ahead of the game

I am a procrastinator and as far as gifts go, despite having a "Christmas 2010" list drafted up giving me more than ample time to do what I need to do, the week before Christmas is going to roll around and I will not be ready. Which is why I'm surprised that I'm 3/4 of the way done with a wedding gift that is to be given towards the end of October.

I posted the other day about the gorgeous cherry wood bowl that a local man makes as a hobby. I plan to give it to my cousin and his fiancée, who are only a month and a bit away from their wedding. I want the wedding gift to be unique and a little funky. I personally love both parts of their gift and I hope both pieces suit them as well.

I've seen these framed pieces around blogland in the past but I stumbled on it again at My 3 Monsters, the blog of Amy Gregson, and it instantly attached itself in my mind as something fun and different to give as a wedding gift. Who needs more white tablecloths and coffe makers? And while cash is always appreciated and even the norm these days it seems, I guess I'm old-fashioned and it feels tacky to me. So I dug through the flickr photostream of the incredibly generous Leo Reynolds, whose flickr account is beyond full of typography photos (including scores of invididual letters and numbers) as well as signs, architectural elements, and textures.

I finally had to stop looking at pictures because I found myself changing my mind on any given letter with each new page of photos viewed. I found everything I needed at Mr. Reynolds' account apart from the last tile, which spanned two spaces. The photo for the last space, I found at the flickr account of Imagix3D. I spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to fill those two spaces without altering the mood of the rest of the piece and finally found the perfect photo. I love how this turned out! It's currently just a file on my computer, 12 inches square. I'm not sure if I'll size it down a little or not; that will depend on what frame I find.

All in all, this piece will only cost me to have it printed off at a photo developer (I only have a non-colour laser printer) and a frame. Not bad! I suppose the bowl voids any money saved on this artwork. I will post a finished shot and link it up to some blog parties once it is completely finished.