Plant Badge: Heraldry for common Scots

**JSFMACLJR** · 10th August 09, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by NCMC

Bump up post.

Does any one have any other technical notes on how to prepare plant bage? Are there general guidelines when placing a plant badge? I would hate to be that guy with a whole bush on a bonnet.

Just pick/pluck/cut a sprig/branch/handful of the plant and stick it behind your crest badge on your bonnet. It shouldn't be too difficult to place it between the cockade and the bonnet itself.

Not difficult at all! If it is, you are trying too hard.

**Chas** · 10th August 09, 03:04 PM

Four XMarkers on a kilt night in Preston, England. No hats as we are indoors, but we are still wearing our dandelions.

At the Harpenden Highland Gathering with a gentleman from Kenya called Peter Myfatherhasthebiggestpotatoes. Note - hat and lapel.

Regards

Chas
:ootd:

**Deirachel** · 10th August 09, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Deil the Yin

Would anyone have a suggestion from preserving it, or rather making it permanently wearable? I thought maybe painting it and then covering it in some kind of clear lacquer or some such?

Thoroughly dry the sprig, usually by hanging it, cut side up, on a bit of thread (for decorative purposes, use a color that matches the stem, if you can) in a dry area. Alternately, one can use a dehydrator, a low temp oven, or out in the sun, if you have a good are to do so. If you don't dry it, it WILL rot.

Then, using said thread, dip the sprig into clear epoxy and remove allowing excess to drip off. To make it easy to keep on, you may want to add a small pin to the bottom end of the sprig, or a tie tack pin while the epoxy is still liquid (thick).

Worked for me with my Cumin sprig.

**NCMC** · 10th August 09, 07:23 PM

Pictures look good, thanks for the tip.

**O'Callaghan** · 10th August 09, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by sirdaniel1975

Yeah, I noticed that a few clans are missing. Sometimes these sources stick to the Highland clans that were featured by Robert McIan and such.. Many more familys and such are more recognized as clans today and have active Chiefs.. Some were clans and were not feartured by writers like McIan.. according to some..

Personally, I think many sources should start to update their lists as to whom are actually clans... The funny thing is, there are those who do not consider some clans "Clans!" I get a big kick out of this... If there is a Chief, it's a clan! Some have Commanders appointed in the absence, and that I think is the exception. Anyway, I'm rambling.......

My Scots cousins belong to a lowland clan whose tartan was registered only in 1986. I will leave off the clan name for obvious reasons. Traditionally they were a sept of another clan (I can't recall which one), but now there's an elected chief and a clan association for their last name. I don't suppose their surname is listed as a clan name everywhere either.

One of my cousins wears the kilt in family pictures, but I don't know which tartan. Given what I know now, I will have to dig out a picture and try to ID the tartan. It would be interesting to see if it is the tartan of the newer clan matching their surname or that of the older and bigger clan of which they are a sept. I suspect the latter, if only because it would be cheaper to get a kilt made in that sett. Mind you, it's not for me to judge, I'm just curious.

**Phil** · 12th August 09, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by O'Callaghan

My Scots cousins belong to a lowland clan whose tartan was registered only in 1986.

Not Bells by any chance? Also a sept of McMillan I think. These Borders families were never really clans and never wore kilts in reality but have been resurrected as clans, mostly by emigrants overseas.

**macwilkin** · 12th August 09, 06:47 AM

Post deleted.

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 12th August 09, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by Phil

Not Bells by any chance? Also a sept of McMillan I think. These Borders families were never really clans and never wore kilts in reality but have been resurrected as clans, mostly by emigrants overseas.

Actually there are two different Bell families- those from around Loch Tay are generally regarded as a sept of MacMillan; the border Bells are a different family, and their last recognized chief -- whom, I am led to believe, was so styled in 17th century Scottish legal documents -- was "Bell of Blacket House".

I, for one, wouldn't be too quick to sneer at those "emigrants overseas"-- they spend a lot of money in Scotland, as evidenced by the recent Gathering of the Clans (and I suppose "Border Families", too). And while it is true that the border families didn't historically wear kilts, one shouldn't loose sight of the fact that the kilt has become the national dress of Scotland. That being the case, it would seem only reasonable to accept that it is a fit and proper thing for border families to adopt wearing the kilt -- and designing their own tartans-- if they choose to do so.

I can't see where anybody should have a problem with that.

**george7** · 12th August 09, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by MacWage

More seriously,

A plant badge is a nice addition to a clan badge, if one wants one.

Some are easy to get, others are not depending where you live. As was said above, most won't tell the diffference. Actually, most will wonder . . . "why does that guy have a stick/leaf stuck on his hat."

Yet, to Scot circles, a plant badge is the ultimate.

Depending on where you live is a factor. There weren't a whole lot of clans who used tropical fauna in Scotland. There isn't a whole lot of temperate fauna in Florida.

**macwilkin** · 12th August 09, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by george7

Depending on where you live is a factor. There weren't a whole lot of clans who used tropical fauna in Scotland. There isn't a whole lot of temperate fauna in Florida.

You don't have craft stores in Florida? They offer a number of artificial flowers and plants that could be used if need be.

T.