The Muireen elevation Commemorative Medallion (Winterkingdom '26)

The following is the first part of my judging sheet submitted to the Northkeep Champion A&S competition, Winterkingdom, January of 2026.

For each of my medallions, I work hard to closely follow the methods we know about from Antonio Pissano. He was the artist who first brought together the arts of sculpting, portraiture, and metal casting. There are no surviving contemporary chronicles specifically discussing his techniques, but through letters written about his work, and lessons passed down from him to his subsequent students and their students in turn, we have a solid working concept of how he created his medallions. 

In all the ways that I was aiming for, this creation does preserve the artistic style of Pisano. Almost all of his medallions were characterized by three key characteristics. 

1. A sculpted portrait of the subject in profile looking towards the onlooker’s right. 

2. Words enumerating or commemorating an event or place 

3. An image on the reverse side depicting a highly symbolic act or place, or in some fewer cases grand historical event. 

The face of the medallion is modeled after a image of the subject, facing right, wearing her characteristic glasses and hood. Many of Pisano’s medallions were noted for capturing extremely specific and unique details of his subjects. 

 Pisano’s lettering on his medallions was often, but not always in Greek or Latin, but some examples exist in contemporary Italian. 

His letters existed in both block, and circumferential examples. In this case, I have chosen circumferential. 

The face of the medallion notes the event, the year, and the kingdom. 

The reverse records the stated theme of her elevation, “Just one more time”. The specific event this medallion commemorates is Muireen’s elevation to the rank of pelican. In the lead up to this, the coordination and planning for her vigil was named “Muireen takes flight”. The image of a European pelican taking off was, at an artistic level, a perfect invocation of both points. 

The physical construction of the medallion started with a blank disk. Historically this would be fired clay, or shaped slate stone. I use Sculpy due to its low cost and practical availability. From there, a basic design is laid out with soft lead pencil. 

Wax is deposited onto the face in controlled amounts and allowed to cool and harden. From there, I sculpt the hard wax into the desired shapes. 

 Once I have the final product, the model is set in a casting mold, dusted with talcum powder, and then packed with casting sand. Once in place, I turn the mold over and lock the other half of the frame in place, dust with talcum powder again, and then packed with sand. When you separate the two halves and pull the model out, the resulting impression is made of heat resistant sand, so it can be used as a rigid mold to pour the pewter into. 

Pewter takes about 15 minutes to cool once poured. After its pulled out of the mold (destroying the mold in the process) I use a saw, file, and sanding paper (in place of grinding stones) to smooth off any edge ‘flashing’ where the pewter leaked out between the casting halves.