This Tretower Festival project is really giving me pleasure.
It's been a very long time since I did any serious research....
...back in my uni-days...
But, having spent yesterday at the Gwent Archives, looking at documents dating back to 1485...
...and trying to find other bits and pieces to use in my little workshops...
...the "Snooping-Bug" has bitten again.
The Vaughan family are such an INTERESTING bunch...
...AND there's a connection to "The White Queen" that's showing on the beeb on Sundays, too.
Thomas Vaughan (one of the family born at Monmouth), was an advisor to Edward IV and his son Edward V (who never actually got crowned because he disappeared from the Tower)....
....and Sir Roger of Tretower got embroiled in it all and ended up being separated from his head at Chepstow by a certain Jasper Tudor (uncle to the future Henry VII).
Anyways, yesterday I photographed some legal documents relating to land owned by Sir Roger and his son & heir Thomas, which had the family seal still attached.
So...
...the next thing was to fiddle with the image in Gimp to come up with a piece of "something" I can use on my tags.
Next job was typing out some poetry by Lewis Glyn Cothi, who had written some "awdls" for various members of the Vaughan family.
I used a font that looks exactly like the manuscript writings from the 14th and 15th centuries.....
...then washed and sprayed the paper with Dark Brown Brusho spray...
...and burned the edges with a jos stick.
Then, tags were stamped and papers prepared...
.....also embossed stamps of Medieval floor tiles....
...add a York rose for good measure...
...thus ending up with something that looks like this!
(It's not stuck down yet...so things may change)
My desk is a right mess...
...which means I'm enjoying myself!! :-)))))
x C
