Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St David's Day

Hope you're having a Happy St David's Day - please share this with any Welsh friends!

Take a closer look, it's all made of stamps, including Welsh regional issues which all have the dragon in the corner - you may need a magnifying glass!

Italian Stamp Collage flag

I would welcome comments on the stamps included in this collage from anyone with a knowledge of Italy's history! I made this some time ago, before researching the meaning of the red 20c stamp "I Bimbi d'Italia si chiaman Balilla" and discovered that stamps issued around this time often carried propaganda messages.
As I'm shortly going to be visiting Rome, I was also trying to find stamps portraying famous Romans, and found Julius Caesar and the Emperor Augustus too. Stamps showing King Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, Italia and Provincial occupations such as weaving, harvesting and fishing are also included.

Welsh Flag for St David's Day 1st March

Just completed this stamp collage flag. It's so bright and colourful and you can play "Count the number of dragons" ... let me know how many you find! St David's day is next Thursday 1st March and I'm taking some of these cards into the Made in Stroud shop tomorrow - also available direct from me of course. Open Studios this year is Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th, and then following week, 19th and 20th May. Come along and see my original work. Quite a few things at the "Work in progress stage" at the moment.

Diamond Jubilee Union Jack Stamp Collage

To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II this year, I've updated my Union Jack stamp collage using stamps of Great Britain issued during her 60 year reign. The very first ones to appear on 6th February 1952 were definitives including the 1d blue and 2 1/2d red. Coronation stamps were issued the next year - a set of four including the 2 1/d red and 4d blue.

A set of stamps showing castles was issued in 1955 including one featured in my flag, the 10/- (10 shillings) blue depicting Edinburgh Castle. Too many stamps to mention them all, but iconic images appear including the Word Cup 1966 stamp and a later issue of 1999 showing the England Captain Bobby Moore with the trophy.That great ship, the QE2 and the first flight of Concorde, are shown on stamps issued in 1969. The Queen's portrait is printed every stamp issued by Great Britain, but there are many here also featuring special events and dates in her life. The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales also appear, and appropriately a stamp featuring the Union flag or Union Jack as it is popularly known flies next to a stamp with the Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip together.

This stamp collage is available to purchase as a canvas print size approx 30 x 40 cms priced at £70 and also as a greetings card at £3. Other sizes also available on request.

A great way to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee!

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.