As every Hollywood director knows, it is a dangerous business to try and remake a true classic.
However, when the original artist gets in touch and asks you to rework and improve his ideas, it becomes a more intriguing prospect. The original banner was fixed with glue and fell apart in the rain in Athens, apparently a bad omen for the Reds on that fateful night in May 2007.
To avoid any such omens repeating, the new version will be more permanent, fixed with traditional stitched craftwork. It will feature 6 cups this time, of course, and these will be in full detail to give that metallic gleam. The even number of trophies on show also allows for more symmetry in the layout too – I was keen (as was Dom) not to make this new flag a straight copy. It is a not to the old one, but ready to forge a new history too.
I made a good start today, printing the stencils before ‘stitching’ them together with tape. Each banner I produce prints onto 72 pieces of A4 which have to be painstakingly built together like a jigsaw, and lined up to the millimetre. Each shape is then cut from the paper to create a stencil. This will be used tomorrow to mark up the fabric.
Continued today with the marking-up of fabric after ironing my Bondaweb fusible webbing to the back of it. When the shapes are later cut out, they will be ready to fix to the background fabric with a hot steam iron
Next day’s job was to embellish the cups with lowlights. This is very fiddly and time consuming, by the effect is worth it, giving a metallic appearance from more than a few feet away.
