DCanada and Zanzibar Banners
Debbie Linnell, grade 3 Teacher, Braefoot Elementary School,Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada.
K/1: Made the beaded fringe and handprints
Grade 2’s: made the beaded fringe with the feathers
Grade 3’s: made handprints and contributed special Canadian ‘pin-ons’
Grade 4’s: helped with the handprints, ‘pin-ons’, and
designs around the letters
Grade 5’s: made the fringe with their little buddies and did the
black stitching around the edge.
Project Progression
1. Purchase natural coloured canvas (thick enough to prevent ink ‘bleeding’, but thin enough to allow pins etc. to pass through easily)
2. Cut a paper pattern for each letter. Lay them out on the canvas and trace in pencil
3. Sketch a second letter inside (approximately 1-2 cm smaller on each edge)
4. Outline the inner and outer letters with fabric pastels, then ‘heat-set’ them
5. Grade 4 class decorated between the inner and outer letters to create a thicker, decorative outline. The children used fabric pastels. These decorations were then ‘heat-set’.
6. A border of handprints was added. Water-soluble block printing ink was used with spaces left for the Zanzibar children to add their handprints (this gives the impression that all of the children are holding hands). Masking tape was used to (temporarily) mark the location of the handprints. The children rolled out the ink with brayers and then rolled the ink directly onto their hands. They then pressed their hands onto the canvas. Next children signed their handprints with permanent pens.
7. Grades 1, 3, and 4 classes contributed handprints
8. Grades 3 and 4 brought in small tokens that were pinned on to the banners. These tokens were representative of themselves or of Canada. Paper items were encased in “MacTac”. Items were pinned inside the letters.
9. The K/1, grade 2 and grade 4/5 classes added a fringe onto the lower edge of the banners. The fringe was made out of beads, pipe cleaners, and feathers. Space is left for the Zanzibar children to add to the fringe and to add their own token ‘pin-on’ items
10. The grade 5 class used wool to blanket-stitch all of the other edges. (The grade 3 teacher, Lynn, had hemmed the edges on the sewing machine previously). The top edge was not hemmed. Loops for hanging were machine-sewed to the top edge.
Special Notes: Students deliberately left the banners unfinished so that the project was a joint Braefoot- Jambiani initiative. Braefoot school invites the children from Jambiani school to add to the fringe and also to pin on anything that is special to them and/or to Zanzibar. Braefoot school also invites the family and school community of Jambiani to add their handprints around the edge. This could be done with paint, ink, mud - anything! That way the banners will look like Canadian children and their community are holding hands with the children and community of Zanzibar.
The hope is that in this way a more tangible connection is created between the children from Braefoot and Jambiani school communities- even though they are living a world apart!
This captures Braefoot school’s vision for “the world they want” - their wish is for a world where everyone is holding hands in friendship.
An illustrated letter for the children of Jambiani school, and a photograph of the Braefoot children with the banners, was also created and sent to Zanzibar.