Morwenna's Laurel Hat

Mermaid Design

The design for the mermaid began with the center motif. Morwenna's heraldry includes a mermaid "in her vanity", which means with a comb and mirror. Thus, the design. It originally grew from a design in the Carolingian Blackwork Book for a winged undine. The undine was a guy, but some thinning at the waist, expanding at the top and longer hair took care of that. Admittedly, this mermaid is (ahem) well-endowed. Morwenna prefers her mermaids without "stupid shell bras", and with my love of Indian art... After designing and embroidering the first, center mermaid, I adjusted the hand areas to incorporate many of Morwenna's SCA interests and abilities. In each case, the rest of the mermaid is the same, just the hands change. The pupils of each mermaid is a French knot at the point of the dot.
	Needlework Mermaid - this mermaid is doing needlework. Blackwork to be precise. This one of Morwenna's favorite pastimes. She had actually already made a fabulous cap of the same design, totally covered with fabulous blackwork. We call her the fastest needleworker in the East. The hands should be linked to the rest of the mermaid at the blue arrows of both hands.
	Cooking Mermaid - this mermaid is baking cookies. That's what the little rectangles are. In fact, the cookies are modeled after little mermaid cookie cutters that Morwenna has. Sort of a strange form of mermaid-cookie-cannibalism. Morwenna is particularly noted for amazing work on the Carolingian Feast of Perigore dessert board. This mermaid's hands line up to the blue arrows on the main picture. Because of the orientation, the mermaid is also a mirror image of the original.
	Performing Mermaid - OK, so this is a stretch. Morwenna does not play the harp, but the lyre is the traditional accoutrement of a storyteller, bard, or poet. Morwenna is a very capable storyteller, having been chosen both King's and Queen's Bardic Champion. The lower hand (shown to the left) is aligned with the blue and green arrows. The upper hand holding the harp is aligned with the green arrows.
	Commedia del Arte Mermaid - Morwenna also is an active member of the performing troupe iSebastiani (the greatest Commedia del Arte troupe in the entire world). The mermaid is holding a period slapstick and an Arlechino mask, complete with characteristic carbuncle. Both hands are aligned with the blue arrows on the main chart. The mermaid is reversed to work within the structure of the design.
	Navigating Mermaid - although Morwenna is not actually a sailor, her real life counterpart is. She's studied the history of merchant vessels and has learned how to sail such vessels. The mermaid is holding the traditional tools of navigation -- an astrolabe and a quadrant. Her hands line up with the blue arrows.
	Translating Mermaid - Morwenna does many things with books. Not only is she a research-lover, but she studies and translates Latin poetry. She combines this study with her performance skills to recite naughty Latin poems that we have all enjoyed. The mermaid is holding a book and quill pen. The hands align with the blue arrows on the upper hand, and the blue and green arrows on the lower hand.
	Organization - The peice is organized in hexagonal "grids", each mermaid is separated by the vine motif in her own cell. 7 mermaids total, they all face in towards the center.