PENNANT FACTORY
Homemade pennants inspired by designs of the past
BackstoryOne of the cool things about screen printing is that the method is not limited to the making of felt pennants and banners; or t-shirts and sweatshirts. It turns out, this method can be applied to various other non-fabric "substrates," including paper, cardboard, and wood. In fact, not long after screen printing was first invented, entrepreneurs in this country began using it to mass produce commercial signage and advertisements--along with felt novelties, of course. So after developing my screen printing abilities on felt, I thought I'd take a stab at a wooden sign or two; or three. Notre Dame Stadium features three very famous signs. One of them is quite famous. The other two are more known for their close association with the first. This trifecta of signage I'm referring to exists in the stairwell that leads from the locker room to the playing field. And the star, without question, reads simply, "PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY."
Not everyone knows this, but the P.L.A.C.T. sign has a sister; and, in my opinion, she's just as impressive. Positioned directly above Wenger's P.L.A.C.T. sign in the very same stairwell hangs a much grander sign listing all of Notre Dame's 11 national championships by year and record. Unfortunately, information about this "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" sign and its genesis are hard to come by. In fact, I kind of struck out here. Almost certainly, this sign pre-dates Wenger's P.L.A.C.T. sign. In fact, it looks to me that she modeled her sign on this sign's look. Both signs are made of wood; both signs were painted in the same shade of gold; and both featured hand painted navy blue lettering. Since the two signs were placed together, Wenger's intent was likely that her sign complement what was already there. Moreover, if you look closely at the championships listed, it seems the sign was likely created shortly after the 1966 season. Look carefully: the entries for '73, '77, and '88 all appear to have been added. Perhaps this sign was commissioned by Coach Ara Parseghian, sometime after winning the school's eighth title? If the "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" sign is the P.L.A.C.T. sign's sister, then this third sign is her cousin: I'll refer to it as the "GO IRISH GO" sign. This sign's history is as murky as the last, unfortunately. Unlike the previous two signs, this sign hangs directly outside the locker room, at the top of the stairwell. Additionally, it looks nothing like the others. This one's white; and its blue lettering doesn't match the scripts seen on the other two. Thankfully, this sign features a cleverly illustrated leprechaun; and this feature may help us answer some questions about the sign's origin. Ted Drake first developed the iconic fighting leprechaun logo in 1964. This leprechaun closely resembles Drake's. I would thus date this sign to the 1960s. Who knows, perhaps Drake even made it? So there you have it. The Holy Trinity of Notre Dame Stadium signage! But if you want to purchase your own P.L.A.C.T. sign and hang it above your basement stairs, get ready to pay the slogan's owners, Play Like A Champion, LLC (and Lou Holtz) some extra dough. And as to the "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" and "GO IRISH GO" signs, good luck. Reproductions of these signs aren't as commercially available. Thankfully, these signs were all made on wood. So, I decided to put my screen printing skills to work and reproduce them myself on a wood substrate, and thereby re-create my own stadium stairwell experience--in my garage. The resultBy far, the most challenging sign of the three to replicate was the "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" sign. It's huge! To make it, I had to spread the stencil over two large screens; then carefully overlap the resulting images to form one. In comparison, the other two signs were about 1/3 of the size and presented no such challenges. With a little help from some neighborhood kids that kindly painted each sign before printing, the job went smoothly. In conclusion, screen printing on wood: no problem. Maybe even easier than on felt. See for yourself.... |
AuthorIn 2018 I started a separate website called Pennant Fever dedicated to 20th century felt novelty manufacturers. It focuses on these companies' history, products, etc. Eventually, my interest in these businesses inspired me to start making my own pennants. THIS site you're currently viewing, Pennant Factory, is where I'll showcase some of the felt projects I've taken on. Most are reproductions of real pennants once for sale to the public. I've done my best to re-create the originals as authentically as possible based upon surviving photos, known dimensions, etc. Others are my original work, intended to look like the styles of yesteryear. Some turned out better than others. See for yourself. Enjoy! -KRB Projects:
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