Self imposed deadlines ..

Managed to complete the German stamp collage flag in time for the world cup final on Sunday 13th July 2014 in which Germany will play Argentina.  I set myself a target for this one and it worked!!  But who will win?  These and many other flag stamp collages are available as prints, canvas prints, cards and some originals are also for sale ..  various sizes,   and you can also commission a flag if you don't see what is already there ..

The flag of Argentina in stamps was made a while ago:

Stamp Collage flags of many nations

The Danish flag has now been added to the Flags web page. The Dannebrog as it's known in Denmark is possibly one of the oldest national flags. A legend says that King Valdemar II had a vision of a white cross on a red field in 1219 in the crusade against the pagan Estonians. The Danes encouraged by this sign were victorious in the battle. All Scandinavian flags have the off-centre cross. Featured in this flag you can see Queen Margrethe II, King Frederick IX, the arms of Denmark, Viking ships and a stamp showing Viking shipbuilders from the Bayeux tapestry - 30 ore, 1970.

All the flags featured are made of stamps of that country and it's been an interesting journey through history. Stamps are issued to commemmorate all sorts of events, people and achievements. Royalty, Statesmen and figures from a nation's past, animals, birds - everything is there on a stamp and I hope you will find a lot to look at in my stamp collages.

Some of the flags are easier and quicker to make than others due to the colour content - I've noticed how relatively rare yellow and black stamps are for some countries and red and blue ones are much easier to find. Searching out suitable stamps can be time consuming, and even when I have found the right ones I often get side-tracked looking them up in a catalogue, or online now, which is so much easier, to find out more about the subject featured and when it was issued etc. The latest flags to be added to the web page are those of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Hungary and Italy.

Flag of Argentina

The unusual colour of the Argentina flag, "celeste", or celestial blue, a paler blue than that which usually appears in many other nations' flags, is said to be the colour of the sky which inspired General Manuel Belgrano before going into battle. In 1810 Belgrano led demonstrations supporting liberation from Spain. The other version of the story about the colours and symbolism of the flag is that it is based on the blue and white cockades used to commemmorate the 25th May uprising, when the clouds over Beunos Aires cleared to reveal the sun in a blue sky. The sun on the official Argentine flag is depicted with a face - my flag's sun features a stamp with the portrait of General Belgrano. Many of Argentina's stamps commemmorate their famous leaders, including Belgrano himself, San Martin, and Rivadavia. The well known , Eva Peron, wife of President Juan Peron is commemmorated on many stamps including one in the centre of my stamp collage flag, 45c blue issued in 1952, shown next to it is the 5c blue stamp which was issued in 1946 on the Installation of Juan Peron. Stamps included in the upper blue band of the flag include several showing the maps of Argentina and its territories, including the disputed Falkland Islands or Las Islas Malvinas, The landscape and heritage of the country also features in many beautifully designed stamps.

This design is available as a greetings card, and can also be ordered as a canvas print, standard size approx approximately 28 x 39 cms, or custom made in larger sizes.