Making a pirate flag

[Cascabel]

Though you'll have to excuse the guy standing in front blocking the view, he looks to be the same bloke that were running around at PIP last year, pretending to be you.

Aye, shipmate, and now the swab has moved into me house. I saw him lookin' back at me from me mirror just this mornin'.......

>>>>> Cascabel

[Zephyr]

...we be wishin' ye luck, mate!!..The combination 'o sewin' 'n paint works okee-dokee, an' thar be alla the time the chance for variation when ye touch up the paint!..We've a few sea miles on RR's now, an' she's doin' fine, eh wot?

Make me life a bit easier darling, what kinda' fabric? paint? ye got a great look there and I be a bit to busy for the usual experimenting.....

is that yer olde dressing gown?

[the Royaliste]

'aven't heard from ye inna while, lass!!...The red and gold are ripstop nylon, the skulls are used dacron sailcloth, and the detail paint is flat black rustoleum enamel......For my second copy, I'll use ripstop white, as the sailcloth protested loudly on construction....

[Zephyr]

Thank ye kindly darlin', it's wonderful to stop back in the Pub, notice anything new?...who's shoutn' the drinks today?

Thank your for the details of yer flag construction, RR

[Patrick Hand]

The easiest (not exactly period ) way that I know how to make a flag, is to spraypaint/airbrush it.

for a Black flag with a white skull........

Make a stencle outa thin masonite (draw your design, and then cut it out with a jigsaw)

I use cheap white cotton fabric for the flag, Iron your fabric (You don't want any wrinkles in the fabric) Put the stencle in place with some weights on it so there are no gaps around the edges....

Spray paint (or I use a cheap airbruch that throws a lot of paint) the black.

let the paint dry, then flip the flag over, flip and carefully position the stencle on the other side, and paint the other side.

you can touch up any small details with a magic marker.

when it is compleatly dry, hem the edges, and add grommets or ties

when the flag gets to raty, you use the stencle to just make a new one. Just be carefull about where you store your stencle.... I have to cut out a new one for "the Rude Skull"..... it broke when I moved............

[Stynky Tudor]

The easiest (not exactly period ) way that I know how to make a flag, is to  spraypaint/airbrush it. . .

Aye, an even cheaper way is to just make your stencil out paper and use a water soluble glue stick to tack down the leading edges of your stencil to the fabric. Make sure that you mask off the areas of your flag that you don’t want paint to get on, you would be surprised what effect a cloud of aerosol paint can have once it lands.

Speaking of aerosol paint, it’s been my experience that most brands of white spray paint come out sort of watery – translucent and you have to use several coats to cover a dark fabric surface. Last time I checked, Rustolium seemed to spray the most opaque, but it’s been a while.

An alternative to white spray paint is a cheap metallic silver, it usually covers anything in one coat and actually does a great job when spraying on black material.

Once you’re done painting, be sure to pull up your stencil before it bonds to well with the fabric. If any glue from the glue stick is visible, a quick run through the wash usually does the trick.

[William Brand]

  Stynky Tudor said:

Aye, an even cheaper way is to just make your stencil out paper and use a water soluble glue stick to tack down the leading edges of your stencil to the fabric. Make sure that you mask off the areas of your flag that you don’t want paint to get on, you would be surprised what effect a cloud of aerosol paint can have once it lands.

Speaking of aerosol paint, it’s been my experience that most brands of white spray paint come out sort of watery – translucent and you have to use several coats to cover a dark fabric surface. Last time I checked, Rustolium seemed to spray the most opaque, but it’s been a while.

An alternative to white spray paint is a cheap metallic silver, it usually covers anything in one coat and actually does a great job when spraying on black material.

Once you’re done painting, be sure to pull up your stencil before it bonds to well with the fabric. If any glue from the glue stick is visible, a quick run through the wash usually does the trick.

I've done a lot of painted banners for events, parades, exhibits, etc. One of the easiest ways to make a pirate flag is to purchase a piece of natural canvas and paint everything black, but the areas you want left white. Even the natural canvas isn't white, once you paint everything else black, it looks like the skull is white, and when you get up close to it the slightly yellowed, natural canvas gives it an aged look. The uneven brush strokes of the black paint add to this aged look. Drop cloths are cheap and usually slightly rectangular, making them affordable and flag shaped.

[cyclewench]

Try using rip stop nylon fabric available at most fabric stores. That will make a nice sturdy lightweight flag. Also visit my website to see flag ideas & symolism that will help you design a flag. go to www.ironhorse-cowgirls.com and click on "design your own pirate flag patch"

[blackjohn]

Just recently Gentleman of Fortune posted this on our pirate brethren mail list.

http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/smf-q038.html

Blackjohn

[Pirate]

A Pirate Flag of the "golden age of piracy" would typically have been made from silk. Silk flies well and would have been plundered from the Spaniards.

The Jolle Rouge, later to be known as the Jolly Roger, was dyed with blood.

The silk would have been light colored, and after the blood has dried and aged, it appears black.

It is possible to draw your design on the silk using wax, then when it is dyed in blood, the design remains light colored.

Obviously, in today's world animal blood would be used, contact your local butcher, he should be able to supply what you need here.

Following the dying processing , allow it to dry thoroughly in the sun. light rinsing to get out the excess and then washing in hot water to soften and remove the wax.

I'm sure there are other methods, but you asked for authentic.

Pirate

[Captain_MacNamara]

[Stynky Tudor]

A Pirate Flag of the "golden age of piracy" would typically have been made from silk. . . plundered from the Spaniards. . . Jolle Rouge . . . dyed with blood. . .

Ahoy there Pirate, Can you point me in the direction of where your silk and dried blood research information comes from?

[blackjohn]

I hate to post "me too" messages, but I gotta.

Me too!

I believe anything is possible, but I'll follow Occam's Razor until someone gives me good evidence otherwise.

As for silk, I have no problem believing that. I was an ensign in the First Maryland Regiment (Revwar re-enacting) for some time. Our flag was silk, made of a number of panels hand sewn together, with a hand-painted motiff of a swan fighting an eagle. The silk held well, though it did get a number of bayonet punctures. Sadly, the paint had a tendency to chip and flake.

Blackjohn

[Gentleman of Fortune]

dyed wit blood.... he he he.

The question of how pirate flags were made and what they were made of probably comes up on every discussion board/e-mail list.

I think that the best answer for the question was that they were made out of any material that they had available to them. If the pirates "took" over a 8 gun sloop, what kinds of things were available to them?

Sail cloth, linen, other flags (probably wool), paint, needles, thread, tar.

A good indication would be to try to find period examples of other naval flags.

Here is one that was captured by the British(9 January 1806)

"Even for an era of enormous flags (British ensigns of the period would be 20 feet wide) this one is huge being about 33 feet wide and 45 feet long (9.8 x 14.4 metres).

"The Spanish ensign is made from a red and yellow wool fabric, often referred to as 'bunting’, narrow widths of the fabric are hand sewn together and a linen hoist strip is attached. The Spanish emblem is painted or stencilled onto both sides of the flag."

This is the only Real Pirate flag in existance.

This flag, however, is not from the Golden Age. It is dated 19th Century. There is a picture in David Cordingly's book pirates. The description is

"A rare example of an orginial 19th Century pirate flag brought back

from North Africa by Finnish seafarers and is now in the collection

of the maritime museum at Mariehamn"

To me it looks like tarred sailcloth with a painted and sewn on skull and bones (the book has a close up on the cover).

Considering that most ships would have several different flags in their stores for signaling or identification, I would assume that the pirate would try to make a flag like the ones that he was already familiar with.

Their are no gromets, but the edge has a rope sewn into a folded edge for support.

Sometimes a linen strip was sewn into this edge (that has the hoisting rope) for additional support. Gromets (as we know them) are not seen on flags till around the civil war. They did have "sewn" grommets. kind of like button holes.

Other things to consider are size. Flags were big in this period because you had to be able to see them from a considerable distance.

Also, I wouldn't worry to much about using natural fibres to make a reproduction, (unless you need to fly it on a real ship for long periods of time). Natural materials shoul hold up nicely for living history.

Here is flag construction

and a quick quote from the site

"In the 18th and 19th century, flags were usually made of one of three fabrics, although a home-made flag could be made out of most anything at hand. These fabrics are: wool, linen and silk. Later, more or less during and after the Civil War, cotton became available in weights and finishes suitable for flags. Woolen bunting, usually imported from England in the early days, is a light-weight, thin fabric prized for nautical use because of its flyability and resistance to rot from exposure to seawater. Linen was often used for the header and stars on such flags. Linen was also used for some "service" flags because of its inexpensive (at the time due to being the most common home-spun) nature. Silk was expensive and used for military and ceremonial flags. Thsese often bore complicated, allegorical or heraldic images painted on by master artists, often with different designs on each side"

I think that pirates probably started off with what ever was available and then worked their way up to a nicer flag. One of my books says that there was some lady that sewed pirate flags in exchange for rum. ANd I think UNDER THE BLACK FLAG book has an account of the pre trial procession of some pirtes that says they "had their black silk flag carried before them."

Egad... that is enough

[Zephyr]

Excellent!

Thank you, Z

[William Brand]

  blackjohn said:

I hate to post "me too" messages, but I gotta.

Me too!

I believe anything is possible, but I'll follow Occam's Razor until someone gives me good evidence otherwise.

As for silk, I have no problem believing that. I was an ensign in the First Maryland Regiment (Revwar re-enacting) for some time. Our flag was silk, made of a number of panels hand sewn together, with a hand-painted motiff of a swan fighting an eagle. The silk held well, though it did get a number of bayonet punctures. Sadly, the paint had a tendency to chip and flake.

Blackjohn

This is why I recommend the natural canvas drop cloth as a substrate for painting a pirate flag. The canvas cloth holds the paint very well, and once you've painted one side, you can hang it up over a window to trace and paint the opposite side. All of my examples were commissions that I've sold, but I'll post the next one I do, so that you can see what I mean.

[William Brand]

I recently painted a new flag for the Disorder and the Wetlanders gathering at the 13th Annual Baconfest. Of course, it had to be about the 'fruit of the pig' so I went with our pig skull and crossed pig leg bones from an earlier design. Here it is hanging in the Tavern at the end of a night of bacon revelry.

[Stynky Tudor]

Aside from the flag I made for Cascabel, in 2005 I made another flag for my friend Raven - black cotton sheet, (course) cotton canvas design sewn on both sides. She never did send me a picture with her standing in front of it.

 

[Mary Diamond]

Beautiful flags! Love the emblems…