Quakers at the PRIDE London march on Saturday will have a brand new banner to walk behind, thanks to the creative efforts of Quaker artist Caroline Jariwala and her helpers Mark Russ and Neil Sawyer.

Quakers affirm same sex marriage

The march is part of a wider set of events, Pride London, that aims to raise awareness of discrimination and the issues and difficulties affecting the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

Caroline Jariwala: The banner was created in batik, a wax resist process whose art form is used in Africa and Asia. Batik wax pots were used to melt the wax. We used tjanting tools to fine line the wording and fabric dyes to in-fill the banner.

Mark Russ: After coming up with the succinct message ‘Quakers affirm same sex marriage’ we designed the lettering on a big roll of paper. We then stapled the material over the top and painted the wax over the design.

Drawing out the wording | Caroline Jariwala

Caroline added the vine and flowers round the edge. Then, with layers of newspaper underneath, we used fabric paint to in-fill the banner, the wax forming a boundary to the different colours.

Caroline hard at work | Mark Russ

When the paint was dry Caroline ironed out the wax, with newspaper on top as well as underneath. The hot iron melted the wax to lift it out of the fabric and penetrate into the newspaper. Caroline then added some finishing touches.

This is a similar technique to Japanese silk painting, which you can do with silver and gold markers instead of wax.

Almost done! | Caroline Jariwala

Links
Caroline Jariwala's website
Pride London

Other Friend articles
Same sex marriage update – June 2010
2010 epistle of Quakers in Britain