looking for an idea...

[meathelmet]

  I am going to do a memorial plaque of my grandmother who recently passed away for my mom.  My idea is to do a portrait of her in the center and add the names of each of her grandkids.

    Heres my problem.  She has 34 grandkids, 41 great grandkids and 2 great great grandkids.  I do not want the plaque to look like a list. I want it to have some kind of design.  The names will be made on an engraving machine so I don't have to worry about carving that many names.  I know this is a vague description of what I'm doing but I really am open to all ideas at this point.  If you have an idea that might look neat please let me know.  Thanks

[Bill P]

Can you get a copy of everyone's signature and duplicate those on the plaque?  It would look like everyone signed it.

Bill

[mrsn]

maybe having the names all around the edge like a frame would look less list like. I like the signature idea too.

[meathelmet]

Thanks for the quick responses.  I like the signature Idea, but I live 200 miles away from most of the people and I would be difficult to get all of the signatures.  Someone suggested making a shape out of the names.  I'm thinking like the shape of a tree where every name is a line in the tree.  but my artistic skills aren't that good. Does anyone know of some software that would draw pictures with text?

[CNLNC]

I was going to also suggest a tree theme. Maybe every leaf on the tree can have a name, and you can have her portrait in the center of the trunk.

Hope this helps, and sorry for your loss. I'm sure your mom will love whatever you end up making.

[tux_linux]

Mail them. Or send a card around, which every one sends on to the next*.

You could also combine different techniques: A photo of the children with a shadow pattern of your grandmother. this will have a good symbolic too.

regards,
Torsten
* include list, otherwise it will get lost.

[julief]

My mind went to the tree thing, also.  If you don't want to do a whole tree, maybe just branches and leaves.  Names in the veining of the leaves.

[meathelmet]

Thanks everyone for the help I will post pics of what I create. later