Hi everyone, I have a really cool guest article for you today. Billy Capgun shares his method for making amazing paper banners! Enjoy.
Hello, Dash28 Fans! It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for the site (babies are such a time sink! Who knew!?), but I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I do the paper banners for my dwarf army. Since I’m lazy, I decided to write an article rather than explain it every time someone asks me. I’ve really enjoyed the ease of just linking someone to an article I wrote. Plus, there’s the side benefit of being extra advertising for the site. (You’re welcome, Jake)
My dwarf army is sort of my love letter to a bygone era of miniatures. Single-piece metal models painted in bright colors and of course, paper banners. Long before sculpted banners existed, many wargamers used paper banners that either came with kits or could be photocopied out of books and painted to match your army. I have taken these same principles, but instead of using pre-made banners, I decided to design my own.
Design
If you plan on making a lot of banners like me, you may find it best to make a sheet of pre-sized banners that you can use whenever you like. I’m not very skilled at using a computer for graphic design, but I busted out my trusty ruler and pencil and got to work.
I worked out several shapes for banners: one for cavalry, one for infantry, and one for an army standard. I then came up with some designs for each of the banners to give them some variety. Afterward, I scanned them into a computer as a black and white image, cleaned up the lines in MS Paint (I told you I was a graphic design scrub), and mirrored the images so that I’d have double sided banners.
Once I had the file, I could make as many as I wanted and they’d all be the exact same size and designs. Efficiency!
If you plan on hand drawing each design on the banners, I recommend doing this BEFORE cutting the banner off of the paper. It’s a lot easier to draw on a flat piece of paper than a half-glued flag on a miniature.
Assembly
After printing the designs on standard copy paper, I was ready to begin. Since I ended up folding my flags over, I found that copy paper gave me just enough rigidity, while also being flexible enough to allow me to bend it without wrinkling the paper. I like to have my miniature completely painted and varnished before I move on to this step, but you could of course wait and paint it all at once. Different strokes!
First, cut out the banners using an X-acto knife. It’s important that you use a sharp, new blade for this, otherwise, you’ll tear the paper instead of cutting it. I also used a metal ruler to keep my lines straight.
Then using an old paintbrush, apply undiluted PVA glue to the INSIDE of the banner on all of the inside surfaces. Make sure to completely cover the inside of the banner in a thin layer of PVA: this is what holds the flag together. It’s important to use Undiluted PVA because watering it down will cause the paper to bubble and warp. I’ve found that Gorilla Household Glue works really well for this. It’s thick and dries tough, but flexible, which is what we need.
This next part is probably the trickiest: fold the banner over, matching the ends together as best as you can. Then, slowly flatten out the rest of the banner, making sure that it’s facing the direction you want and that you’re avoiding bubbles or wrinkles. Fortunately, copy paper is super cheap, so you can just tear it off and try again if you mess up. Once it’s in place, you can cut off any weird excess or parts that didn’t match up correctly. Obviously, the more complex your design, the more difficult this whole step will be.
Finally, paint more undiluted PVA glue across the exposed surfaces of the banner. At this step, it’s very important to apply it as cleanly and evenly as possible. You want to avoid getting brush strokes or fingerprints on the banner as much as possible. I find it best to paint the PVA on the backside first, that way if you end up touching that side, it’s not as important.
After it’s all glued up, let it dry for a good 8 hours or so depending on your glue of choice. The Gorilla Household Glue sets up pretty fast, but I usually do the gluing as the final step before bed so that it’s hardened and ready for paint the next day.
Painting
At this point, you can paint the banner as you see fit. I tend to use an airbrush to block out the big colors because it goes on thin enough that I can usually still see most of my lines underneath. Make sure to mask off your mini if you are doing this after the mini is painted. You don’t want overspray ruining your paint job! Once you’re done, varnish that bad boy and you’re off to the races!
Finishing Touches
Once everything is painted and varnished, I like to add some movement to my banners by placing paintbrushes and X-acto knives on top and underneath the banner before placing a weight on top (usually a half-empty coffee mug for me). I leave this for a few hours and hand-bend anything that doesn’t look quite right to me. At this point, you can call it done!
Tips and Tricks
- Do a practice banner. Seriously. I have one that I made on a cocktail skewer that stays on my desk. This does a few things:
- You can see if you even like the result. What if you went through all the effort to do this on a model only to hate the way it looks?
- It can serve as a guide for future banners. Mine helps me figure out where the shadows/highlights go for my NMM dwarf faces. It’s much easier than digging out a unit from your carrying case.
- Use a sharp X-Acto blade. Tearing paper bad.
- Be consistent. If you plan on making a lot of banners for your army, take the time to design a sheet of them. It’ll save you tons of time in the long term, plus you can ensure that they are the same size.
- Different Shapes. For a raggedy Undead/Orc/Evil-looking banner, try cutting the paper to look bedraggled after gluing it to the model, but before painting.
- Don’t be afraid to mess up. I have torn off and restarted more banners than I actually have done. Honest. It’s paper, just try again!
- Go bananas! Try something crazy. As I said, the worst that could happen is you throw it out and start over.
Final Thoughts
I hope this helps people make some cool stuff for their armies. Obviously, my method is not the be-all end-all. I took parts from various methods I read about or experimented with to come up with one that works best for me. The flags I’ve made don’t work well as vertical-hanging standards, but I think with a little tweaking, if those types of banners are your jam, you could probably make it work with a little adjustment.
Anyway, keep hobbying, and I hope to see some sweet banners in the near future!
