Alice's Translate Quilt--Kransen

Kristen Lavransdatter as a bride

Kransen in Norwegian means wreath or bridal wreath.  For my translate quilt I decided to depict the main character in Nobel Prize winning Norwegian author Sigrid Undset's trilogy called KRISTEN LAVRANSDATTER.  The first book in the trilogy is called in English THE BRIDAL WREATH.  The book is set in the Middle Ages.  Kristen defies her parents by obstinately insisting on marrying the man she loves.  This first volume recounts her passionate love affair with Erlend and how broken-hearted her parents are that she won't marry their choice for her.  Eventually Kristen's will prevails, and she and Erlend marry.  But though she "wins", she battles guilt for the rest of her life for defying her parents and for, as it turns out, choosing a man for a husband who turns out to bring her much grief.

I first read this trilogy as a teenager.  I loved the books so much that I have read all three of them each decade of my life.  As soon as I learned the theme for this time, I immediately thought of these books, which of course I read in translation.

To depict Kristen I used a photograph of a bride, which I scanned and then posterized on Photoshop.
The posterization allowed me better to see the shadows on the bride's face.  I then drew it onto flesh-colored fabric and used colored pencils for the features and the shadowing.  I altered the original bride's happy smile to one that depicts how pensive Kristen was on her wedding day.  She looks over her shoulder, perhaps pondering if she has made a grievous mistake.

I used a fine-tipped Sharpie for her eyelashes, and a dot of white paint for the highlights in her blue eyes.  Kristen's hair is constructed of strips of various colors of yellow and gold fabrics.  I fused and then appliqued down the face, as well as her hair.  I machine quilted the background, which was made up of two batiks, a dark green foliage and cut-outs of birch or aspen trees from another batik.  I used artificial flowers and a vine for the wreath, using both thread and glue to attach it.

Below is a close-up of Kristen's face.