A prison chaplain at Dovegate Prison, previously a priest at St. Ninian’s Episcopal Church, Prestwick, which I attended, requested me to design banners for the prison chapel. Each was hung temporarily in St. Ninian’s and blessed before being sent. Many people contributed materials and it felt as if they were sending their greetings to the prisoners.

The sky background of ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ is hand-dyed cheesecloth (to represent heaven, eternity and sky). The hands are made of layers of linen and canvas, lightly quilted. The dove is made of satins and layers of sheer fabrics, again lightly quilted. The nails and crown of thorns are made of silk, velvet, sheer fabrics and gold lamé. A variety of threads (some of glitter) were used in sewing. Satin stitch (close zig-zag) was used to apply the layers to each other and ultimately to the backing material. Borders were reinforced with pelmet stiffening and applied last of all. Fabric sleeves were sewn on the reverse side for handling poles.