Wolf Head Heraldic Device for Baronial Device Banners

You might remember that my Barony has a banner device project where the registered heraldic devices of the populace are recorded in order of registration or moving to the Barony. Well, I've recently been helping some friends by creating their devices for the banner project.

Some of the banners on display in a hall

I finished this one recently and I was quite happy with how it turned out. It is blazoned as 'Purpure, a wolf's head cabossed and on a chief argent a rose azure between two ivy vines vert'. (And a big shout out to the people who keep the Lochac Roll of Arms updated and running - it is a fantastic resource for scribes and artisans!)  Kingdom of Lochac Roll of Arms - Home (sca.org)

I embroidered the rose and ivy with DMC cotton floss on a separate piece of white fabric using split and stem stitches after marking the design out with a Frixion marker. After ironing the finished piece, I cut the base fabric down and sewed it to a small piece of white felt which would become the chief part of the shield shape.

The wolf head was cut out of white felt and stitched onto a purple felt base. I added an extra piece of felt for the muzzle part, to add a bit of depth to the piece. The image on the Roll of Arms showed a smiling wolf, but the recipient preferred it drawn looking a little more fierce. 

A piece of black felt was added for the nose, and some cream felt for inside the ears.

Then I started embroidering on details in black and white cotton.

I added a few extra lines to add definition and visual interest.

Finally, I sewed the chief in place and used some gilt embroidery thread to define the purple and white backgrounds. I had a luscious deep blue bead that looked good inside the centre of the flower.

Decorating complete, the very last task was to sew another shield shape in felt to the back to add strength to the piece. (The banners get rolled up when not in use, so a backing layer is a good idea to stop fabric distortion.)

The completed piece is now sewn in it's proper place on the banner and looks good!