Monday, May 18, 2015

Protege Belt

My amazing husband became protege to Baron Don Vilhelm Silberhammer at Solstice Court in December.  Let me back up a bit, for those not into the SCA.

There are those who receive recognition for their outstanding service to this historical study/reenactment group. Baron Vilhelm is one such who received that recognition, by way of an award called the Order of the Pelican.

Members of this order sometimes take on students, to learn the ways of service. These students are called proteges, and are recognized by yellow belts they are asked to wear. Vilhelm and Sven took on that master/student relationship in an official capacity in December.

Sven's persona is that of a Templar, who cannot wear buckles (according to the Rule of the Templar, the book on how Templar soldiers were required to live, dress, eat, etc.). Templars often wore rope belts - a practice Sven took on readily. When it came time to don a yellow belt, however, we determined the best way to make this happen would be a linen sash.

I added a section at one end of the sash with a symbol from Baron Vilhelm's device embroidered onto it. This helps determine who Sven is "tied to," and it becomes a part of Sven and Vilhelm's history together, perhaps one day to be passed on to someone else.

This is done in black silk, mostly stem stitch, on dandelion yellow linen. This section of the sash is lined, so the ugly back side of the embroidery won't show or snag on anything.

Other than the fact that their tongues sticking out kind of got lost in translation and ended up looking like lame beaks, I'm rather pleased.