SCRIPTURE IN CLOTH

Sina Kaiser carefully places cloth remnants on the 4-by-6-foot banners draped across tables in the basement of First Presbyterian Church, hoping to get just the right image based on stories from the Bible.

Kaiser spends about 100 hours on each banner creation, making them from scrap cloth and material she has collected over the years. Each banner tells a story, whether it is the creation of mankind or the wedding feast at Cana. There are 10 in all.

The designs were created to help decorate the bland walls of the church's fellowship hall, but they also add texture and color to the space as well.

In the creation story banner, the animals represent both land, sea and air, as well as both hemispheres of the Earth. The birds have actual feathers and the elephants' bodies are made from leather.

As you move around the room, the banners' stories move from Old Testament to New Testament scriptures. The bounty of God's creation begins the story, which ends with an angel choir in heaven.

Kaiser worked on the banners for as little as two hours a day and as long as eight trying to get them completed. Some took longer because they have characters depicted. She drew faces and features on nearly every one except Judas shown at the Last Supper.

"We could all put our face there," she said.

The final banner showed a choir of angels singing and was used in All Saint's Day celebrations at the church during November. Each member of the church was asked to create themselves as the angel for display on the banner.