I made a personal banner for Daggers & Hemlock, to help contribute to the festiveness of the room, even though my device hasn’t yet passed.  (The banner was easy and cheap to make, and if I have to change it, I will.)

But when my banner was up with the others, I didn’t like how I’d made it.  I’d embroidered outlines of the bees on, because I wanted them to show on both sides equally, and I wasn’t sure about whether the outline would be important in identifying the insects as bees, and thought I might outline them in dark gray, and then fill them in black when I had more time.

Other banners just used Heat-n-Bond entirely – and theirs were more readable.  Which is the #1 Rule of Heraldry, right?  "Can You Read It From 100 Paces?"  I messed around with a silhouette of a bee, and came up with this:

Much better, isn’t it.  That cutout is just laid on there – I need to pick out the embroidery, make three more bees and fuse them down.

And the cutout is just a better depiction of a bee, too – I had to do some artistic interpretation of the very pixelated lines on my ‘heraldic bee’ (look at the ‘Period Images’ album) and tried to make the legs actually look right, complete with pollen baskets.

I’m looking forward to seeing the banners shown at Meridian Grand Tourney, and seeing how they’re constructed.  The cotton/poly and Heat-n-Bond used here were a great starting place, being cheap and easy, but they’re kind of challenging my sensibilities, and I’d like to see a more period solution.

Incidentally, I saw an all-black bee in our yard a couple weeks ago, and Google tells me it’s a mason bee, a gentle pollinator.  Nice!