Comm Badge

For the U.S.S. Zendo

June 2003

Explanation

I admit that I'm something of a Star Trek geek. Not so much lately, but I used to be a regular watcher of Next Generation and DS:9, and I've had some pretty geeky discussions of Star Trek theory.

Anyway, so somebody gave me a velour shirt with a zip-up collar, and I realized that if I wear it with the collar zipped all the way up, it looks pretty Startrekky. I wore it this way to a Science Fiction Convention and one of my friends commented that all it really needed was a comm badge. I decided to make one, but not for the Star Trek Universe. I decided that my comm badge would display by allegiance to the pyramids.

I based my design loosely on the first-season comm badges from Next Generation, and on the rules illustration for CrackeD ICE (a game I helped to design).

I made three ranks pips for the collar, but one of them fell apart at Origins, so I was demoted.

Materials

The badge body is made from pieces of blue, gray, and mirrored plexiglas that I cut on the band saw. The pieces are mounted on a piece of clear plexiglas to hold them together. All the plexiglas came from the scrap of other projects. The pins for securing the badge to a shirt are tie-tack pieces I bought at the craft store.

The rank pips are flat glass marbles of the type used typically while playing Zendo. They're attached to more tie-tacks.

The Process

The key to this project is the "print on a sticker" process that I normally use since I don't have a laser cutter (yet). I designed the graphic in a drawing program, then printed outlines of the pieces onto full-page sticker sheets from the office supply store. I cut the sheet into pieces and stuck the appropriate shapes to the appropriate pieces of plexiglas. A quick trip to the band saw later, I had all my pieces, and some adhesives later I had a comm badge.