TAG TUESDAY POETRY

Last week I noticed the first daisies of the year to be in bloom. Maybe spring has sprung.  So, continuing with my daisy creations, two of my tags this week are based on the poem ‘Daisies’ by the 19^th century poet, John Clare:

Daisies, ye flowers of lowly birth,
Embroiderers of the carpet earth,
That stud the velvet sod;
Open to spring's refreshing air,
In sweetest smiling bloom declare
Your Maker, and my God!                    

Being a lover of both textiles and wild flowers I love the idea of daisies embroidering the earth.  The words also go well with my Heart of Daisies from earlier in the month. I was hoping to make another heart with real daisies, but there are still not enough daisies for that!

The first daisy tag is a folded one, with the inside of the tag worked on watercolour paper.  I started by painting a few blades of grass and daisy heads, I then folded the paper and embroidered one half – using daisy stitch to make one large daisy.  I used gold beads for the central disc. 

On the other half I attached a copy of the poem printed onto vellum, so that the painted grass shows through.

 

On the outside of the tag I made a cover to hide the back of the stitching, I used paper with tiny daisies on it.  On the front I put ‘Daisies by John Clare’ and on the back I put a snippet of information about the poet.  The whole tag is dotted liberally with tiny embroidered daisies and is finished with a tie of green and yellow threads.

After making this paper tag, I wanted to make a fabric based tag with daisies embroidered onto velvet as in the poem.  I started by painting some grass onto velvet.  Then I embroidered some grass using long stitch, then a couple of tiny daisies using daisy stitch again, with a single gold bead for the central disc.  On the back of the tag I stuck some ‘grass effect’ paper and a copy of the poem.

I have trimmed the top and bottom with white lace.  The first two lines of the poem have been printed onto vellum and stuck onto the lace.  Again the whole tag is dotted liberally with tiny embroidered daisies and is finished with a tie of white ribbon.

The third tag is completely thanks to serendipity.  I was looking for some scrap paper and came across a small photocopy of some calligraphy I did 22 years ago!  All I did to make it into a tag was trim the corners, make a hole and attach the ribbon.   I made the original calligraphy picture in 1990 for my Mum and Dad.  It is written using watercolours rather than ink.  I achieved the variegated effect by dipping the pen in different shades of green every few letters.  The words are spaced so they form a circle.  I’ve painted spring foliage and flowers in the corners to make a square.

The poem is ‘Far Away’ by Helen Steiner-Rice:            

The days grow shorter as the year rolls towards its end. 

Too soon  it seems the light grows fainter and the nights descend. 

Brief the journey of the sun.  December days are drear

But they bring us to the morning of another year.

At this point upon the road the heart is strangely stirred

For far away we hear the singing of an April bird. 

With brighter hope and lighter step, we tread the wintry hills

Having caught upon the wind the breath of Daffodils.

The words fit so well with this time of year I couldn’t resist making it into a tag!  Shame I didn’t find this scrap of paper last week, I could have saved myself a lot of work!

I’d love to know which of the three you think is best, please let me know.

Thank you to all of you for sharing your lovely tags, and a special thank you tothose who have made lovely comments on mine, it is much appreciated.

Have a lovely week and enjoy the early Spring