Sunday 23 March 2008

Heritage Gothic Arch


The new theme for the Gothic Arches Challenge is Heritage. This gave me some pause for thought. Of course you could mean this to refer to your own personal heritage as the person setting our theme had done, but my thoughts immediately went to what would be our most valuable heritage as human beings. And to me this is the written word, alphabets and books. How else could mankind have developed? We need to communicate and to be able to preserve our knowledge for future generations and although nowadays we might store this in computers, we still need words and an alphabet to store this information, either in spoken language or computer language. So I dedicate this arch to words, in whatever language they might be. As a trained reference librarian I have always loved words and books so in a way this is also a very personal heritage to me. I can not imagine the world without words and a life without books would be a very empty one. Given a choice between a great meal or a new book, I go for the book every time!!

The background for this arch is a fabric/paper collage made from a selection of different vintage alphabet pages as well as an napkin featuring an alphabet in a variety of languages. I added an Alphabet stamp from Alphastamps, stamped onto a transparency with black Staz-On. I added the image from Alphastamps Chalkboard collage sheet, the fabric His Book text (also from Alphastamps, this time the Children's Books #1 fabric sheet) and the German scrap silver nib (Alphastamps). The text: Conquer the world with words, was added with a Dymo writer.

The arch was finished with zigzag stitching and then I added a Copper edge with a Krylon pen.

28 comments:

Femmy said...

great arch!! beautiful colors!!

Sandy said...

Wow Frida this is absolutely stunning. Fantastic background. Love this arch.

K said...

beautiful arch!

http://truutske.blogspot.com said...

Fabulous arch.
I love the colours.

Louise (KardKrazy) said...

I love your universal interpretation of this theme! The artwork is just stunning. Thanks for joining in this challenge!

Jacqueline said...

Beautiful touch with the stitching - you definately gave your arch some thought!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous, love the colours and gorgeous image.

Kris Dickinson said...

Love this beautiful arch!

Debby said...

WOW!!!! This one is so gorgeous, love the colors and your take on the theme is terrific.
Debby

Willy said...

Prachtige arch en een geweldig verhaal, Frieda!

Anonymous said...

Frida I really like your arch!

Audrey said...

Beautiful arch!

Anonymous said...

wonderful arch ! great background collage

http://truutske.blogspot.com said...

Frieda, wat leuk je verhaal over Hilversum. Je bent al de 3e atc'-ster die ook in Hilversum heeft gewoond. Zelf ben ik er al 15 jaar weg en woon nu in de Betuwe. Eigenlijk heb ik zelf ook niets meer met Hilversum. Er is erg veel veranderd in de loop der jaren.
Bedankt voor je reactie. Erg Leuk.

Anonymous said...

Wow gorgeous! Love the backgroudn and colours

evanyberg said...

Lovely and colorful arch!

gunnelsvensson said...

Beautiful!

I have nominated you for an award as a blog that´ brings me inspiration and makes me appreciate the blogosphere´Now it´s your turn to do the same for 10 others who inspired you ( if you want to !?)

Judy said...

What a wonderful interpretation of the 'Heritage' theme, Frieda! Thank you for leaving kind comments on my blog.
JudyNZ

Laura Kirste Campbell said...

Wonderful! I love all the various interesting elements of your design including the shape and stitching!
Creatively Yours, Laura

Laura Kirste Campbell said...

Marvelous thoughts beautifully executed in your gothic arch!
Creatively Yours, Laura

theresa martin said...

Beautiful Arch Frieda. Love that alphabet!

carylsrealm said...

Frieda, this is just stunning!

Anonymous said...

really a wonderful arch!

Vintage Papers said...

your arch is so gorgeous! love the details added! just beautiful! :)

tchoucreation said...

great arch with beautiful colours and i love your dedicace to the words! great idea!

tchoucreation said...

great arch with beautiful colours and i love your dedicace to the words! great idea!

Patricia said...

Your version of the theme is such a wonderful idea and very beautiful.

Karen Owen said...

This is so beautiful, and I loved reading about your thoughts as you put it together.

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