A Letter A Week, 2011

I am part of an online group creating a letter a week, for 52 weeks - resulting in 2 alphabets. It is great fun to participate - motivating myself to create something every week and then thinking of ways to display the final alphabets - a book form being the most obvious. There are some brilliant alphabets out there and I am so impressed by the calligraphic skills of so many people.
Fiona is the co-ordinator, and the project is open to newcomers. Check out the blog site for 2011 and email Fiona if you want to join.
I completed one alphabet on time - an alphabet of photos of letters taken on my trip to Morocco and Europe early last year, and presented as a concertina book.

..some details -

M from Gaudi's Casa Mila rooftop tiles in Barcelona,

N from a painted sign in the Moroccan desert saying 'nomad',

O from the bronze doors of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and  

P a parking road sign in Porto, Portugal.

I have just put the other alphabet together. I went a bit off the beaten track with this one - making 7cm shapes with copper wire, teabags and gold wax rubbed over the top. The letters are based on the Mayan alphabet - a civilisation which has long fascinated me. The teabags lend themselves to being 'seen through', so I wanted the alphabet to work against a window - with daylight and night light - a bit of a compromise and a challenge. Here is the result - the shapes sewn onto a clear perspex offcut and dangling from a lovely piece of driftwood.

...and here is the alphabet hanging in a window with the light filtering through the letters -

a Mayan jungle, perhaps?

...some details.

...a, b, c, d taken with flash,

...a, b, c, d, blu tacked to the window, taken without flash.

Hopefully we can exhibit the alphabets at some stage - many of the participants are from overseas - Fiona is working on finding a suitable venue for a show.