Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The Flag
I have two days before I begin costume "tech-ing" for the run of Cabaret. (That's jargon for mending, washing and dry cleaning.) They have already hung the flag we made for the outside of The River Theater. The flag, like the pennet string, is not my art work. It was copied from part of the original poster art. If I knew the artist's name I would credit him/her here.
Our challenge: a 3'x5' two sided, weather-proof flag.
The first problem encountered...Budget. I have made outside banners/ flags before. With canvas. If you look through past posts you will see the 'mini banners". See, the canvas works. And when primed properly, you can paint both sides of the same piece of canvas. Well, my first choice canvas, ( nine dollars a yard plus the shipping because none of the stores around here carry artist canvas) lost out to the two 5'x5' used red table cloths, that were already in the back. So, with a grumpy face I brought the 100% polyester table cloths home, promising that I would try and make them work. So, we did a test paint and heat set and then hubby dear stapled it to the deck railing and sprayed it down with the hose on jet. And.... it didn't run. But the paint did bleed through, badly. Another grumpy face, but with resignation in my heart, we began the project.
The paint bleeding through meant that there would have to be two flags made into one. I cut the table cloths into 37"x60" rectangles, trying my best to leave out the bad parts.( Somebody has eaten on these table cloths. Someone else used them as drop cloths) So, now I need the exact image on both flag sides. Free hand copying another's art is not one of my strong points, especially with an increase, and having to do it exact, twice. So, I opt to enlarge the image to trace out on both of the fabric pieces.
We covered the table and then taped flag one down.
With the permission of the theater we ah, REALLY enlarged one of the "Kit- Kat Girl" images from the poster. What does REALLY mean? Well, from under four inches, to just over four feet!
We used our home copier.
How? Enlarge your image to the maximum , then cut it into quarters and enlarge the four quarters to maximum. Just keep doing that until you have the right size. We ended up with 30 sheets of copied parts to cut and piece back together with tape.
Here's the photo of that.
Four inch tall art work is not intended to be examined under a microscope and blowing it up to four feet tall does not really give you smooth results, all of the microscopic imperfections are exposed. So, I had to touch up her lines and even her up a bit. Then I transferred the image to the fabric. Carbon paper is our friend.
The lettering came next. The "font" on the poster art was free hand with a paint brush, white in color and small. Copy enlarging was not really an option. So, I had to free hand it.
Then on to the painting.
These really used up the paint. Two large tubes of acrylic paint. ( Don't forget the textile medium if this is going to be washed or get wet.)
We dried the flag with a blow dryer. Yes, we really did. And removed the tape and hung the flag up on tacks , then re-papered and taped the next flag fabric down. Then transferred, free hand, paint, blow dry and hang with tacks. Then we slept... Got to let the paint cure, right?
The next morning reveals that the chalk marks from the lettering that I didn't space correctly is still there. The second chalking was great and that is what I painted. But the first chalk was showing, so much for brush off chalk, grrrr, polyester. And the flag that is tacked up to the shelf over the window is showing every dinner that was ever eaten on it in the sunlight. Meaning that these two as one flags are going to need some type of interfacing between them. Ok, so, now what? Interfacing, while not very costly for a lapel or waist band, can be pricey if you need three yards. I would have to get the black for a true "no show" through. Black, costs more and does not come in five foot widths. I am thinking .... seams... layers... and then how well will interfacing do in the wind and rain. Interfacing is for clothing. So, with Bree giving me all of the available options via her cell phone, I decide... not to use interfacing but plain black cotton. She buys it, brings it home and pre-washes and dries it. Yeah! To get the chalk off , I tested several different methods on a scrap piece. What finally worked? Detergent and a sponge. Then alcohol as a de-foaming agent. No way did I want to risk putting it in the washer at this point, heat set or not.
Once we were back on track we cut rod pockets , one red, one black and sandwiched all the layers together, (think quillow) and pinned it all around, leaving an opening to turn.
After it was all sewn together, we clipped all of the edges and corners and flipped it. Then we pinned again and I top stitched all around closing up the opening left over from turning.
Here is how it turned out.
Note the difference in lettering to cover traces of a previous life as a drop cloth.
The best way to see it is of course, outside The River Theater.
Our challenge: a 3'x5' two sided, weather-proof flag.
The first problem encountered...Budget. I have made outside banners/ flags before. With canvas. If you look through past posts you will see the 'mini banners". See, the canvas works. And when primed properly, you can paint both sides of the same piece of canvas. Well, my first choice canvas, ( nine dollars a yard plus the shipping because none of the stores around here carry artist canvas) lost out to the two 5'x5' used red table cloths, that were already in the back. So, with a grumpy face I brought the 100% polyester table cloths home, promising that I would try and make them work. So, we did a test paint and heat set and then hubby dear stapled it to the deck railing and sprayed it down with the hose on jet. And.... it didn't run. But the paint did bleed through, badly. Another grumpy face, but with resignation in my heart, we began the project.
The paint bleeding through meant that there would have to be two flags made into one. I cut the table cloths into 37"x60" rectangles, trying my best to leave out the bad parts.( Somebody has eaten on these table cloths. Someone else used them as drop cloths) So, now I need the exact image on both flag sides. Free hand copying another's art is not one of my strong points, especially with an increase, and having to do it exact, twice. So, I opt to enlarge the image to trace out on both of the fabric pieces.
We covered the table and then taped flag one down.
With the permission of the theater we ah, REALLY enlarged one of the "Kit- Kat Girl" images from the poster. What does REALLY mean? Well, from under four inches, to just over four feet!
We used our home copier.
How? Enlarge your image to the maximum , then cut it into quarters and enlarge the four quarters to maximum. Just keep doing that until you have the right size. We ended up with 30 sheets of copied parts to cut and piece back together with tape.
Here's the photo of that.
Four inch tall art work is not intended to be examined under a microscope and blowing it up to four feet tall does not really give you smooth results, all of the microscopic imperfections are exposed. So, I had to touch up her lines and even her up a bit. Then I transferred the image to the fabric. Carbon paper is our friend.
The lettering came next. The "font" on the poster art was free hand with a paint brush, white in color and small. Copy enlarging was not really an option. So, I had to free hand it.
Then on to the painting.
These really used up the paint. Two large tubes of acrylic paint. ( Don't forget the textile medium if this is going to be washed or get wet.)
We dried the flag with a blow dryer. Yes, we really did. And removed the tape and hung the flag up on tacks , then re-papered and taped the next flag fabric down. Then transferred, free hand, paint, blow dry and hang with tacks. Then we slept... Got to let the paint cure, right?
The next morning reveals that the chalk marks from the lettering that I didn't space correctly is still there. The second chalking was great and that is what I painted. But the first chalk was showing, so much for brush off chalk, grrrr, polyester. And the flag that is tacked up to the shelf over the window is showing every dinner that was ever eaten on it in the sunlight. Meaning that these two as one flags are going to need some type of interfacing between them. Ok, so, now what? Interfacing, while not very costly for a lapel or waist band, can be pricey if you need three yards. I would have to get the black for a true "no show" through. Black, costs more and does not come in five foot widths. I am thinking .... seams... layers... and then how well will interfacing do in the wind and rain. Interfacing is for clothing. So, with Bree giving me all of the available options via her cell phone, I decide... not to use interfacing but plain black cotton. She buys it, brings it home and pre-washes and dries it. Yeah! To get the chalk off , I tested several different methods on a scrap piece. What finally worked? Detergent and a sponge. Then alcohol as a de-foaming agent. No way did I want to risk putting it in the washer at this point, heat set or not.
Once we were back on track we cut rod pockets , one red, one black and sandwiched all the layers together, (think quillow) and pinned it all around, leaving an opening to turn.
After it was all sewn together, we clipped all of the edges and corners and flipped it. Then we pinned again and I top stitched all around closing up the opening left over from turning.
Here is how it turned out.
Note the difference in lettering to cover traces of a previous life as a drop cloth.
The best way to see it is of course, outside The River Theater.
