Making prayer flags at Craft Napa


This has been a very hard week with trumps assault on our civil liberties. It has been stressful, anger inducing, frustrating, painful, and scary. I feel traumatized, as each day the news got worse and worse.

But as I write this post I feel renewed. My heart and spirit is lifted with each photo that I edit. I am in awe of the beauty and passion in each and every flag created.

We start by using acrylic inks to paint colorful fabric for each flag.

Then we add symbols and images with stamping and thermofax screens.

Next; meaningful words and messages.

then crop them into rectangles to be strung onto ribbon


that will be securely stitched in place at home.

Check out these glorious strings of flags:
Look at all these joyful faces from creating powerful messages of love and hope to send out into the universe. Good soul-enriching stuff!

Look at Mary Ellen Gale’s beautiful string of flags hanging outside her home. 🙂

This is such a beautiful process to take part in.

I look forward to every time I get to be a facilitator for creating these talismans of good will and love.

In the mean time, I’m determined to try and stay strong and fight the fight to preserve our liberties and freedom in this country that we love. I will do it through staying informed and aware of what’s happening, and create work that is cathartic and meaningful to my soul. For me, that is the only way to get through really difficult times.

 

Now, I’m off to Mobile, Alabama today to teach a 3 day acrylic inks workshop with a private group of art quilters. See you next week!

Keep creating, it’s good for the soul, Judy

 


I’d love to spark your creativity at one of these upcoming events:

March 3rd, 10 am  Lecture/Trunk show: It’s All in the Process, Making an award winning quilt and everything that can go wrong along the way.  Meissner’s Sewing, Sacramento, CA

April 21-23 Paint and Print-A-Palooza- 3 day workshop,  Meissner’s Sewing, Sacramento, CA

May 5-7 Prayer Flags- 1 day, and Paint and Print-A-Palooza- 2 day workshop, SLO Creative Studio, San Luis Obispo, CA

October 5-10  NZ National Quilt Symposium, Christchurch, NZ
Painting Imagery with Textile Paints- 2 days
Tea & Ephemera
Paint & Print-A-Palooza
Blessings in the Wind: Mixed-media prayer flags

 

ABOUT JUDY
IMG_5538Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.


15 responses to “Making prayer flags at Craft Napa”

  1. A beautiful post both because of the artwork and the sentiment. We all need some uplifting thoughts and beauty. Your students look so happy. I wonder if there is a healing quality to making prayer flags? Have a wonderful and hopefully less stressful week. xoxo

    • There is definitely a healing aspect to making the flags Jeannie. Right after the election, I was feeling really overwhelmed and spent several days making strings of flags for a sick friend. I was able to disengage from the stress that I had been feeling because I was so focussed on colors, textures and images while in the process of painting and stamping the fabric that I began to relax. Then I spent time focused on each piece of fabric, deciding what message I wanted each flag to say. It was really healing.

    • Hi Chela,

      thanks for stopping by, I’m so glad my post brightened your day. Making prayer flags really help calm the anxiety so many of us are suffering from these days. Have a great day!

      • Yours are beautiful. I have some that I made hanging in my sewing room. I am looking for ideas to help a friend who is still teaching. I retired three years ago. I would like her students (3rd graders) to make individual flags that represent and inspire each one of them. Any suggestions are welcomed.

        • Oh thats great! They could use fabric or canvas for the flags and paint them with light/bright colored acrylic based paints or inks. They could use markers made for fabric to write messages and draw on the flags There are quite a few brands available on the market, even Sharpie came out with a line of markers for fabric.

      • Your prayer flags are beautiful. I have some in my sewing room, but these days do warrant more peaceful messaging. I want to help my friend have her third graders make inspirational, personalize flags for the classroom. Any ideas are welcomed.

  2. Bringing politics into art is never a good thing.
    I admired your work until you put your personal political views into your blog.
    Stress, traumatized…please……
    I just lost a family member to Glioblastoma….
    I consider that true stress, heartbreak.

  3. I would like to make a prayer flag at home. Wondering how you print sayings on the flags. Can you provide some information?

    Thank you!!

    Terri

  4. I love these! You posted this in January, 2017 and I just found it today, Sept. 5th, 2020. You heartfelt flags are ever so much needed today! Thank you.

  5. Your work is beautiful .. thank you! I volunteer and teach art to children. Could you explain a simple way for them to get such beautiful designs on the fabric? And what type of fabric? Acrylic paints? Are they watered down?
    Then we would use indelible markers to add text, right?
    Thank you!

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