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There’s a serendipitous coincidence to the location of L’étendard Flags and Banners in Quebec City, where the flags that fly on the Peace Tower and elsewhere on Parliament Hill are manufactured.
The factory, in a non-descript industrial part of town, is on rue Jean Marchard, a street named for the area’s former Liberal member of Parliament and onetime Citizenship and Immigration minister and Senate speaker. The 21-year-old company, meanwhile, has been making Canada’s official flags for the past two years, for National Defence and Public Works and the Hill. Twenty staff members are involved, and it takes the better part of an entire day to complete a run of flags.
“We’re very proud that we produce the flags for the Parliament,” says Claude Arsenault, co-owner of L’étendard. “You can put your name on a list to obtain that flag, and I think it’s the nicest flag to do in Canada. It’s not just a piece of fabric; it’s a special piece of fabric. If the prime minister is on TV, they have Canadian flags behind him. When they have a race, what object do the winners carry around? They take a flag to say ‘I come from this country.’ It’s not just a piece of fabric; it represents the country. It’s something special.”
The current estimated waiting period to receive a 7.5-by-15-foot Peace Tower flag from Public Works is 59 years. If you can make do with one of the 4.5-by-9-foot flags that fly elsewhere on Parliament Hill, the waiting list is a more manageable 45 years. If you’re in a greater rush, a regulation Peace Tower flag that didn’t fly on the Hill can be bought from L’étendard for $280 plus taxes and shipping.
We recently asked Arsenault to give us a step-by-step tour of the flag-making process. Because of their current workload, we could only follow a Canada flag through the beginning and closing steps. The flags of Quebec and the U.S. appear in other steps.
To put your name on a list for a free flag, visit http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/citepa...ct/decouvrez-discover/drapeaux-flags-eng.html
To buy a flag from L’étendard, visit www.etendard.com
HOW TO MAKE A CANADIAN FLAG
Step 1: The red dye is mixed.
Step 2. A small test screening is done, and after processing, washing and drying, the colour is analyzed to make sure it is correct.
Step 3. A 300-metre roll of nylon passes through the screen of the Canadian flag. A small steel rod, guided by magnets on the underside of the belt on which the nylon sits, spreads the dye evenly.
Step 4. Once screened, the flags are fed into a machine that dries them.
Step 5. The flag comes out of the dryer and into a cart.
Step 6. After the screened flag is dried, the dye must be fixed so that it doesn’t run or bleed. To do this, the flags are fed into a second machine, essentially a sauna, where they hang in steamy 101C heat for 45 minutes.
Step 7. The colours of the flags when they come out of the steamer are vivid and saturated.
Step 8. The flags are washed.
Step 9. After the flags are washed and put through a wringer, they need to be unbunched. The bin in the foreground holds the flags straight out of the wringer. Workers behind unfurl the flags.
Step 10. Flags are unbunched and dried.
Step 11. The flags go through one final machine that stretches them slightly, if necessary, so that they exactly match the required specifications.
Step 12. Larger flags, such as those that fly over the Peace Tower, are made in segments. The Peace Tower ones measure 7-1/2 x 15 feet, and are made on four parts: one each for the red bars, and two for the maple leaf and white background. Here, workers use heat knives to trim a panel.
Step 13. Sewing machine operators each perform one task in completing the flags. One might sew flag panels together, or double- and quadruple-hem the seams, or sew the rope and toggle into the flag.
Step 14. The flags are folded and bagged. It takes two people to fold one of the Peace Tower flags.
Step 15. The finished flag is ready to be shipped.
Step 16. Meanwhile, the screen used to make the flags is pressure-washed and dried, and put away to be re-used at a later date.
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
The factory, in a non-descript industrial part of town, is on rue Jean Marchard, a street named for the area’s former Liberal member of Parliament and onetime Citizenship and Immigration minister and Senate speaker. The 21-year-old company, meanwhile, has been making Canada’s official flags for the past two years, for National Defence and Public Works and the Hill. Twenty staff members are involved, and it takes the better part of an entire day to complete a run of flags.
“We’re very proud that we produce the flags for the Parliament,” says Claude Arsenault, co-owner of L’étendard. “You can put your name on a list to obtain that flag, and I think it’s the nicest flag to do in Canada. It’s not just a piece of fabric; it’s a special piece of fabric. If the prime minister is on TV, they have Canadian flags behind him. When they have a race, what object do the winners carry around? They take a flag to say ‘I come from this country.’ It’s not just a piece of fabric; it represents the country. It’s something special.”
The current estimated waiting period to receive a 7.5-by-15-foot Peace Tower flag from Public Works is 59 years. If you can make do with one of the 4.5-by-9-foot flags that fly elsewhere on Parliament Hill, the waiting list is a more manageable 45 years. If you’re in a greater rush, a regulation Peace Tower flag that didn’t fly on the Hill can be bought from L’étendard for $280 plus taxes and shipping.
We recently asked Arsenault to give us a step-by-step tour of the flag-making process. Because of their current workload, we could only follow a Canada flag through the beginning and closing steps. The flags of Quebec and the U.S. appear in other steps.
To put your name on a list for a free flag, visit http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/citepa...ct/decouvrez-discover/drapeaux-flags-eng.html
To buy a flag from L’étendard, visit www.etendard.com
HOW TO MAKE A CANADIAN FLAG
Step 1: The red dye is mixed.
Step 2. A small test screening is done, and after processing, washing and drying, the colour is analyzed to make sure it is correct.
Step 3. A 300-metre roll of nylon passes through the screen of the Canadian flag. A small steel rod, guided by magnets on the underside of the belt on which the nylon sits, spreads the dye evenly.
Step 4. Once screened, the flags are fed into a machine that dries them.
Step 5. The flag comes out of the dryer and into a cart.
Step 6. After the screened flag is dried, the dye must be fixed so that it doesn’t run or bleed. To do this, the flags are fed into a second machine, essentially a sauna, where they hang in steamy 101C heat for 45 minutes.
Step 7. The colours of the flags when they come out of the steamer are vivid and saturated.
Step 8. The flags are washed.
Step 9. After the flags are washed and put through a wringer, they need to be unbunched. The bin in the foreground holds the flags straight out of the wringer. Workers behind unfurl the flags.
Step 10. Flags are unbunched and dried.
Step 11. The flags go through one final machine that stretches them slightly, if necessary, so that they exactly match the required specifications.
Step 12. Larger flags, such as those that fly over the Peace Tower, are made in segments. The Peace Tower ones measure 7-1/2 x 15 feet, and are made on four parts: one each for the red bars, and two for the maple leaf and white background. Here, workers use heat knives to trim a panel.
Step 13. Sewing machine operators each perform one task in completing the flags. One might sew flag panels together, or double- and quadruple-hem the seams, or sew the rope and toggle into the flag.
Step 14. The flags are folded and bagged. It takes two people to fold one of the Peace Tower flags.
Step 15. The finished flag is ready to be shipped.
Step 16. Meanwhile, the screen used to make the flags is pressure-washed and dried, and put away to be re-used at a later date.
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
