Making a better business banner

Since i dye silk as my primary art form, it makes no sense to order a banner from someone who prints onto vinyl…. so several years ago I made our first banner… Done in the french resist (or serti) method, it is like drawing a coloring book picture, then allowing the dye to be the coloring…

  As you can see the B at the lest was a portion of the banner in process of being colored in.  The strength of Serti method is clear and crisp design.  The weakness is that if you don;t fully draw in each object the dye will find the break, and bleed through.

Serti method requires the silk to be stretched onto a frame tightly, so that the warf and weft are both fully tight.  When silk dye hits the surface of the silk it spreads out wide and fast.  With the fabric stretched tightly the silk dye will run quicker, and allow for more control.

Here is the old banner pinned to the tent at one of our last events (Made in Ohio at Hale Farm)

Sorry for the grainy photo… i  tried to blow up something i had taken in a lower resolution.. and darn if it looks really grainy.

Well the new banner is going to be 90″ long and cover a wider swath of the tent… and the colors will be vivid and brighter.  At the suggestion and recommendation of several people I think I am going to back the banner with cotton or muslin, and sew the edges.  I am also planning to put grommets on the corners so that I can possibly use the banner loops that are built into the tent.

I promise photos of the new banner in process… so far just the outline of the letters are done….