Heraldic Arts and Sciences: Beyond the Banner and Shield. Part 10, March, 2004. Last Edit: 23 SEP 06

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Other Sites, Supporting Documents

Whips And Angels: A PDF article on painted cloth in the Middle ages. Very, very good.

Painted Seal Bag: 15th c. painted textile from the British Museum.

V&A Access to Images: Search for museum item number W.41-1952 to see a rare surviving painted wall hanging ca. 1600.

Heraldic Arts and Sciences:
Beyond the Banner and Shield
Part 10: SCA-Compatible Refurbishment:
A Sewing Box

I inherited this sewing box as part of a large selection of material goods that had to be redistributed. I had begun to work with my tendency to create and work on a variety of projects all at the same time by putting the components of a project into boxes and bags, so that when I was ready to work on them, everything was to hand. However, carrying these things in a general purpose basket at events became limiting. I wanted a particular basket for storage and cartage. This sewing box fit the bill, but the floral pattern was so glaringly modern that something had to be done.

I decided to paint this box with modern materials. The basket is woven of some sort of plastic material rather than dyed reed or other such material, and acrylic paint would be sturdy enough to stand up to the extended wear and tear that this basket is destined to endure as it accompanies me to years and years worth of camping events.

I chose to model the new picture on the Senses tapestries at the Cluny (and may I see them there before I die!). This is my favorite series of tapestries, and the maroon box was perfect in terms of color. It will go well with the Senses tapestry banner I have--and, as it is due for refurbishment, it's going to be an article here someday, too!

The sewing box in its original state.

The maroon-ish color is nice, and the plastic basketry isn't so obnoxious that it can't pass the 10-foot rule, but that floral cotton has to go.

It's a nice size for carrying several hand projects and a sewing kit; the lid locks down with an imitation bone clip, making sure that if I drop it, I don't lose everything in the basket.

The cotton has been covered with several layers of commercial gesso. This primes the cloth, preventing the paints from leaking through and thereby reducing the amount of paint needed. Furthermore, it covers the original pattern completely, thereby ensuring that the floral pattern won't show through.

It takes several coats to completely prime the cloth. The coats should be applied in opposite directions. That is, a first coat applied with all brush strokes running horizontal, a second coat applied with all brush strokes running vertically, a third coat applied horizontally, et cetera. There are a lot of good reasons for this, some more applicable to panel painting than cloth, but the primary reason here is to keep the surface as even and grain-free as possible

The cartoon for the painting, a monkey holding a banner. Click the picture to see a bigger image.

The drawing has been transferred to the gesso with transfer paper. Because there is cotton padding rather than a firm surface beneath the cloth, the transfer did not go smoothly. I had to go over the surface several times. Small sections did not transfer simply because I was unwilling to put so much pressure on the tracing stylus that it would punch through the drawing.

Transfer paper, if you've never used it, is simply a tissue thin sheet of paper covered on one side with an easily transferred substance; in this instance, graphite. You place it upon the surface you wish to transfer your image to with the covered surface of the paper against the receiving surface (so, graphite side to gesso covered cloth), place the drawing you want to transfer on top, and copy the drawing with a firm stylus--here, a ball point pen.

Here, the surface has been cleaned up and is ready for paint. I've gone over the transferred drawing with ink (applied with brush) and cleaned away whatever remained of the graphite from the transfer paper.

I used acrylic paints for this project; acrylics are simple to use, dry quickly, and durable, as mentioned above.

Halfway through the painting! The black background went on first; I had to redo the stems of the flowers with white in order to keep track of them. When it was time to paint the stems green, I simply applied a thin wash of green paint to the white stems, making the stems green without creating a mess on the black to clean up; the wash disappeared against the black background.

A few more comments regarding technique and another picture--including a look at the paints and brushes--can be seen in this blog entry, about 1/2 way down the page.

Note how the areas of the box that have been hit with gesso stand out and look like hell now that the black has been painted! There is also a section of the box that has come apart in the picture.

The painting is now complete. If you read the blog section, then you know that there were some issues I wanted to address; some of them have been taken care of in this shot. Scrapping the gesso off of the plastic "wicker" was a nightmare of boredom, but the sloppy look of all that white bothered me. Finally, I grabbed a tube of red oxide and just painted over the gesso. I've applied one layer of a polymer varnish over the painting--this particular varnish can be panted over, so if I want to work on improving the look or repairing damage, I can do so with ease. And I hammered a finishing nail into that durn detached spot.

Aside from the bits mentioned in the blog entry, I think it would have been a better idea to just disassemble the box top and paint the cloth separately, or paint a new cloth and attach it to the box. The project was made a little harder because I decided to simply paint it as a whole.

The heraldry? Obvious, of course, is the monkey supporting a banner of my arms. Also present; the red and white pole as livery colors, the seeblat inverted gules on the top, and the water bouget sable on the yellow collar.