MES banner: Finished!

A couple of days ago I started sharing the story of the banner I recently finished for the Montessori elementary school my sister's kids went to.  Here's the finished piece, it has wire inserted into an extra channel on the back so that the top doesn't flop forward when it's hung from a banner pole (the round top edge was tricky to plan for).  I love the way it turned out-  I think the pitchers are my favorite, they're made out of a silk velvet I hand dyed a long time ago.   I also love the way the feathers fill out the edge, they look nicer than a lot of my feathers do!

MES Banner, c. Shannon Conley, 2019, Photo Mike Cox

The whole banner is very small, 30" x 20" because we wanted it to be easily carried by a kindergartner (or younger).  So when it came time to mount, I didn't want a giant heavy flagpole, and I thought it should be a little shorter than a traditional flagpole to so it didn't look so teeny on a giant pole.  Unfortunately, pre-made stands for skinnier poles are hard to come by (or really cheesy looking), so I bought a 3/4 inch dowel for the pole and made my own stand from some chunks of wood from Lowes.  It turned out light enough to carry and stable enough as well.

I finished it in time for each of the kindergartners to get to carry into chapel one week, and Alex carried it for Kindergarten graduation.  Apparently they all loved carrying it, and it's received positive reviews from adults at the church and school as well.  It was a lovely project to work on and I hope it proves meaningful to the school for many years in the future.