Finally, something creative again

[oloriel]

... absurd but true: After March's creativity spree, now that I've spent a couple of weeks predominantly in the garden, I feel like I haven't done anything artsy/craftsy in AGES. It's only weeks. Pfffff.

Anyway, yesterday I finished something craftsy for the Drachenfest LARP - a banner for the healers of the Grey Camp. They had a banner a long time ago. It showed a grey wing and a blue flower that was meant to be Athelas, which nobody recognised as there is no real consensus among scholars what Athelas actually is (well, either basil or marjoram, but which is it?) and the artist didn't bother with scholarly opinion anyway and painted something that actually looked more like a blue variety of bindweed. Fair enough, as in Drachenfest herbology, Athelas is symbolised by blue cocktail umbrellas. This is (almost) beside the point. Anyway, the arrogant Elven damsel lady who made that banner kept it when she defected to Silver changed camps, so then our healers had none for a couple of years. When they still had none after last year's Drachenfest, I decided to make a new one. Rather more formal than the old one. The result isn't actually all that stellar, but I'm quite proud of the thought that went into it, so I have to ramble about it anyway.





Heraldically, of course, this is total nonsense. But that's unavoidable -- the main colour of the Grey Camp is (OMG SURPRISE) grey. Which does not exist heraldically; there's either sable (black) or argent (silver as represented by white), but nothing in between. As I had to incorporate grey in the first place, I didn't bother looking up heraldic conventions at all. Anything that works anyway is pure chance. ;)

So, what was I thinking? The positive aspects of Grey are Wisdom/Knowledge, as commonly symbolised by the owl, and Time, as symbolised by the hourglass. The snake and staff, of course, are an allusion to Aesclepios so you can easily guess that this has something to do with healing. No more Athelas discussions! ;) (The staff with the hourglass on which an owl is perched also happens to be part of the Grey Avatar's insignia, the Grey sceptre so to say. Somebody actually built this! I just painted a simplified version. Two in one! --. Actually, as it happens, owls are also associated with Aesclepios. So, three in one?
The motto, Tempus curat omnia, "Time heals all [wounds]", I just couldn't resist - it's just perfect for the healers labouring for the Father (or rather, currently, the Mother) of Time, and it also alludes to the negative aspect of Grey, which is Oblivion. After all, why does time heal all wounds? Because after enough time passes, the wounds are forgotten. (If they still hurt, not enough time has passed. :P)
It's almost doubly clever: The Grey healers are (mostly) neutral, healing enemies and friends alike. (Many think they do this by accident, but it's actually part of their code.) Time heals all! It doesn't work grammatically, alas, because omnia only refers to things, not beings, that would be omnes. But the allusion will very likely work nonetheless. :D

Red was mostly used as a contrast colour simply because it's such an eyecatcher (direly needed with the otherwise drab white/grey/black ;)), but of course it also happens to be the colour of blood, which the healers will presumably get to deal with.

And because I'm not sure everybody who sees that brilliant new banner will actually get all this, I had to spell it out somewhere. You can go on with your lives now ;)

Comments

[barbardin.livejournal.com]

Das ist toll geworden! :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Danke, ich bin auch ein bissel stolz drauf! ^^ (Ich weiß, hätt man üüüberhaupt nicht gemerkt...)

[independence1776]

I like it!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yay! :)

[meril.livejournal.com]

I like it! It's a nice, big size.

And yeah, don't worry about the heraldic conventions unless the particular setting of Drachenfest has its own.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Hah! The particular setting of the Drachenfest is that all sorts of people from all sorts of worlds go there. So every heraldic convention ever described in fantasy or history is fair game. I'm safe there! I just wanted to explain in case some of the history buffs on my f-list would object to "... grey? There is no grey!" ^^

[hhimring]

Looks good!
And surely people who know more about the Grey healers and the Drachenfest will get at least some of this without explanation?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
Yes, probably. OK, I'll admit it, I'm just plain vain ATM. >_>

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

In the SCA, grey is considered an artistic variation of Argent. Which, yes, I know, you don't care about. But I wanted to say something, and "Oooh, pretty banner!" doesn't seem to cover it. 8)

If you want to do more banners, and you would like, I can point you at a couple of articles on different techniques that SCA friends of mine have tried. You know. If you're interested.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It might be in real history, too (a lighter shade than the one I used, presumably, though). I have no clue! But then, I'd have argent on argent (grey on white), which is hardly better! XD

I actually don't plan to do more than the one - I'm normally a botanist, I just couldn't witness the sad lack of healer's banner anymore! - but if the articles are on materials and technique rather than just heraldic lore, do point. Your never know when that might come in handy.