#vev-elvish nasa

[lissomelace]

THE EUROPA CLIPPER LAUNCHED THIS MORNING, AND I AM SO NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT!!!!!

Space is so fucking awesome. We're headed to one of JUPITER'S MOONS!

Every time a launch happens, it makes the latent space enthusiast in the back of my brain jump up and down. It also derailed all my plans for today. I did have plans.

Instead, someone made one comment about how I could now maybe make mission patches on my embroidery machine, and the space thing crossed over with my current hyperfixation (silm) to produce THIS:

Mission patch for the launch of Gil-Estel! A bit messy, but a good place to start!

Design and linguistics details under the cut, because I put WAY too much thought into it and now must talk SOMEONE's ear off about it. Feel free to ignore this bit:

So, to start: Elvish NASA. I chose to call them Vardildi Elengolmo Vilciryamoyë, or VEV. The Followers of Varda, Astronomers and Astronauts. This could very much be totally wrong. Vardildi is Varda+the suffix used in Yavannildi, the followers of Yavanna. Elengolmo comes from the coined word for astronomer, Elengolmë (star-lore), with the -o suffix from nolmo, wise person. Vilciryamoyë takes the vil- from the root of vilya, meaning air, sky. ciryamo is mariner, and yë is the suffix added to the second word meaning 'and'. (I may be very, VERY wrong on this! If anyone has better ideas, I very much welcome input/guidance/constructive criticism)

So I stuck the tengwar for this on either side of the patch. (None of the tengwar is all that legible, though, I'm working on getting that sorted out) Most NASA mission patches don't actually have NASA on them, but I put it on anyway. Here is the tengwar and the start of a logo I made an attempt at (the tehta is supposed to be a shooting star, but that did NOT come through clearly in the embroidery [because it's tiny]):

(Probably going to try to make an elvish NASA patch before too long, honestly)

Most NASA patches (from research I did with great self-restraint here) have the (last) names of the astronauts. Not sure if they also have the name of the craft or if that's generally somewhere else, but I put both--Eärendil Ardamírë (his fathername and mothername) are the tengwar at the bottom of the patch, and Vingilotë is written on the keel of the ship. None of these are legible because they are small, and my machine has limits. It's a work in progress. Also I apologize for the bad lighting in the photo.

NASA patches sometimes also have a mission motto. That's the tengwar across the top of the patch here-- aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima, Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars (a common cry among elves and Frodo [when facing Shelob]).

(I half wanted to do something a bit more funny--maybe something like 'Now I have become Venus,' or 'Do I get to come down?' but this was a bit easier since it comes pre-translated into Quenya and tengwar, and also I have no faith in my Quenya translations that are any longer than a word)

The horizon is flat because Númenor exists, in the middle there between the shore of Middle-Earth and a teensy bit of Valinor and the Enchanted Isles.

The design for the Silmaril is sort of taken from the heraldic device Tolkien designed for the Silmarilli (though it isn't clear), and it is rayed with the six-pointed star from Eärendil's device. (I stuck the moon phases from the same source around the edges as well)

This was really fun, even if it might be the silliest thing I've ever made! It definitely needs some workshopping--i don't mind the black lines framing some sections from the background fabric, but I might try turning all the tengwar into lines of stitches instead-the satin columns really are illegible.

I now need to restrain myself from doing some sort of NASA/Astronaut Earendil AU, because it now sounds kind of fun (I do not have the background knowledge for this)

Sources:

NASA patches here: https://www.shopnasa.com/collections/patches

Quenya translations here: https://www.elfdict.com/

Tengwar transcriptions here: https://www.tecendil.com/

And if you want info on the Europa Clipper mission, here: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper

Embroidery digitization done with Embrilliance Stitchartist 1, embroidery done with a Brother SE630 machine. Thread is Brothread Cotton and YLI cotton bobbin thread, with a little sulky rayon on the Silmaril. Cloth is a black linen from Fabric Wholesale Direct.

[lissomelace]

Ok, because I have literally no self restraint: elvish NASA patches:

(Also, check if you're in the right place and have clear skies to see the comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas! I saw it last night and it's SO COOL!)

I came up with the concept for and potentially faulty etymology of Elvish NASA (VEV, Vardildi Elengolmo Vilciryamoyë) here, so I won't go into that again. I did this in a couple colors and ended up liking the concept for the purple one more, but the blue one came out much nicer, visually speaking. Purple is less...loaded, I think, with specific Elvish connotations (house of Ñolofinwë my beloveds), and the blue was my second choice even though dark blue represents the sky well because I wasn't trying to copy NASA, just be inspired by them.

I stuck the Valacirca (big dipper) in there, and again--I prefer the silver of the purple one conceptually, because those stars are created from Telperion's dew, but they stand out against the white way less well. Also, I didn't cut the thread jumps on the gold ones, and I really love the way that gives the distinctive silhouette of the constellation.

The tehta of the acronym was going to be a stylized shooting star, but literally the moment I was starting to digitize that bit was when I got called to see the comet, so I just had to try to make it a comet instead. My inability to properly digitize gradients continues to be a problem, so it isn't a great representation of a comet's tail, but whatever. An attempt was made.

The star is white, because Varda apparently has a tendency to appear to elves in a glowing white fana. It has fourteen points for theological reasons.

I really wanted to stick a stylized sun in the lower right and moon in the upper left, but I know I have a tendency to make things cluttered so I left them out. But I might try that in the future, because I really want to try out a stylized floral moon.

I have no experience with logo design, but this was a fun concept even though I have to clean it up a little! And maybe now I'll be able to work on the things that actually need doing!