Swansea Astronomical Society

Title: Swansea Astronomical Society

Description: "The badge of my local astronomical society."

Maker: Nik Whitehead, University lecturer in human-data interaction

Techniques used: Split stitch in silk on a specially printed cotton base.

Inspiration: "I considered doing a number of different things, but in the end I though that the SwanAstro badge had a certain minimalist elegance. The bigger problem was deciding on the base fabric as I wanted something with a bit more life than a flat black, so finding that I could get fabric design taken from as astronomical image was a joy. I traced the design onto a dissolvable fabric and then stitched through both layers to complete the pattern then soaked it in water to remove the remains of the plastic. It’s a little bit odd doing such closely-spaced stitching through a layer of plastic. My favourite element of the design is planet Earth - all of the embroidery is in gold other than that pale blue dot."