In our first meeting it soon became apparent that her rosary had always been a great support to her. This gave birth to the idea of incorporating a drawing of her rosary into her shroud.
She showed me a very special rosary, with flowers and leaves on each bead. A beautiful rosary handmade by nuns.
Each shroud is made entirely according to the wishes of the customer. I make my shrouds from hand-painted silk, which I felt with wool. Since the felting process shrinks the shroud by about 20-25% and it was the intention that the drawing of the rosary will be exactly on the front when the shroud is folded, I started by making a custom drawing on the computer.
My client wanted a shroud with warm, striking colours. I made the front in golden yellow tones with the rosary in blue, pink/red and green. In between large pink roses (her favorite flower) and green stems and leaves.
The yellow of the front runs through orange to pink. In the pink part I also painted large flowers. I made the shroud in 2 parts and sewed them together after felting.
When folded, the yellow front with rosary goes over the pink part, but a strip of the pink part remains visible. This pink part fits nicely with the pink roses on the front.
For felting I used a nice soft ocher yellow Merino wool. This colors fit nicely with both the yellow and the pink painting.
My client has now picked up her shroud and luckily she is very satisfied with it.
It remains special to be able to make shrouds. For me, these are the most beautiful assignments.
