Crest block

[Tiberius]

Now that Mr. Hamata is finished, my next project will be a crest and block for my Augsburg. I am familiar with Greek designs painted on the sides of their crest blocks. The question is, however, did the Romans use the same type of geometric patterns? I know this would be hard to determine, chiefly because, to my knowledge, no crest blocks are extant. Questions to follow:
1 - does anyone have pictorial evidence?
2 - would it be more prudent to leave it all red?
3 - does anyone (Peroni) have pics of their handiwork in
this area? (Clear pics)

[Magnus]

There's no evidence concerning the painting of the blocks except for red, IIRC...but if it's a minor consolation, I'm also painting mine with the greek geometric pattern (3 rows of checkers).

Logically (and I'll get blasted for this I'm sure) there's no reason why this isn't possible, given how much was borrowed from teh greeks in terms of style, but the evidence for crest block painting is so scarce...

Though I've already made peace with the fact that I'd be stretching things for this instance. Though personally I don't think it's far fetched and entirely feasible. And besides, it's only a paint job. 8)

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes, it would be extreme to say they liked so many things about the Greeks, but when it came to Crest blocks they decided, 'no way, thats Wayyy too gaudy' :roll: I imagine it would be a good addition to appearance

[Gaius_Calvus]

Hi Jeff,

Here is a pic of a crest block I made. The wood is black walnut and has not been stained or finished in any way with the exception of sanding it smooth and oiling it with linseed oil.

I thought about painting mine, but after seeing how the wood looked in the black walnut I decided to leave it plain. 8)

In making it, I used the Legio XX instructions. I also found out (the hard way) :oops: a few tricks that saved me a lot of mess and effort.

This was a pretty tedious project -- good luck!

Regards,

Edge

[QVINTVS ARTORIVS CORVINVS]

Edge... pm sent.

Regards.

[Magnus]

I did the same thing Edge, though I used some cheap pine...sanded it and oiled it using linseed. Makes even the cheap pine look half decent!

[Gaius_Calvus]

Right on, Matt.

Yours really looks great -- the more I looked at pics of painted ones and thought about it, the more I thought that oiled wood with a nice finish would look better.

I like the way you think, Matt -- always have! :lol:

Edge

[Tiberius]

Yes, I agree. The natural wood looks much better. HOWEVER!!!! I believe I will paint mine red in accordance with LEG~XX rules. I was just hoping for some design data. Alas and avec, red it shall be.

[Gaius_Calvus]

Understand completely, Jeff.

As usual with most of my kit -- I followed Matt's excellent tutorial to make mine. :wink:

The only additional advice I would offer is NEVER try to work with loose horsehair. It usually arrives in a bundle -- LEAVE it in that bundle until you get it all tied together in the smaller bundles as Matt suggests.

Good Luck!

Edge

[A_Volpe]

Looking good, Edge! Nice job! I like the natural finish look, too!

[Gaius_Calvus]

Thanks, Andy...hopefully it's the last one I'll ever make! :lol:

[Marcus Mummius]

I made one with goose feathers a few weeks ago. Took me about 4 hours start to finish (I painted the crest block sky blue). It's a bit messier than I hoped but matching up the feathers isn't easy

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Understand completely, Jeff.

As usual with most of my kit -- I followed Matt's excellent tutorial to make mine. :wink:

The only additional advice I would offer is NEVER try to work with loose horsehair. It usually arrives in a bundle -- LEAVE it in that bundle until you get it all tied together in the smaller bundles as Matt suggests.

Good Luck!

Edge

I take it the missus wasn't too impressed then! :lol:

[Gaius_Calvus]

Nah, she was impressed. I figured this out BEFORE I took apart the horsehair.

Besides, she's very understanding of my whole hobby -- goes to all of our events, etc.

I married well above my station. :lol:

Edge

[Doc]

The crest box my friend put on his Gallic D helmet has some silver rosettes with concentric circles and a Medusa Head.

I posted his helmet on RAT under Gallic D in this Reenactment and Reconstruction section. However, I am not sure where.


I have the picture of the crest and its box only. I had croped out the crest from the helmet once before since I wanted to have a similar one of white feather made for my helmet.

My friend told me that Dan Peterson mentioned to him that something like the Medusa was found and that it had some type of spike or nail on its back presumably for pushing it into wood (possibly some furniture). Thus it occurred to my friend why not a crest box. I believe that the Medusa was found at a military site. However, do not quote me on it since I am not sure.

Paolo