Medieval Badges Cross-stitch Sampler Two

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach has created another medieval badge embroidery sampler that we happy to be sharing with you here. The embroidered bookmark features the iconography (from top to bottom) of a Tudor rose and a pomegranate (the heraldic devices of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon) two popular saints, Saint Ursula and Saint Cecilia, and medieval proverb:

For anyone new to cross-stitch, Ellen recommends this video to help you get started. If you haven’t already, try out the Cross-stitch Sampler 1!

SAINT URSULA

Saint Ursula was a legendary virgin martyr of the fourth century. She is depicted in the original pewter badge standing on a boat, with the heads of nine virgins (here, represented in grey) between her and the crosier. The legend goes that she and eleven (or in some accounts, 11,000) virgins were returning from a pilgrimage to Rome and were murdered by the Huns in Cologne. The original pewter badge depicting this scene is from Cologne (1350-1399) and was found in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Saint Ursula’s feast day is October 21st.

SAINT CECILIA

Saint Cecilia was a third-century virgin martyr, who has been venerated as the patron saint of music and musicians, despite her obscure association to them, since the sixteenth century. Beginning in the Middles Ages, she became increasingly represented by the motif of the organ (which some thought she invented), as depicted in the embroidered form above, of the original pewter badge. The badge was found in London, England, but its origin (1000-1599) is unknown. Her feast day is November 22nd.

MATERIALS

• Aida Cotton 14ct cloth

• 6 Strand Cotton Floss (DMC)

• Embroidery needle

• Regular white thread and sharp needle

• Embroidery hoop (recommended)

• Scissors, pencil, and ruler

• An iron

• Cut felt for backing (4.5 x 15 cm)

• See bottom of post for colour recommendations

PREPARATION OF MATERIALS

1. Iron aida cloth and felt until flat.  

2. Set felt aside for finishing and tightly secure aida cloth on an embroidery hoop.

3. All stitches are worked with two strands of floss, which must be separated before threading onto needle.

TIPS WHILE EMBROIDERING

1. At the end of each colour/strand, be sure to leave enough length to weave the floss through the back of the stitches for fastening.

2. It is easiest to start in the centre of the chart and work outwards, continuing to use the threaded colour until a new strand is needed or all stitches of that colour have been completed.

FINISHING

1. With a pencil and ruler, mark a line about six holes in from each side of the piece and cut.  Fold this in half (at three holes) and sew a hem with regular thread and sharp needle. 

2. Using appropriate size of felt, sew backing onto the embroidered piece.

3. Iron until flat. Do not steam; water can cause the colours of embroidery floss to run.

4. Enjoy your new bookmark!

You are free to use whatever colours you have. Ellen used the following: Bright Orange-Red (606); Medium Beige Brown (741); Bright Canary (973); Bright Chartreuse (704); Medium Electric Blue (996); Very Dark Lavender (208); Very Light Dusty Rose (151); Medium Beige Brown (840); Dark Yellow Beige (3045); Pale Steel Grey (3024); Medium Yellow Green (3347); Raspberry Mauve (3687); Ultra Very Light Tan (739); Grey Blue (161); Light Emerald Green (912); Medium Rose (899); Medium Burnt Orange (900); Delft Blue (809).

Design and descriptions by Ellen Siebel-Achenbach.

Medieval Badges Cross-stitch Sampler One

EMBROIDERED MEDIEVAL BADGE BOOKMARK 1

Embroidered bookmarks are a fun way to explore medieval badges. Embroidering heightens attention to elements of the badge’s iconography and allows the maker to express the badge’s proportionality. This kind of activity is not new. While textiles from the Middle Ages rarely survive, some of those that do display the creativity and consummate design and crafting skills of medieval embroideresses (and the occasional embroiderer). The badge-like object to the right, which has survived because it was sewn into a medieval manuscript, is an example of textiles and badges interacting.

Cross-stitch is a popular and easy way to learn how to embroider. Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, the researcher-maker of this project, has created a pattern and instructions to help you create your own embroidered medieval badge bookmark! For anyone new to cross-stitch, Ellen recommends this video to help you get started.

Materials

Aida Cotton 14ct cloth

• 6 Strand Cotton Floss (DMC)

• Embroidery needle

• Regular white thread and sharp needle

• Embroidery hoop (recommended)

• Scissors, pencil, and ruler

• An iron

• Cut felt for backing (4.5 x 18 cm)

• See bottom of post for colour recommendations

PREPARATION OF MATERIALS

1. Iron aida cloth and felt until flat.  

2. Set felt aside for finishing and tightly secure aida cloth on an embroidery hoop.

3. All stitches are worked with two strands of floss, which must be separated before threading onto needle.

TIPS WHILE EMBROIDERING

1. At the end of each colour/strand, be sure to leave enough length to weave the floss through the back of the stitches for fastening.

2. It is easiest to start in the centre of the chart and work outwards, continuing to use the threaded colour until a new strand is needed or all stitches of that colour have been completed.

FINISHING

1. With a pencil and ruler, mark a line about six holes in from each side of the piece and cut.  Fold this in half (at three holes) and sew a hem with regular thread and sharp needle. 

2. Using appropriate size of felt, sew backing onto the embroidered piece.

3. Iron until flat. Do not steam; water can cause the colours of embroidery floss to run.

4. Enjoy your new bookmark!

Medieval Christmas 2022

As many of us transition into the Christmas season, we are invited back into the magical world of craftsmanship. We’ve been lucky to see some of this craftsmanship up-close through the ongoing research-creation projects of Ellen Siebel-Achenbach. Last year, Ellen used linocuts to mark the season. This year, she’s been working with wood to re-imagine medieval badges as a Räuchermann (traditional German incense smokers) and as a wooden nativity scene. Ellen has been as inspired by the original medieval badges as she has inspired them — literally in the case of the headless pilgrim badge of Saint Claude, which as a Räuchermann has not only been given a head but given again breath that flows through him and into the world.

Pewter badge, Sainte Claude, from Saint-Pierre Cathedral, Besançon, 1401-1500, 4.2 x 2.7 cm. CL4620. Paris, Musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen Âge. Photographer: Gerard Blot. Photo credit: © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, Sainte Claude as Räuchermann, 2022.

Ellen’s wooden nativity scene from a Cologne badge preserves the details of the original craftsperson. The turrets and arches frame both compositions. Ellen has beautifully recreated the naive style of the figures, note especially the halo of the Christ Child or crowns of the Three Kings and the shapes of the gifts they present. Ellen has also utilized the three-dimensional aspect of her material to enliven the characters in another way. Though it is not clear from the photographs, the arms of Saint Claude, the Three Kings and the Virgin Mary have been attached so that they are movable. Both re-imaginings bring the badges to life not only with movement, but with colour. The colourful wooden figures invite us as viewers back to the original pewter badges to ask ourselves how they might have been embellished originally.

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, Cologne Nativity scene, 2022.

Pewter badge, Three Kings, Cologne, Germany, 1275-1349, found in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 4 x 3.1 cm. The Van Beuningen Family Collection, inv. 0537 (Kunera 00167). Photograph courtesy of The Van Beuningen Family Collection.

We are both proud and impressed by Ellen’s work. Her efforts to preserve traditional craftsmanship and to “bridge the gap between traditional ‘high’ art history academic scholarship and ‘low’ reconstructions of visual and material culture” allow us to witness the beauty of her work, while we learn to see old objects in new ways.

Written by Hannah Gardiner. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on December 23, 2022.

Medieval Christmas 2021

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, researcher–maker of the project, “Reimagining Medieval Badges in Modern Materials,” has been working diligently on creating a series of linocuts based on badges. Here below are two from her Christmas series, featuring the Annunciation scene and the Nativity scene.

We leave off 2021 with a feast for the eyes, wishing you and yours a Merry (Medieval) Christmas and a joyful holiday season!

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, linocut on paper, 2021. Annunciation Scene.

Lead alloy badge, Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel stand beneath a canopy with a dove and a vase of lilies, inscriptions ECCE ANGL and AVE MARIA in Lombardic capitals, attachment unknown, Walsingham, United Kingdom, 1366-1400, found in Norwich, United Kingdom. Museum of London, image number 001722. Photograph courtesy of © Museum of London.

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, linocut on paper, 2021. Nativity Scene.

Pewter badge, Nativity scene in round frame with Mary recumbent with Christ Child wrapped in her arms, Joseph on the right with ox and donkey behind a manger, origin unknown, 1300-1399, found in Wienhausen, Germany, 61 x 61 mm. Kloster Wienhausen, Wienhausen, Germany (Kunera 05858). Photograph courtesy of Kloster Wienhausen.

This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on December 20, 2021.

Reimagining Medieval Badges in Modern Materials

Recently joining our team as a researcher-maker for the new project, “Reimagining Badges in Modern Materials,” is Ellen Siebel-Achenbach.  Ellen is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval Studies, Visual Culture, Fine Arts Studio, and Church Worship and Music at the University of Waterloo. She is also an undergraduate intern at the DRAGEN Lab, our collaborator for this project.  

Conceptually, “Reimagining Medieval Badges in Modern Materials” interrogates the difference between replicating and reimagining medieval badges. In the Middle Ages, badge-like objects sharing similar iconographies were crafted in a wide variety of materials from precious to perishable. As a researcher-maker, Ellen will similarly engage with a wide variety of materials in order to learn about them, their affordances and constraints, and reflect on the ways in which they might be used to reimagine badges, to explore badge-like qualities, and to engage modern audiences in discovery about the Middle Ages.

To offer our community a sense of the project, we asked Ellen to share some of her initial experimental makings and discoveries, which we will continue to share periodically on this blog. 

Medieval Badges: Could you tell us a bit about your first encounters with badges? 

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach: Although I had previously encountered medieval badges in museums, I only began to engage with them while on an experiential learning research trip to England in 2019 with Dr. Rasmussen. Our group visited museums, churches, and workshops, and I became increasingly interested in medieval craft more generally and in understanding that badges served a variety of functions. Like most people, I had associated badges with religious pilgrimage alone – especially in the case of the popular badges featuring Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury.

MB: What is guiding your process of making for this project? 

ESA: For the first few badge experiments, I was interested in the ways delicate details of badge figures could be captured in such a small scale.  To start, I chose three badges with a high level of detail: a badge of the holy communion wafers of Wilsnack, a badge of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ Child from Rocamadour, and the badge of a king and bishop holding a tower in a round frame from Yper. I decided to make the badges using a clear polystyrene plastic that shrinks when heated (i.e., baked!). I drew the designs with oil-based markers and embellished them with oil-based metallic paints. I coloured the Yper badge with several shades of grey, yellow, and green and attempted to reproduce a degree of depth within the Yper badge through the application of a glued layer of ‘gems.’ The translucent material has allowed me to include colour in the badges in a manner resembling medieval stained glass and enamel miniatures.

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, polystyrene and oil-based ink, 2021.

Pewter badge, the holy communion wafers of Wilsnack, eyelets, Wilsnack, Germany, 1475-1522, found in Nieuwlande, the Netherlands, 36 x 31 mm. Family Van Beuningen Collection, inv. 1709 (Kunera 00130). Photograph courtesy of Family Van Beuningen Collection.

MB: How have your experimental makings influenced your understanding of medieval badges?

ESA: I found it difficult to capture the original details even prior to the baking process, in which the original design shrinks by about two-thirds. I have very different materials at my disposal, of course, but I have nevertheless tried to make crafting choices that come closer to medieval crafters, such as doing sketches by hand rather than digitally. Right now, I’m trying to minimize the digital component of my making. I’m also working by hand in natural light, a commodity in as short supply in November in northerly regions as it was six hundred years ago.

MB: What is one challenging aspect about reimagining these badges materially?

ESA: On top of difficulties capturing details, I have had challenges with the fragility of the plastic material I am currently using. It often cracks during the cutting (note the right cross of the Wilsnack badge) and baking processes. The material also occasionally bakes into a curved shape (as occurred in the Rocamadour badge). The imperfections of my own badge creations may in some way emulate imperfections present in many badges. One example of this is the centre of the original Rocamadour badge I am using, where there is what looks like a nail hole in the centre of the Virgin Mary.  

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, polystyrene and oil-based ink, 2021. Reimagined pewter badge, Blessed Virgin Mary enthroned and holding sceptre with Christ child on her left knee, eyelets, Rocamadour, France, 1270-1299, found in Schleswig, Germany, 74 x 55.5 x 1.5 mm. Schleswig, Germany, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, inv. KSD 375 325 (Kunera 04244).

MB: What are you planning on experimenting with over the coming months? 

ESA: My next experiments will utilize a similar material to the one I’ve been using, but with a white base to allow for more vibrancy of colour. I’m looking forward to working with this opaque polystrene plastic because it offers the potential for creating even more detail alongside a more subtle colouring. I may also combine the clear and white plastic in some future re-imagined badges.  

I’m also planning on creating a series of lino-prints for the Christmas season, featuring badges of the Nativity and Epiphany scenes. These prints will use both black oil-based paint and gouache. I am also starting work on a series of shadow boxes in which I divide enlarged medieval badges into different layers of depth.

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach is a research intern and badge maker for “Reimagining Badges in Modern Materials.” She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval Studies, Visual Culture, Fine Arts Studio, and Church Worship and Music at the University of Waterloo. She has been a member of the DRAGEN Lab since 2019.

Edited by Hannah Gardiner and Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on December 1, 2021.