the making of a wedding banner day 1

A few months ago while working in my studio, I got the idea to use some of my mother's sketches to create the "just married" sign for my niece's upcoming wedding. I remember the one my mom made for my sister waaaay back in the 60's, and I thought this would be a nice way to honor "Nana's" memory. Well, now I'm down to a little less then 2 weeks before the wedding, so I really need to start on this. I figured if I blogged about the process, I would stay focused and motivated, I hope. haha.
Step 1 was finding the right material. It needed to be strong and flexible to stand up to the wind, easy to paint on, and last for years to come. I found a nice piece of upholstry vinyl at Hancock Fabrics, ON SALE, which is always a plus.

Step 2 was taping the carbon paper onto the vinyl. Now this is special carbon paper, it was also my mom's. We artists save everything, because you never know when you might need it. When my mom went home to glory, we found 3 boxes of empty toilet papers rolls. I still wonder what was in her mind with them. LOL
Step 3, the sketches. This was difficult because while looking thru my mom's things, I got detoured on memory lane. I still miss her very much. I couldn't find the exact sketch she used for my sister, but I did find one to create a OOAK piece for my niece.
Step 4 was tracing the sketch onto the vinyl. This was a little hard because I didn't want to use anything too sharp and ruin the sketch, but I needed to get the images traced onto the vinyl. I ended up using a "bone" that is normally used to put crisp folds in paper. It had a thin but not sharp point, but was difficult to hold. The final result was worth the hand cramps.

Now to paint, but that's a job for another day. So check back in a few days to see how I'm doing.

~Debbi~