We're hoping to have a simple, cheap and effective way of identifying guild members of the field, in order to help create a group identity. To that end, it's likely that I will be putting a bulk order in for the following:
(I will try to negotiate a bulk discount if I do, they should work out at under a fiver each.)
What do people think?
Another possiblity is of having guild colours and/or a particular style of hat for the guild. The hat idea is nice, but the good thing about the badges is that they are cheap enough that it might be possible to subsidise them in some way for people who can't afford them.
As to colours, I know David is thinking of gold for the military unit, and I must admit, I'm kind of thinking gold and crimson might work well. I'm wondering if there's something that can be done with intertwining sashes barber pole style to use as a sash or belt.
Sounds good. I'd be definately up for a badge. As for sashes, also cool. Gold and crimson work well. Theres deep red in my costume, so im hoping it wont clash too badly!
I think that there should be slighty different colour depending on rank and job in the guild but with one main colour in all so we would know that a person is one of ours. Well that's my opinion at least
The problem with a single guild colour would be that with a game so large, there's likely to be at least one other group with the same colour. We may not be able to avoid that even with two colours, but at least we have a better chance.
Having rank indicators is a cool idea, but with the guild being a fairly democratically structured one, I don't think we should be making too much of a deal out of it at this stage. With the League being renowned for it's fondness for bling, we may want to consider some sort of jewellery to indicate rank if we do go that way eventually. Some sort of chain might be something that could work, but I think that's maybe something to think about when we're a bit surer about how things are going to work in practice on the field.
Maybe instead of 'Colours' we should all have a pennant (see below) - Some sort of guild shield on material that can be worn on a belt or tied to a sleeve - Velvet Glove do belt and sash flashes - http://www.velvet-glove.co.uk/index.php?page=22
-- Edited by Magdalena on Saturday 12th of January 2013 10:47:39 PM
The sashes at Velvet Glove are indeed well priced, and I think we could possibly spring to some embroidery too. As to colour, maybe gold, maybe a turquoise-blue colour for the slightly maritime name/location of the guild, I'm now thinking the latter.
Currently I'm thinking for the military side of things that a blue and white Landsknecht shirt and a pair of white or checkered trousers (I'm looking at chef's trousers ATM as they're dirt cheap and hard wearing) would be distinctive and not prohibitively expensive. The gold idea for a sash might be dropped as overall uniform, particularly if the rest of the guild are wearing turquoise/blue ones (but I might keep the gold one for me as I have a 15 foot gold sash, and like to feel important...)
Currently toying with the name 'Bellamarina Salvatores' for the military arm of the guild. What do people think?
Ooh, I like the turquoise blue thing, although I think we need another colour to go with it. I was thinking crimson because of the whole blood motif with the pelican symbology, but I'm not sure crimson and turquoise work together. I love the idea of the guild being bound together by blood and seawater though. Hmm.
It seems like we're decided on turquoise/aquamarine and crimson/burgandy (i.e. any two colours that could reasonably be associated with blood and brine - it's good to have some flexibility to allow for choice of costuming).
I am in the process of commissioning a livery collar in with alternating stones in guild colours, which should hopefully be suitably authoritative.
My suggestion would be that any of the sashes available from Velvet Glove would be suitable in those colours. I believe David is planning to produce a pelican logo which hopefully will be suitable for embroidery if people want that. I'm going to suggest that it's a very League thing to say "wear our colours with pride, but precisely how you do it is a fashion statement".
Absolutely. Aquarmarine and Burgundy is a fine colour combination and should be worn with pride (although, wearing an Aston Villa top is going to get you ushered out of the field...)
Pelican Logo. I'll get onto it forthwith. Do you want to put in an order for some of the brooches? What sort of numbers are we looking at, since we only have 12 members signed up here (I'm on here twice due to a historical accident) but I'm fairly sure we have more players actually on board in the group.
Well, I've got prices from the supplier as follows.
Price for single pewter badges = £6.79 (this is below the import VAT threshold - you can order up to 2 brooches at a time without risking an import VAT charge as the limit is £15.)
10 pewter badges @ $6.99 = $69.90 Postage = $3 Subtotal in UKP = £46.14 Possible import VAT charge @ 20% + £8 Royal mail handling fee = £17.22
Approximate price per brooch = £4.61 or £6.33 if we get hit with customs charges
Approximte price per brooch = £3.89 or £5.06 if we get hit with customs charge
At above £135 you pay customs duty as well as import VAT, although in practice there's a little headroom as they don't collect duty if it's below £9. This is unlikely to be relevant for us.
My conclusion is that it's probably worth doing, but an order of 20 makes more sense than 10, which doesn't offer much benefit over individual orders if we get hit with a customs charge. Might be tricky getting together than money without collecting some in advance though (which has logistical diffculties).
We might need to somehow have a bank account for the group, which has some implications. If it's linked into PayPal we can probably all do transfers through that. Might help cover the cost of group purchases (I can see a need for group canvas at some point)
Problem with Paypal is that we end up losing some of the money in Paypal fees, which is not a problem with cash in hand (although that has other problems). Similarly unincorporated association bank accounts generally have charges associated with them. I should put in an order sooner rather than later to allow for delivery from the States though. I'm therefore going to ask people to shout out if they want a gold plated one by next Sun (3rd). Cost will be a tenner or less for those. In the next week I'll figure out financial logistics of getting us badges.
I don't think we'll be doing a group order for sashes, as I think that will be a more individual taste thing because there are so many options.
If i get a crimson and a turquoise sash, i can chop them in two and sew them together to make a dual colour sash, that might look good. And i'll have a spare for someone else then. I tend to use cheap peshminas as they work well.
Hell, I could possibly get four out of two if i do it right.
I did a search on ebay for turqoise sashes, on the off chance. What I got was a lot of hits from wedding suppliers. These could be used for both set dressing and Guild colour sashes.
Organza is transparent and can be scratchy. Might look a little cheap, if not used correctly, but the above would make for tying around objects in camp, or hanging in proffusion from the cieling as drapes.
Table runner or waist/shoulder sash? £30 for 10 with free postage seems quite good value for money and would equip a significant proportion of the guild with an identical item of kit, for uniformity purposes.
What do people think (first might be just worth pitching for for set dressing, imho)