Saturday 31 December 2011

Tattoo Design + Family History

So this is my last post of the first year this blog has existed! Isn't it crazy that in only 6 hours, it will be a new year??

Something pretty awesome happened today - my friend Shannon got a tattoo! But what makes it even more special, is that I designed it! Woo! My mark is going to exist on her for the rest of her life. Hah. But anyway, here are some of the concepts. None of these is the final design, it ended up being a combination of the bottom two.

When we traveled back up to Tauranga, we brought with us some old family items...
This bible belonged to my dad's cousin's mum, and was given to her on her 9th birthday in the early 1900's. It is awesome and still has pressed leaves and four-leaved clovers inside it!
This is something that I have started reading - the war journal of my great grandfather, from the 1st World War.
This is an excerpt from the second page of the journal, and I've highlighted (on photoshop, not the actual thing!) a part that made me shiver.
The man in this photo was the writer of the war journal - my Great Grandfather Robert Watchman.
The little boy in the photo is my grandfather Rex Watchman, who in 2009 was killed when a train hit his car in Blenheim.
The photo in the top right is my Great Grandmother. One of the older women in the other photo (Ellie) had a bible that her grandmother had owned, which her father had passed down to her. It was passed down to my grandfather, and then to me on my 16th birthday. It is approximately 160-170 years old.
My daddy (on the left), and with his brothers Greg and Stuart.
Some old envelopes from the 1940's
On the left is an old Gillette shaving kit, and on the right is my Grandfather's lighter.
I love digging through old objects of lifetimes past, and discovering the background and stories behind them.

On the note of history, have an amazing new year, and do something with 2012 that will be passed down in stories to your future great-grandchildren.

(I'm hoping my year in India will be worthy of such preservation!)

Blessings,
Alanna.

x

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