You Deserve a Medal

Medals for valiant children

Every once in a while life throws you a scary curve ball that requires true grit. I believe those life moments warrant some sort of acknowledgement and recognition. I have offered various options for entertaining medals over the years, including medals for myself stitched to my ongoing Awards Jacket, and the funky delight of making medals out of recycled ribbon and scrap in the post, Recycled Ribbon Awards. 

This time around, the medals go out to my two grand-nieces who have just been uprooted from the town and school and friends they have known their entire lives to move to a new town and new school. Of necessity, everything happened very fast, they found out about the move a week before school was to start in August, and the family had not yet found a house in the new location. As a result, they started a new school and plunged into the great unknown during an interim stay in a Quality Inn. Now that is tough. And that deserves a medal. I proceeded to make some and sent each of them an awards presentation package in the mail.

Label on each custom-made award box

Before the move, the girls and I had been discussing the concept of multiple dimensions, parallel universes, and those critical moments in life where one move or one decision or one seemingly trivial even sends you down an alternate life path. The twelve-year-old began to refer to these as the great "what ifs."

The awards were accompanied by the following documentation:

The medals incorporate old chains and salvaged jewelry findings and bits of broken jewelry. They also each include a small copper charm with the letters "Aug." on them because they entered a parallel dimension when they moved in August. Note that I just happen to have an entire small bag of these copper "August" charms purchased as a scrap find. This is the first time since I found them over thirty years ago that I have had occasion to use them.  The medals also incorporate a feature piece — a vintage piece of French theatrical costume appliqué, purchased from the collection of French opera and theater costumery at the store Tinsel in Berkeley, California. They may be worn as a necklace or hung on a wall.

Medal for a 12-year-old entering an alien middle school

Medal for a 10-year-old entering a new elementary school

Let's face it, times are tough. And sometimes you deserve a medal.

 

Give Yourself a Medal: The Awards Jacket

The Uber-Official-Looking Awards Jacket

Sometimes you just deserve a medal. No one else may realize it, but deep in your heart you know it's true. And there is a certain something about a guy — or a gal — in uniform. The much-maligned author Jerzy Kozinsky knew this better than anyone. He would go to uniform shops and have them tailor-make a uniform that would transform him into an intimidating, high-ranking officer from some vague, obscure, non-existent country. My trip down this fantasy road began with the discovery of some badges at the bottom of a basket of assorted rubble at the Depot for Creative reuse in Oakland. I snagged a few that appealed to me and supplemented those with some iron-on images I had created in the past from my stash at home. Once I spotted this military-style linen jacket at the thrift store right around the corner from me, I was in business.

Awards, left shoulder

Close-up

I decided what all of the awards represented because, after all, I am the head honcho of this fantasy squadron. Note that the "Not" pin is from a previous post, "Dialog Pin for Troubled Times," where you will find how-to instructions to make pins of your own.

Right shoulder

Close-up

Accidents happen in any campaign and in this case, when I decided to remove the original clothing label from this recycled garment, I inadvertently snipped right through the fabric of the jacket at the neckline. No worries. The "cross child" label below, which uses an image lifted from a Japanese language card, not only covers the glitch, it communicates that there is someone you don't want to tangle with inside this uniform.

Back neck label: Don't mess with me.

Close-up

As an afterthought, I used my new (recycled) printing kit and fabric ink to print a motto for our times and for my branch of this non-existent military: "Despair is not an option." Quote courtesy of Bernie Sanders.

"Despair is not an option."

There is a fine line, when creating a garment like this, between fashioning something that can pass as street clothing and an interesting conversation-starter, and ending up with something that would make everyone on AC Transit move to the other end of the bus. I am hoping I have pulled off the former.

If you're ready to sign up for my non-existent army, go ahead and create a uniform of your own. This automatically qualifies you to become commanding officer of whatever branch of the force you wish, with full powers to award yourself medals. No saluting necessary, except maybe a peace sign.

Ecofairies: Sixth Extinction Children's Fantasy Wear

Ecofairy One: Front

Ecofairy One: Back

A set of fairy vests for the generation that is going to inherit this amazing planet of ours along with all of its ills. The basic vest pattern comes utterly free from Zsazsazilet (use an online translation site to figure out what the pattern says). I had to make a few measurement adjustments and also cut the front of each vest in a wavy pattern for whimsical interest. The basic vest shell is made of felt. All embellishments are recycled materials.

Ecofairy Two: Front

Materials on the front of the vest include recycled ribbon, pocket from thrift store cargo pants, old typewriter keys, recycled vintage buttons and rosettes, and a removable Recycled Ribbon Award embellished with an old bottle cap (follow that link to an earlier post for how-to instructions). 

Ecofairy Two: Back

The back of each vest features an image of a passenger pigeon printed onto transfer paper and then ironed onto a scrap of fabric. The passenger pigeon went extinct just over a hundred years ago, a perfect symbol for the Sixth Extinction that underscores the urgency of an ecofairy's mission. The wings are tulle. From past experience I've learned that free-form tulle wings hold their airy, fluffy nature remarkably well. 

Close-up, front

Old typewriter keys let the world know exactly what this fairy is all about.

Close-up, front

Removable award pin made from recycled ribbon features an old smashed bottle cap found on the street. The surrounding rosettes and other ribbons came from the last hour of the Oakland Museum White Elephant Sale when you get everything you can stuff into a bag for a dollar.

Close-up, back

Passenger pigeon patch on back of each vest reminds us that we are now in the midst of a mass species extinction, the sixth our planet has suffered and one caused entirely by humans (the last, caused by a meteor, wiped out the dinosaurs).

Close-up, back

A cone of felt at the base of the tulle wings, cut and stitched free-form, hides the stitching that secures the wings to the vest and keeps the wings slightly aloft.

And here are the fairies, ready for eco-action.

Ecofairy One

Ecofairy Two taking a walk with a serval at the zoo

Recycled Ribbon Awards

Assortment of award ribbons

The week between Christmas and New Year's seems like a good time to recycle ribbon from holiday gifts, whip up some awards, and distribute them to unwary recipients for a variety of reasons or no reason at all. Add some old smashed, rusted bottle caps and we've got a winner—a whole bunch of winners. These are pretty, lightweight, and will provoke a fair measure of social interaction when worn as a brooch. Since the materials are completely recycled, you can start by awarding one to yourself for being so virtuous. First some sample awards, then a how-to guide.

Close-up of gorgeous, rusted bottle cap

Close-up of bottle cap

And now for the how-to:

First, sort through your ribbons and find one piece of wide ribbon 12 inches long, and a piece of narrower ribbon 10 inches long. Form each piece of ribbon into a loop and seam the ends together as shown below. Then stitch along the inside edge of the loop, pull to gather, and secure with a knot.

Make gathered ribbon loops

Cut out a piece of felt the same size as your bottle cap.

Stitch felt to back of the wider, 12-inch gathered ribbon.

Gathered ribbon stitched to felt

Turn to right side. Place second, narrower, ten-inch gathered circle on top of the first and stitch as shown below (but wait to glue bottle cap on until the very final step).

On back of pin, sew pin clasp in place (you could always use a safety pin in a pinch), and sew down trailing ribbons. The trailing ribbons can be any length and width that pleases you.

As noted, the final step is to glue your bottle cap onto the front of the award. I've used silicone but a glue gun would work well. You could use something other than a bottle cap, such as a button or other found object.