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  1. #21
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    Balmoral Head Possitioning

    Bo,
    In the first and fourth photo I can completely agree with what Jock is saying. The cockade looks a bit too far forward. However in photo two and three I think it looks acceptable. I wonder if it is just the angling of the photos that make it look a bit far forward?

    Further, I wonder if the involvement of a seamstress is worth the trouble? Might just move it a bit and have the bow slightly off? Or keep it where it is as it looks fine to me.

    Paul
    To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. -E. E. Cummings

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bo Smith View Post
    Jock and all-



    As for the sewn-in cockade, that's where it fell with the ribbons at the twelve o'clock position. To shift it will require a needle and thread, I think. I am not averse to moving it back two or three inches. I just might need to enlist the aid of a seamstress. Any advice there is appreciated, as well.
    Alright, just check that the centre of the bow knot is dead centre with the back of your head----no point in going further if it is not! If you have to move the cockade it is only a matter of snipping the cotton holding it on, in six places(on mine any way) and re-sewing it back on a bit further back towards the ear. Use the centre of the cockade as the reference mark because the centre of the badge is in the same place.
    " Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the adherence of idle minds and minor tyrants". Field Marshal Lord Slim.

  3. #23
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    Well Done Mate!

    Hello Bo,

    I think your Balmoral bonnet (love your choice of fawn with fawn/white dicing) looks quite good, and agree with many of the other posts in regards to the achieved look of properly 'Jocking' a Balmoral bonnet - you definitely achieved those results.

    I have never performed the 'Jocking' technique, and more than likely never will, as I tend to prefer my assortment of Robert Mackie Balmoral bonnets to age naturally through the years, allowing them to achieve that much desired 'worn' look. I am much too cautious of dunking my Balmorals completely in water, but 'to each is own' and that is simply my own opinion. Many members on this forum have performed the 'Jocking' technique on their bonnets, with wonderful results - you are certainly no exception - as your Balmoral looks very smart indeed.

    In regards to the question asked by David Pope, I would suggest perhaps researching your ancestry further, reaching further back into your family's past and history - this may give you a definitive answer to possibly which Highland clan or Lowland family (you mentioned Armstrong, which is a very prominent Border family, with wonderful traditions) you may have a connection with. My mother's surname is Smith, originally MacGowan, her great-grandfather Anglicised the surname once he emigrated to America from central Scotland during the 19th-century - for reasons we do not know, but we have speculations. There is a Clan Smith (Gow, Gowan, McGowan, MacGowan, etc) Association, however they are not very active and organised in a broad sense. Most Highland clans and prominent Scottish families had their own 'Smiths' or 'Gobha" that would peform a variety of important duties to include working with all sorts of metal, which is quite an obvious skill for a 'Smith' to possess. If you dig a wee bit deeper into your lineage, perhaps you will find that your Smith ancestors were members of a larger family or clan.

    The surname of Smith is commonly associated with the Clan Macpherson today, and the surname has indeed been approved for Clan Macpherson membership (based upon a particular event involving a Smith, in Clan Macpherson history)by the current Clan Macpherson Chief, Sir William Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie. Ironically enough, my mother's ancestors came from Inverness-shire, Scotland, as did my father's ancestors who bear the Macpherson surname - quite a match I must say! However, just because the surname Smith is among the associated family names with the Clan Macpherson, and often also with the Clan Chattan Confederation, doesn't necessarily mean a person bearing the surname of Smith is a Macpherson - this is where years and years of genealogical research and gathering conclusive data come into play. I encourage you do conduct such research if you are willing and interested...and i must tell you - speaking from personal experience, the results are very rewarding.

    Fawn and Lovat Green Diced, Robert Mackie Balmoral, also from Chris at Dunadd.


    Kind regards,
    Last edited by creagdhubh; 25th May 11 at 07:59 AM.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    17th December 07
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bo Smith View Post
    Jock and all-

    I may give it another dunking soon, just to tweak it a bit (or wait for the big storm we should be getting in Salt Lake near the end of the week- I ma need to build an ark before it's said and done with all of the rain we've been getting). I never did let it dry completely before molding. In this damp, humid weather it took two full days to thoroughly dry.

    As for the sewn-in cockade, that's where it fell with the ribbons at the twelve o'clock position. To shift it will require a needle and thread, I think. I am not averse to moving it back two or three inches. I just might need to enlist the aid of a seamstress. Any advice there is appreciated, as well.
    For what it's worth, I wouldn't move the cockade until after I had attached the badge to see where everything actually lined up.

    Something to remember for, oh, say ten or twenty years down the road, is that when the sweat band of your bonnet becomes truly grungy looking, a wool bonnet can be dry cleaned without damage.

  5. #25
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    Good to know Scott! Thank you!

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidlpope View Post
    Here's a vintage Clan Smith badge:
    [groan] Complete with tucked in belt end.
    Kenneth Mansfield
    NON OBLIVISCAR
    My tartan quilt: Austin, Campbell, Hamilton, MacBean, MacFarlane, MacLean, MacRae, Robertson, Sinclair (and counting)

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post

    Something to remember for, oh, say ten or twenty years down the road, is that when the sweat band of your bonnet becomes truly grungy looking, a wool bonnet can be dry cleaned without damage.
    The thing is though Scott, all the cleaning in the world cannot remove those honourable "battle scars" that are now beyond repair. You know, the scorch marks gained when the bonnet was used to put out the heather fire around the grouse butt after some idiot knocked out his pipe still with burning embers, or, the holes put in by barbed wire as the bonnet was used to cover the barbs as a very, nay beautiful young lady clad in a mini skirt, tried to cross over the fence, or, the teeth marks of the father-in-law's pack of terriers who worried it to death------and so on.

    There really does come a time when a new bonnet is rather a good idea!
    " Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the adherence of idle minds and minor tyrants". Field Marshal Lord Slim.

  8. #28
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    Hahaha! I love it Jock!

    Slainte,

  9. #29
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    Kenneth,

    I've seen clan badges done both ways, is there a significance to this?

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by creagdhubh View Post
    I've seen clan badges done both ways, is there a significance to this?
    It is not at all uncommon to see the strap tucked in on clan badges, but the tucked strap end should be reserved for the Order of the Garter.
    Kenneth Mansfield
    NON OBLIVISCAR
    My tartan quilt: Austin, Campbell, Hamilton, MacBean, MacFarlane, MacLean, MacRae, Robertson, Sinclair (and counting)

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