully, I usually had many!  The gift of a book to a child is a very important thing, in my opinion. It encourages so many things, not only the basic skills of reading, but opens up a whole new magical world of the imagination. 

Well, I have just scratched the surface of Christmas in Iceland. I've put in a few links if you want to explore further, you can.

Gleðileg jól

Until next time.
Stay safe stay well. Stay warm!
Debbie.  xx

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The Robin and The Cold Days

Hello Friends!

Do you remember the nursery song that begins "Dear little Robin, waiting so patiently outside my cottage door"?  Or the nursery rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin"?  Who can resist a little Robin Redbreast?  There's a reason it was voted the nation's favourite bird in a national poll to find the most popular bird in Britain.  Quintessentially British, a constant visitor on many a Christmas card, no garden bird feeder seems complete without a robin pecking away on a low, ground feeding station at the Oops. offered mealworms, dried berries and suet.  When I am digging in my garden, turning over the soil, the most friendly and trusting little robin is always there, not far away at all hoping to find exposed grubs or worms for an easy snack.

The weather is wuthering and has recently been living up to my alliterative definition of Wildly Wuthering Wet and Windy Wonderful West Wales!  Not such perfect weather for a cobweb clearing walk but rather a justifiable reason for sitting snuggly indoors sipping hot drinks and nibbling on a sweet, fortifying treat or two, or three as we approach Christmas.

Today, though the weather is biting. We are below freezing for the first time this year. Being peninsula We don't normally drop below freezing until into January. I guess it's a sign of the times. I was woken up in the night by the gentle hum of the central heating, which came on because the inside of the cottage dropped below 16 degrees C.  I was putting the bins out at 4:00 a.m. on a cold and frosty morning under a cloudless, silver moonlit, star studded sky.  As the day break came a few hours later, I could see the bird bath frozen solid, a rare thing here.

All the deliciously crisply crunchy leaves we love stomping through are now a soggy mess lining the verges of the country lanes. If the rain hadn't already done its work, the frost will soon speed up the process and that, rich dark leaf mold will suddenly appear. Quite the best growing medium for next year's hedgerow flowers. 

A robin redbreast sits, perched upon a fragile stem and he looks cold!  Fluff up those pretty feathers, sweet friend, and keep warm.

possibly the one below is one of this year's fledglings

It is said that when robins appear, a loved one is near.  I'd like to think so.

Until next time.

Stay safe stay well. 

Stay warm!

Debbie.  xx

In Which Treasure Gets A New Jumper

Hello Friends!

Due to having Parkinson's, there are an increasing number of everyday things I cannot do, such as prepping food with a knife, dusting, and other manual things that we take for granted.  I drop things quite a lot too, but there are aids and tools to help me overcome a lot of these issues for now.  However, one thing that never fails to amaze me is that, despite these manual dexterity issues, I can still paint and draw, and I can still knit.  So far, no one can tell me why this is, but maybe it engages different parts of the brain?  Who knows?  I shall continue as long as I can.

Anyhow, out there on Tinterwebwonderland is the most charming little character called Frog who, courtesy of India Rose Crawford, shares the cutest of adventures.  If you want to be smitten by their utterly adorable cuteness, and be totally awestruck at India Rose's world in miniature then go here for Instagram or here for Facebook

Frog has a whole wardrobe of beautifully tailored clothes so when I found a knitting pattern for a tiny jumper by DotpebblesKnits on Etsy I decided to give it a go for Treasure.  He feels the cold, probably because he doesn't hibernate.

Oh Dear! It's too big again!  But he loves it anyway.

For an inexperienced knitter who just does plain and purl, stocking stitch and ribbing, I don't think I did too badly.  There were a few new techniques, but I mastered them courtesy of the online Godsend of YouTube.

Final fitting before sewing up.

As the following images show, this garment is knit in one piece, so it was quite a challenge, but I stuck to the pattern and trusted the instructions and et voila!

Other than the sizing issue, I don't think I did too badly at all.  I might tackle something else soon!

In the meantime, I am seeing positive results from Tai Chi and Qigong, and last week I had my Covid booster.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xx

The Colours of Days

Hello Friends!

November sits, suspended midway between the glory days of Autumn and  the bone chilling cold of Winter; a no man's land of dull November grey when all the vibrant leaves of orange, yellow and red have fallen from the trees and branches brown hang down, empty, dull and bare, against a leaden sky where December snow has yet to form.

Light is scarce in the sky, a dull grey gloom wraps itself around the horizon and wild clouds scud across the sky.  Cracks in the clouds let slivers of silver light push through, a reminder of what once was, and a promise of what is yet to come.  Houses, curtains tightly drawn across windows, glow with light, beacons that guide us home.

We have time to stand and stare.  Our harvests are gathered home. We are ready for the winter hibernation that will come.  Let the season of hygge commence!

 

Wrapped up warmly against the chill and bitter wind, wearing our mittens and scarves, woolly hats and chunky Fair Isle socks, we take brisk, invigorating walks out into the Welsh countryside.  

Berry picking time is over. There is nothing left to harvest now other than a scant handful of late fruits that we leave for the wildlife, for the birds, for the squirrels, for the mice.  

If we are lucky, there are piles of leaves dry and crunchy through which we stomp and kick. But in this November gloom the rain has fallen hard. The spent leaves are a squishy squashy mess of muddy brown. Are they not in decay? No!  They are making the food for next year's plants.  The Circle of Life rolls on 

Soon , much sooner than we realise it will be December. The snows will come and all will look different again, dusted in powdery white.

And so the seasons turn.  The days that not so long ago were warm with summer sun, now cold and chill us to the bone with withering winds.  The time has come to withdraw inside. Let us sit by the fire cosy and warm with books and hot chocolate for our companions.  

My friends I have been doing more art. Here is my latest effort by an online course offered twice a year by the renowned Danish artist Ida Anderson Lang, called Wish Upon A Star. 

Until next time

Stay safe. Stay well.

Debbie xx

Tai Chi, The Angel and Me

Hello Friends!

A recent study has shown that's doing Tai Chi twice a week drastically reduces the progression the progression of Parkinson's disease.

If you are interested in it, you can read all about it here.  

It is by no means conclusive and is pretty much in the early stages of research but I am happy to try anything especially what are classed as complimentary therapies.  I have found an instructor who is happy to come to my home so that I can try this out in private, one on one, without having to go and make a fool of myself in a public group.  It would be quite embarrassing trying to learn this in front of other people because I am prone to falling and I am very slow so could not keep up with the group.  I also tire easily so it might be that I can only do a few minutes before I need to sit down and rest.  

She came to my house yesterday.  After a brief assessment of my mobility, she suggested that Tai Chi is not the best idea for me as my balance is rubbish and as I am prone to falling or toppling over it might prove more of a hazard than a benefit.  She did, however, suggest Qigong, a system of gentle movement and breathing, you can read about it here,  I have since discovered several of my friends do this with good results.

Meanwhile, I made this little watercolour painting of a Prayer Angel of Peace as part of the annual Wish Upon A Star online course hosted by Atelier Ida Andersen Lang.  I used Gansai Tambi, Chromoflow, and graphite.  It is the job to angle the camera, to get the true colour of the picture.

I always want to paint a very muted palette. But it is something that eludes me all the time. I am learning to accept that it's that it's probably part of my own personal style that I favour brighter jewel colours. So I'm going to learn to stick with it.

Here are a few photos that show you don't have to have a huge space to create simple pieces of art. I am working off a folding table. I think they call them TV dinner tables. Plenty of room for a book stand to take my tablet so I could then play back and follow the lesson. My recycled chipped mug of brushes. An A4. drawing book. My crystals and candle which make the space sacred. and other bits and bobs.

As I put the final touches to this entry so Storm Ciarán, our  third named storm, is beginning to make its presence felt although it's not supposed to be here until late Wednesday. The wind is definitely howling outside right now. Hatches are battened once more!  We are under an amber weather. alerts for the next 36 hours. We are expecting torrential rain and winds of up to 90 miles an hour. And this is just the beginning of winter.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie x
 

Viral Welsh Cakes!

Hello friends!

Well, I don't know quite how it happened, but I seem to have a viral post on Facebook. I suppose it depends how you define viral but when you go over 1000 likes and upwards of 160 comments I'd say that's pretty much gone viral, wouldn't you? 

Updating this because a few people have said they can't see the photo on Facebook so here is the picture and it is now well over 2000 👍👍

It's a public page so this link should work even if you're not on Facebook and you'd like to see it.

Viral Post

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xx