'Bunnies' Heraldic Device

I finished another heraldic device for the Baronial device banner a while ago. It has a felt base with applied felt on top.

I had a couple of tries at working the bunnies, with slips being my first idea. It was unsuccessful, and in the end I appliqued a bunny shaped felt base to add a bit of dimension, and then split stitched on top of it.

The central chevron was stitched in place and then gilt thread appliqued over the edges. The pink dots are guidelines for where ermines need to be embroidered.

I did the back legs of the bunny in a very pale grey to look a bit like shadow and add depth. I did a black outline for definition and added shiny black beads for eyes. I used smaller black beads for the centre parts of the ermines. They really catch the light.

The teeny cotton puffs came in a Christmas craft pack and I was just thrilled with them. 

Pinning and sewing another piece of felt on the back for extra stability (the banner gets rolled up).

The completed piece. I like how this one turned out.

Some of the banners from the Baronial Device Banner Project on display last year.

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!
 

Two New Banners for Baronial Device Banner Project

A relatively recent project that I completed (and forgot to post about) was the creation of two new banners for my Barony's device banner project.

My Barony has a series of banners in Baronial colours that record the registered heraldry of the populace. It is a great chronological record of our members, and the banners are a really striking decoration at events.

Some of the banners at an event in 2017 (I think). There are two junior navy, two red, two white and now two navy banners.

I got involved in this project when I was quite new to the SCA and have made many of the devices over the years for people who did not have the skills or time.

In the last several years I have been responsible for managing the banner project, and we recently ran out of room on banner six. I created two new blank banners using almost ten metres of navy cotton fabric and cotton lining. They were edged in red bias binding. I copied the previous style and previous construction technique of hand sewing the bias on with a combination of running stitch and back stitch. That was quite a lot of hand sewing! I didn't mind it though, because I find hand sewing quite soothing when there isn't a deadline looming.

Heraldic Device Banner - Device with Snails

I finished another banner device in September. I used felt again; it is so durable and doesn't fray, and I like working with it.

The motifs were sewn on first with tiny stitches. I went around the big motif with couched gilt cord and also added the same style of couching under the green panel at the top.

I used DMC cotton in split stitch to do the detail on the snails. I considered googly eyes, but added eyes on stalks in white cotton done in split stitch. I outlined the snails with black DMC floss, also in split stitch.

I added a white piece of felt on the back to cover the stitches and make the panel stronger.

These banners are a baronial project for my local SCA group. They have been created by members of the Barony to record the registration of heraldic devices by the populace. They look nice when put up at events, remind us of past members and old friends, encourage newer members to get their heraldry registered, and can be part of a fun 'guess the person' game.

Devices are listed under the devices of the Baron and Baroness in power at the time of registration. The blue panels are the oldest, followed by red and then white.