Fellowship of the Things

If you have pre-sanded blanks, this step may not be necessary.

Note: This is also a good time to drill a hole for hanging the medallion if your blank does not have one pre-drilled for you.

Depending on your paint and your wooden blanks, sometimes the paint or outlining pen will bleed along the rings of the wood, ruining your design lines. Applying a base layer will help eliminate this frustration.

Using white is recommended (regardless of your final design colours) because many craft paints are slightly transparent. Other colours will show through and distort or muddy the colour you wanted, while white will brighten your colours and bring out their vibrancy.

Trace your blank onto a sheet of paper so you know the boundaries of your design.

Draw your design within the traced area.

Transfer your design to the medallion blank by placing a sheet of transfer paper between the medallion and your design, then simply tracing your design with a pencil, pen, or any rigid tool.

Don't forget the back!
(even if only getting a better layer of the background colour so the white foundation doesn't show through the brush strokes)

Using the outlining pen, outline all your details.

If you have a really steady hand, you can use a very fine paintbrush and craft paint instead.

Use craft paint varnish to give the pendants a nice glossy shine. The varnish will also make your colours pop and become more vibrant.

Note: Make sure your outlining pen has had ample time to dry. Many inks are water soluble, and may bleed or streak when brushed with the varnish if they have not had a chance to fully dry.

I recommend using a cord that is long enough to put over someone's head with no clasp (at least 30" length) with a sliding knot for shortening the cord while wearing.
There are a wide variety of cord options:

• Beaded

• Lucet

• Kumihimo

• Fingerloop Braided

• Commercial Cords

• Chains

Many groups (kingdoms, principalities, baronies, etc) have registered badges for their awards. I recommend checking out your target group's website or discussion groups for a description of awards and their associated badges. If only the blazon (description) of the badge is available, you can reach out to your local College of Heralds for assistance.

When using registered badges, you do have some lee-way in artistic license, but I recommend that unless you are very familiar with the group and their culture, that you use the art provided. It is also important to use the proper colours as registered.

For the cord, I typically choose the colours from the group's heraldry.

Examples:
The left medallions are for the Kingdom of Artemisia (Order of the Golden Maple Leaf). While I drew my own stylized maple leaves, I did keep to the proper colours of green and red. The cords were all done in shades of yellow and black, which are the colours found in the Kingdom's populace badge.
The right medallions are for the Kingdom of the East (Order of the Silver Brooch). The art for these medallions was sketched directly from the art provided on the kingdom website, with cords in blue and white to match the kingdom colours.

Alternatively, you can create these medallions with officer badges, household badges, populace badges, or non-specific art that can be worn by anyone.