THE EUROPA CLIPPER LAUNCHED THIS MORNING, AND I AM SO NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT!!!!!
Space is so fucking awesome. We're headed to one of JUPITER'S MOONS!
Every time a launch happens, it makes the latent space enthusiast in the back of my brain jump up and down. It also derailed all my plans for today. I did have plans.
Instead, someone made one comment about how I could now maybe make mission patches on my embroidery machine, and the space thing crossed over with my current hyperfixation (silm) to produce THIS:
Mission patch for the launch of Gil-Estel! A bit messy, but a good place to start!
Design and linguistics details under the cut, because I put WAY too much thought into it and now must talk SOMEONE's ear off about it. Feel free to ignore this bit:
So, to start: Elvish NASA. I chose to call them Vardildi Elengolmo Vilciryamoyë, or VEV. The Followers of Varda, Astronomers and Astronauts. This could very much be totally wrong. Vardildi is Varda+the suffix used in Yavannildi, the followers of Yavanna. Elengolmo comes from the coined word for astronomer, Elengolmë (star-lore), with the -o suffix from nolmo, wise person. Vilciryamoyë takes the vil- from the root of vilya, meaning air, sky. ciryamo is mariner, and yë is the suffix added to the second word meaning 'and'. (I may be very, VERY wrong on this! If anyone has better ideas, I very much welcome input/guidance/constructive criticism)
So I stuck the tengwar for this on either side of the patch. (None of the tengwar is all that legible, though, I'm working on getting that sorted out) Most NASA mission patches don't actually have NASA on them, but I put it on anyway. Here is the tengwar and the start of a logo I made an attempt at (the tehta is supposed to be a shooting star, but that did NOT come through clearly in the embroidery [because it's tiny]):
(Probably going to try to make an elvish NASA patch before too long, honestly)
Most NASA patches (from research I did with great self-restraint here) have the (last) names of the astronauts. Not sure if they also have the name of the craft or if that's generally somewhere else, but I put both--Eärendil Ardamírë (his fathername and mothername) are the tengwar at the bottom of the patch, and Vingilotë is written on the keel of the ship. None of these are legible because they are small, and my machine has limits. It's a work in progress. Also I apologize for the bad lighting in the photo.
NASA patches sometimes also have a mission motto. That's the tengwar across the top of the patch here-- aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima, Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars (a common cry among elves and Frodo [when facing Shelob]).
(I half wanted to do something a bit more funny--maybe something like 'Now I have become Venus,' or 'Do I get to come down?' but this was a bit easier since it comes pre-translated into Quenya and tengwar, and also I have no faith in my Quenya translations that are any longer than a word)
The horizon is flat because Númenor exists, in the middle there between the shore of Middle-Earth and a teensy bit of Valinor and the Enchanted Isles.
The design for the Silmaril is sort of taken from the heraldic device Tolkien designed for the Silmarilli (though it isn't clear), and it is rayed with the six-pointed star from Eärendil's device. (I stuck the moon phases from the same source around the edges as well)
This was really fun, even if it might be the silliest thing I've ever made! It definitely needs some workshopping--i don't mind the black lines framing some sections from the background fabric, but I might try turning all the tengwar into lines of stitches instead-the satin columns really are illegible.
I now need to restrain myself from doing some sort of NASA/Astronaut Earendil AU, because it now sounds kind of fun (I do not have the background knowledge for this)
Sources:
NASA patches here: https://www.shopnasa.com/collections/patches
And if you want info on the Europa Clipper mission, here: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper
Embroidery digitization done with Embrilliance Stitchartist 1, embroidery done with a Brother SE630 machine. Thread is Brothread Cotton and YLI cotton bobbin thread, with a little sulky rayon on the Silmaril. Cloth is a black linen from Fabric Wholesale Direct.
Ok, because I have literally no self restraint: elvish NASA patches:
(Also, check if you're in the right place and have clear skies to see the comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas! I saw it last night and it's SO COOL!)
I came up with the concept for and potentially faulty etymology of Elvish NASA (VEV, Vardildi Elengolmo Vilciryamoyë) here, so I won't go into that again. I did this in a couple colors and ended up liking the concept for the purple one more, but the blue one came out much nicer, visually speaking. Purple is less...loaded, I think, with specific Elvish connotations (house of Ñolofinwë my beloveds), and the blue was my second choice even though dark blue represents the sky well because I wasn't trying to copy NASA, just be inspired by them.
I stuck the Valacirca (big dipper) in there, and again--I prefer the silver of the purple one conceptually, because those stars are created from Telperion's dew, but they stand out against the white way less well. Also, I didn't cut the thread jumps on the gold ones, and I really love the way that gives the distinctive silhouette of the constellation.
The tehta of the acronym was going to be a stylized shooting star, but literally the moment I was starting to digitize that bit was when I got called to see the comet, so I just had to try to make it a comet instead. My inability to properly digitize gradients continues to be a problem, so it isn't a great representation of a comet's tail, but whatever. An attempt was made.
The star is white, because Varda apparently has a tendency to appear to elves in a glowing white fana. It has fourteen points for theological reasons.
I really wanted to stick a stylized sun in the lower right and moon in the upper left, but I know I have a tendency to make things cluttered so I left them out. But I might try that in the future, because I really want to try out a stylized floral moon.
I have no experience with logo design, but this was a fun concept even though I have to clean it up a little! And maybe now I'll be able to work on the things that actually need doing!
Ok, I am admittedly kind of obsessed with this right now.
Another embroidered heraldry attempt! This one is different only in the sense that it was not actively created by Tolkien; it's one of Daniel Falconer's elvish heraldry designs based on Tolkien's that were potentially going to be used on the armor in the Fellowship end-of-the-second-age war with Sauron battle scene:
(Photographs come from The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring by Gary Russell, page 129)
It's explained that Gil-Galad's is based on Tolkien's designs for Gil-Galad's heraldry, and Elrond's and Galadriel's are based on those of their respective fathers.
(One could argue that this is not canonical, because neither of Luthien's sigils look anything like either Thingol's or Melian's--not even in color palette--but I really like the concept anyway. And there are sort of similar elements in Finwe's and his sons, even if it's not as clear as these.)
I like these a lot, and they do feel very consistent among themselves and like a development/variant of Tolkien's originals.
(Also, I will admit to being a little disappointed that there is no official heraldry for Elrond who is definitely my favorite character, along with Finrod)
...can I just say, Galadriel's looks SO MUCH EASIER and I will definitely be doing that one soon.
So here are my attempts:
I chose to both do the whole thing and to isolate the lozenge, since that's how all of Tolkien's designs are.
(I also do really love the elements of Earendil's, which my first attempt for can be found here. And the twining branches look so much like the Imladris architecture in the films, and also I feel like it really goes well with Elrond's interconnected nature with...well, just about everyone. I really love it even though that element was SUCH A NIGHTMARE.)
The circular one was my first attempt, and the second one looks much nicer because I cut all of the thread jumps in the crossover line bits as it was going. The blue field needs a bit of correction on both, but I'm pleased with this attempt. I also may attempt them in greyscale (the drawing isn't this blue after all, but I'm limited in my thread options at the moment). And I have some shinier rayon golds, so I may make an attempt at getting the gold parts more golden without them getting too gaudy.
Unfortunately, I can't do easy gradients with the level of software I currently have, but I'll definitely try this again if I ever get something more advanced.
I'm pleased with it, although it took a bit of trial and error to get out (bloopers under the cut!). I do need to adjust the first black border. And I didn't have a great shade of green. I do like this green for some things, but here it's somehow giving me "sports team jersey" vibes. A green that's lighter and more yellow would be better.
Gotta say, I'm kind of having to resist scaling these down and doing...some kind of sash, I guess. Like a girl scout badge thing, but with elvish heraldry. Silm scouts!
(I never got past brownies, but my vaguely neurodivergent kid self did love the badges, and the way they all lined up and interlocked!)
Patch done with cotton brothread and YLI bobbin thread on linen, on a Brother SE630 machine. Digitized with Embrilliance. Original design by Tolkien.
Trial one, entitled Maybe I Should Cool It With The Satin Stitch Borders (and switch away from cotton canvas). Also, guess I have to start paying attention to my stitch density (sigh).
Back on my elvish-heraldry-machine-embroidery thing, and it's Arafinwe's turn! Still needs some edits, but I'm happy with how it's going!
And I tried it out in muted colors too:
I like this one a lot better than when I did the same for Finrod's heraldic device. Something about the way the red and black have a bit more saturation than everything else, making it look like the dyes have aged very differently. It looks a bit more like something that got stuck in the back of a closet for a few hundred years, or that was held onto in memory even if it couldn't be worn given the frailty of its age.
Arafinwë's device is, in my opinion, the EASIEST of his brothers' (and father's), which was nice. I don't have much hope that my next one will be so enjoyable. I'm kind of running out of the ones that look practical to digitize.
So I procured an embroidery machine several months ago (and then proceeded to not use it, because I absolutely could not lose momentum on another project I was working on).
Anyway, I finally got around to opening it up, figuring it out, and deciding on an embroidery digitization software. For my first project (beyond pre-made patterns to figure out my machine), I chose what I THOUGHT was a simple option.
(spoiler alert: it was not)
I'm a huge fan of Tolkien's heraldic devices, so I went for this one:
This one is Earendil's. While I'm usually on the 'these look like quilt blocks' train, I decided to try my hand at digitizing it. So I blocked it out in Krita (I am no digital artist, but I very much enjoy the multi-brush tool, and it was very effective at this:
(the colors aren't meant to be accurate, just distinct from each other)
Muddled around in Embrilliance for a while, got it on my machine (a Brother SE630 I have named Pityaháno), and this is what I came up with:
(I apologize for the photo quality, the light is not good at this time of day)
I'm actually pretty happy with how it came out, for a first draft. I did some refining while it was going, stitch direction and such. And I need to work on aligning the sections better, and perhaps reducing the satin stitch borders where they overlap.
This was done with brothred cotton embroidery thread and YLI 60wt cotton bobbin thread on linen fabric. Digitized with embrilliance stitchartist level 1. Source for the heraldry is Tolkien, of course, via the tolkien wiki.
I do have to get on my other projects (Halloween is COMING and as usual I am behind), but I'll probably be playing around with this a little more when I have time. I'm very excited to do more of this!
If anyone has advice about machine embroidery/digitizing, in general or with regards to this piece specifically, I'd absolutely love to hear it!
I HAVE BOUGHT MORE COLORS OF THREAD AND AM NOW UNSTOPPABLE!
(lol, not really, but I did take a few more stabs at Finrod's emblem in machine embroidery with a bit of an expanded palette.)
On the left is the first attempt I did (more on that here) and on the right I just switched out for a lighter green. It suits just a bit better, but I feel like I switched out the jersey color for the soccer team of Nargothrond for Arwen's coronation dress. Which is a little TOO vibrant of a spring green. (Or lime. That is potentially lime green)
(Also, I am STILL having trouble getting the borders where I want them.)
For the one on the left here, I muted everything. I was going for a kind of weathered look, but I might have missed the mark and ended up more at Pastel Baby Blanket Aesthetic. The right one is the latest, and as close as I think I've gotten-the green field is from the pastel one, and about what I want, but everything else is the same as the first (save the torch flame, which I started doing in a rayon gold).
(AND THE BORDERS REMAIN MY WORST ENEMY. THEY'RE GETTING WORSE!)
Still, this is fun! The yellow is a bit garish, but honestly my new priority is getting the damn borders right where I want them. They're the third to last thing the machine does, so I don't know if I fixed it until the very end. I might move them up in the queue. That would help with the trial and error at least.
(I also need to be talked out of buying more colors. I have SO MANY colors of thread right now)
