My heraldry progress

[Sir Edward]

Well, I decided I like the blue and will keep it. I went to Michael's and color-matched it. The "Azure Blue" is the closest match, so I bought some of that in acrylic and enamel to experiment. Also got some other blues to mix in if I want to tweak it a little. Also got some stencil material and adhesive. I'll post pics once I get a chance to actually get started on the painting.

[Sir Brian]

Good luck and go carefully! Use that green painted plate I sent with
you shield for a few practice runs! 

[Sir Edward]

I tried some of the paints I picked up just to see how smoothly they apply on that green plate. It's interesting, it's fairly transparent. I may have to paint several coats or something.

I tried cutting out the stencil using plastic stencil material. The edges may be slightly more rough than I was hoping. Hopefully it'll work out OK!

[Sir Brian]

Did you try any of those cream type of paints? Michaels has some paints that are thicker
than hand cream and you can apply them with a stiff bristled brush. The paint takes 24
hours to dry and will actually have a slightly textured flat finish. It's what I used on my
shield charges and it worked great in a single coat and it doesn't run under the stencil.

Here is two products you absolutely MUST have for the best results!
Stencil Adhesive:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=cp0173
Stencil Paint Crème:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=cp0162

I just realized I may have told you previously that they were acrylic based instead of oil-based.
Sorry if that caused you some confusion! 

Seriously try that creme paint...You will be much happy with the control of the paint.

[Sir Edward]

OK, I'll go back and look for those. I bought some of this:

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=cp0027

They have lots of acrylics in their paint aisle. These were in a different aisle, and marked as "enamel", though they're still water-based acrylics. I bought both, and sure enough the plain acrylic is too watery and slides around on the test surface. The "enamel" versions stick well, but go on semi-transparent and it's hard to get it on evenly.

So I'll definitely try the cream stuff if I can find it.

[Sir Brian]

How about an update on your progress Sir Edward?

Yes I'm impatient and anxious to see how the stencils worked out! 

[Sir Edward]

Heh, I got distracted for the last week by the droid project. I did however get some more rings clipped out and ready for the final push to finish out the length of my hauberk. I'm going to be spending some time this weekend catching up on projects, though, so hopefully I'll be able to make some progress on the shield. I can try the dragon stencil I cut out, but I'll still need to make them for the sword and ankh. For the ankh, I have one I can trace that's about the right size. The sword will need to be designed, but that's a simpler object than a dragon.

[Sir Brian]

Are you going to apply your charges onto your surcoat as well?

If so then Michaels also has some good fabric paints as well.
Just reuse the stencils from your shield. The sponge type of
applicator worked best for me when I stenciled fabric. 

[Sir Edward]

I probably will at some point, but I want to make some more surcoats first. I may try to match the color a little more with the fabric, I just haven't decided yet.

I just got done designing my sword, so now I need to transfer that and the ankh to stencil form.

Updated my CoA with the new graphics and colors:



Original version with place-holder graphics, for comparison:

[Sir Brian]

Oh yeah! Now your talking! That looks great!

Man MDRF can't get here fast enough! 
But I know you need the time to finish with all your other
projects! - I'm actually out of projects at the moment and
envy you your business! 

Ah well maybe it is time for me to get back into
painting miniatures! 

Great job on the COA.

[Sir Edward]

Thanks, glad you like it.   I didn't get the stencils done this weekend, so it may end up waiting til after I get back from NCRF. I don't want to rush it. But I did manage to replace the strap on the shield with one with a buckle, so I can at least wear it with my colors and not have it hang down over my butt instead of up on my back.

[Sir Brian]

Status update if you please Sir Ed!

How is your Shield coming along?

[Sir Edward]

Well, I haven't had much time for projects in general, so the droid, shield, chausses, etc, are all sort of stagnating this month.

However, I went through the preliminary registering of my heraldry while I was at Pennsic (as I said in another thread,  mostly just to help protect the uniqueness, so at least I won't see someone else in the SCA crowd using it).

So now I definitely want to get back to work on painting the charges. I've got some stenciling to do! And MDRF is rapidly approaching. Time to buckle down and get to work.

[Sir Brian]

Not to or anything like that, but how's the charges coming on the shield?

I only ask because that creme based paint takes a good 24 hours to dry and the weekend
is rapidly approaching!

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, I was thinking about working on it last night, but got sidetracked by assembling my new workbench and repairing my crossbow (it shook itself apart a bit at Pennsic). Maybe Thursday I'll get cracking on that some more. It's the dragon part that scares me, since I need to try to mix paints to approximate the color, and it's a very detailed little design!

But it'll be nice to not have people assuming it's the Estonian flag on my back.   That's happened twice now.