Since our local Warhammer Fantasy group recently changed its name to The Fancy Lads, we had discussed having T-Shirts for our trip down to Charlotte for the upcoming Southern Assault Fantasy Grand Tournament. Unfortunately, I didn't think we had time to get all the money together, get everything designed, and get the shirts printed. I did have a three day weekend however, and decided that we needed something to take down to the GT, and to take to tournaments in general. So I built and painted a life sized banner for us to take. The banner sits in a small cinder block foundation, and stands just under six feet tall and four feet wide. The stand itself is made from pvc pipe, and breaks down for easy storage.
The first thing I purchased for the banner was gray cloth, which I cut down so that it was the right shape. It's pretty thick, so that the paint wouldn't run through. I then took some masking tape and blocked off where I wanted the borders to go. The borders are dark blue for Duke University, dark red for N.C. State University, and light blue for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I thought this would be fitting since Durham sits squarely in the middle of these three Universities. One thing I will probably adjust in the future if I make another banner is using thicker tape, since even at very close range the spray paints left fine clouds of color over parts of the middle of this banner. I think it worked out due to the "orciness" of this banner, but I might want it cleaner in the future.
After I did the borders, I built stencils for the Orc symbol, top hat, and letters.
You can see the drawing of the pipe I considered using, but ultimately nixed due to space concerns. I went with the orc symbol because it's an iconic Warhammer symbol, was easy to draw (freehand is not a talent of mine), and because an orc in a top hat with a monocle makes me laugh. Everything was stenciled in except the cord attached to the orc's monocle.
The stand was the next part. I started with a small but heavy small concrete base with a pvc socket glued onto it. You can screw things down into the socket, so I added the appropriate size screw head to a five foot pvc pipe.
This fits right into the base, and can be attached and removed as necessary. On the top of the pole, the horizontal pole that holds the actual banner is made of a a "T" connector and two two-foot pipes on either side. This piece also detaches from the vertical pole, so that the banner itself can be removed as necessary and rolled up for transport. The banner itself is held onto the pole by five small shower rings.
I hope to hang this banner wherever our club attends tournaments. It's not ungainly or excessively large, and should fit nicely in places like behind the TO's table. It was a lot of fun, and I hope it will be a lot of fun to use as well.
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