Back to Heraldry A&S Main Page Back to Merouda.Com	Heraldic Arts and Sciences: Beyond the Banner and Shield Part 4: Costume Accessories the first Not all projects on this site are made by my hand. This is a small survey article regarding some of the things that I have acquired, designed, or made with heraldry in mind. Many of them feature uses of livery colors or charges rather than Arms.
Please forgive the lack of clarity. The extremely curved surface of the cabochon makes scanning difficult.		Two small carved amber pendants purchased from Time Traveling Traders. They may be worn as necklaces or as pins. On the left, a willow tree, representing the Middle Kingdom's badge for the Order of the Willow. At this time, I usually wear it suspended from a silver chain; however, I am planning on making a new necklace for it, with purple and yellow beads as per the badge (purpure, a willow tree eradicated Or). The second pendant is a gryphon, which works either as per my Arms or in connection to Northshield. I often wear this suspended from a black-and-gold cord, in accordance with my own heraldry.
		Tarrach Alfson and Roxelena Bramante made the components of this necklace. Tarrach made the bone pendant as a gift to everyone who participated in the Northshield Arts & Sciences Pentathlon, hence, the A&S badge surrounded by five stars). I asked Roxelena to bead a necklace to it according to her own design, as long as she used the colors in my Arms, black and yellow. She designed the necklace according to that request, using yellow jasper and dyed bone beads.
		Another heraldic necklace. This time, it's an amber pendant featuring dual badges: the Order of the Laurel and the Order of the Willow. The pendant was purchased from Time Traveling Traders. It is attached to an amber and hematite necklace. This was purchased from Astrid of the Yellow Rose as a rosary. I bought it because it was a lovely rosary in my heraldic colors—black and yellow, albeit a very, very, very dark yellow. However, as time went on, both the cross and the Y-bead broke, and I elected to use the remaining intact necklace to support my Laurel badge.
		This heraldic bracelet was given as a consort's favor to all the potential consorts from the First Coronet Tourney of the Principality of Northshield. It is made of freshwater pearls and small black and gold beads, a refection of the Arms of the Principality: Sable, a compass rose argent within a laurel wreath, in chief an ancient crown Or.
		A beaded veil, made with black and yellow seed beads. To the best of my knowledge, 13-14^th century veils were not decorated with a hanging seed bead trim. This is an SCA convention that most people find acceptable, and frankly, I'd rather see a woman who wears a cotehardie covering her hair with a beaded veil than running about with loose hair, or, worse, big, modern hair. I made this to go with a heraldic sleeved surcoat; I hope to have the whole outfit complete by 14 October 2004, in time for the First Coronation of the Kingdom of Northshield. I have also seen these veils used as basket covers and as table decorations.
		A close-up of the hanging seed bead trim. I learned to do this from a kind lady, Eustacia, and I can't thank her enough for teaching me this technique; I intend to use it to make some necklaces. The instructions for this technique can be found at the class notes page on medievalbeads.com. Look for the section entitled "Beaded Edgings."
		Dressing pins. The ends are acorns. Acorns frequently appear as a charge or a badge in heraldry, although they are such a frequent design motif that they cannot be assumed to be heraldic. You will notice the linen chin band in the picture of the beaded veil above; I purchased these reproductions of period examples in order to pin my heraldic veil with something more period and more heraldic than a straight pin. As I bought about 4 pairs of these pins, I will leave some of them plain, and paint others of them black and yellow. You can purchase these, and others, from Billy and Charlie's Fine Pewter Goods.