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Creative anachronism
Feb. 14th, 2007 10:30 amA while back, some members of our barony kicked around the idea of the members of our Orders having some kind of regalia - say, a cloak. Just about every era has some sort of cloak-like garment, and you could easily make one to suit an individual's persona. By keeping the colors consistent, and using the badge of the order as decoration, you could show "this is our group."
The idea didn't go far, but I liked it, and have finally started to move forward with my Order of the Owl cloak project. I already had some blue wool and since I'm early period... hey, the cloak is done.
I want to embroider a white owl on the back. I'd like to style it in an Anglo-Saxon fashion, possibly after the style of the Bayeux Tapestry or after the fashion of bird ornaments in use. There's actually not much difference in the two styles - the metalwork seems to have a clearer "cell" structure than the embroidery. That's about it.
The difficulty: The order's heraldry includes "an owl displayed," which is to say, an owl looking straight at you with its wings outspread. Every freaking Anglo-Saxon bird has its head and body shown in profile. (Some of the bodies might be somewhere between profile and 3/4 view.) It seems especially important to show off the beak and perhaps the tail.
So I can either:
- Draw my best "owl displayed" in Anglo-Saxon style
or
- Change the pose of the owl slightly (which makes it "not the Order's heraldry")
If the main difficulty really is the beak... I'm tempted to go with Option 1. A costuming page for a PBS TV movie gives this adorable owl button as a detail, and I can easily see converting that cute li'l screech owl into a metalwork-inspired design.
Bonus amusement for you: Check out the birds boogying down at the center top.
The idea didn't go far, but I liked it, and have finally started to move forward with my Order of the Owl cloak project. I already had some blue wool and since I'm early period... hey, the cloak is done.
I want to embroider a white owl on the back. I'd like to style it in an Anglo-Saxon fashion, possibly after the style of the Bayeux Tapestry or after the fashion of bird ornaments in use. There's actually not much difference in the two styles - the metalwork seems to have a clearer "cell" structure than the embroidery. That's about it.
The difficulty: The order's heraldry includes "an owl displayed," which is to say, an owl looking straight at you with its wings outspread. Every freaking Anglo-Saxon bird has its head and body shown in profile. (Some of the bodies might be somewhere between profile and 3/4 view.) It seems especially important to show off the beak and perhaps the tail.
So I can either:
- Draw my best "owl displayed" in Anglo-Saxon style
or
- Change the pose of the owl slightly (which makes it "not the Order's heraldry")
If the main difficulty really is the beak... I'm tempted to go with Option 1. A costuming page for a PBS TV movie gives this adorable owl button as a detail, and I can easily see converting that cute li'l screech owl into a metalwork-inspired design.
Bonus amusement for you: Check out the birds boogying down at the center top.
