Mary Beale School of Needlework
LESSON 2
How to make your mark
How have people made their mark throughout history? They have written amazing books, done incredible feats of bravery, shown unbelievable skill in all kinds of performances, or have been extremely creative. These are the people we want a little part of. How can we get that? Usually it is with a signature, or a monogram or initials. Sometimes though marks were made with symbols or pictures. First let’s look at some of these “marks.”
Coco Chanel was a very famous dress designer in the early 1900’s. Her designs for dresses and jewelry are still popular today. Her monogram was two interlocking C’s. Now a monogram is a little bit different than just initials. It is defined as “a motif of two or more letters, typically a person's initials, usually interwoven or otherwise combined in a decorative design, used as a logo or to identify a personal possession.”
The theory is that the logo was first conceived by Chanel 15 years after first setting up her business. She was visiting a friend at a castle in Nice, France. The castle is called Château de Crémat. If you will notice in the picture there are stained glass windows with interlocking C’s. If I was guessing, I would say that Coco Chanel looked at those stained-glass windows and thought, “Those are my initials! I love that…I think I will use that as my monogram.” Not all agree that this is the origin of her monogram logo, but to me, it looks too similar not to be the origin. This logo is, in fact, a very old logo on French porcelain dating from 1758.
Now let’s look at this baseball. While some people will be drawn to the interlocking C’s others will be more interested in this baseball! Why? Well, there are signatures on this baseball that are very famous! Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth were amazing baseball players. In fact, this baseball is so special that it sold for a LOT of money. This is not the kind of baseball you go out and use for batting practice. With these signatures, you put a baseball like this in a glass box and just look at it! I am sure there are soccer balls like this as well as footballs and basketballs. Famous signatures are valuable!
Have you heard of a book signing? That is where you stand in line to get an author of a famous book to sign your copy of the book that he, or she wrote. Here is a picture of kids waiting in line. Why? They want J.K. Rowling to sign their book. She is the author of all the books in The Harry Potter series.
What do all these people have in common? Coco Chanel, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, J.K. Rowling? They did something! Coco Chanel made beautiful clothes. Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth were amazing baseball players and J.K. Rowling wrote a series of books that millions of people love.
Some things like and pottery and porcelain use beautiful pictures to explain who made them and where they were made. For example, look at these two pottery marks! They are so pretty; I don’t think they should be underneath the plate where no one sees them!
You also find lots of marks on silver. Here is an example. Do you see all the different picture marks? They all mean something! They have to be small though because it shouldn’t take away from the design on the silver. In this particular picture the crown signifies that this is from a particular city in England, the Lion assures the buyer that this is pure silver (known as sterling silver), the letter “N” tells you when this piece of silver was made and this flag, called a makers mark, tells you that Walker & Hall are the makers of this silver piece.
I can’t make your mark on the world for you; only YOU can do that! I can though help you think about creative ways to make a monogram, or a picture symbol that someday maybe people will stand in line to get, or you will make something that everyone will want because they know how special it is.