Philadelphia Seasonal Banners Finished!

Philadelphia Gold and White Seasonal Banners by Kristen Gilje

Kristen painting

I've just finished and mailed 3 pairs of seasonal banners for Shaeffer-Ashmead Chapel, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. They are silk dye on crepe-backed silk charmeuse, 16 feet long and 45 inches wide.

Green Banner from a Ladder

My husband made a wooden stretcher frame to those dimensions and added legs. We put it in the living room/adjacent room after moving the couches out, and lived around this big project for many weeks. I was only able to imagine them hanging, since they were horizontal, and had to get up on a ladder to see the whole thing as best I could.

When they were finally done I brought them downtown and hung them from a high railing. It was the first time I could see them how I had imagined them, vertical...and I was very pleased. It's hard to make something so large without having a good perspective on it until it's done.

In Perspective

Philadelphia Purple Season Banners by Kristen Gilje

Philadelphia Green Season Banners by Kristen Gilje

Now I'm waiting to see how they fit into the chapel space. Hopefully I'll have gotten the architectural proportions just right, and they will be neither too big or too small. Just have to wait and see...

If you'd like to see a picture of the Shaeffer-Ashmead Chapel and more on the process of making these, go to
the blog I set up to communicate with the people in Philadelphia:

Color for the Chapel
http://chapelbanners.blogspot.com/