Micronational Bling and Things

 One of the frequently-asked questions among micronations is, "Where can I get (insert object) made for my micronation?"

Arthur Tourneau of Duckionary and Zar Antonov of Obscurium have come up with the following list of companies that produce objects that might be of interest to micronations. The list is Euro-centric, since that's where both of these micronations hail from, but it's a good place to start:

• Postal Stamps: www.yourstamps.com (Jürgen Schwarz)
• Flags: www.anley.com / www.microflag.net
• Medals: www.pokal-total.de (Ships to Austria, Germany and Switzerland only)
• Medal Ribbons: www.baenderservice24.com (Ships to Western Europe and other EU countries only)
• Medal Mounting: www.bigburymint.com
• Flag pins, patches, room banners, pennants, car licence plates, table flags: www.microflag.net
• Stamps: www.stempel-fabrik.de (Ships to Western Europe only)
• Buttons: www.buttonorder.com / www.stylebuttons.de
• Printing Service: www.wirmachendruck.de (ships to Europe)
• Currency Design: www.instagram.com/diasnhdk
• Currency Advice: www.instagram.com/edristangov (Nils Seuthe)
• Uniforms: www.etsy.com
• Coins: www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002997832866.html
• ID Cards: www.draculgov.com/foreign
• Flag and Coat of Arms Design: https://obscurium-gov.wixsite.com/flags

I offer my thanks to both Zar and Arthur for their work in compiling this list!

Forty years of llamas!

 This year is Slabovia's Ruby Jubilee - forty years!

MicroCon EU will continue!

 Just a brief update tonight, but we have confirmation that the European Union edition of MicroCon will be an ongoing event.  I believe the plan is to hold them every two years, like the current one, but on the "off year".  More information when I have it, of course!

Awards standardization - an example

 Recently, I've been proposing a standardized form for awards (i.e. medals) - see, for example, our brochure on the topic at the MEDALS website.

Today, I'd like to show you why this is something I think is important.  The below picture has two awards: on the left is the the "Order of the Pink Flamingo", which was presented to me by Aigues-Mortes at MicroCon in 2019, and on the right is the "King's Mark of Friendship" (or KMOF), which is a small award I give out to people I've formed a close personal bond with, both inside the micronational community and outside of it.

The size disparity is, to say the least, striking.  Attempting to wear both of these awards at the same time would look fairly awkward, in my opinion.  And, I'll admit that part of this huge disparity is my fault, because I'm the one who designed and makes the KMOF medals, and I chose to make them small based on the parts that I'd found.  (I have a LOT of those crown charms!)

Now, this example is somewhat contrived, as these are, respectively, the largest and smallest awards in the MEDALS collection (at least, at the time of writing).  However, I think that it demonstrates my argument for me, that standardization of award sizes within the micronational community is beneficial.  Of course, if you're only giving awards within your own micronation, and not presenting them to people from other micronations, then you can model your awards any way you wish.  (I'm aware, for example, that the "Klingon Assault Group" (or KAG, a Star Trek fandom group) uses "battle notches" for marking event attendance that are small, triangular pieces of medal - they have hook-and-loop fastener on the back, and as more are earned, the wearer can arrange them into more complex geometries.)

NOTE: The Order of the Pink Flamingo is, unfortunately, damaged - one of the flamingo feet "snapped off" during the MicroCon closing banquet, and has never been seen again.

MicroCon retrospective video from West Who

West Who recently posted this video over on YouTube - a nice little retrospective of MicroCon, including a good shot of our delegation (in all of our gala finery) at about 0:43.  The video's literally only a minute long, perfect for those of us with busy days or short attention spans!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDr1rZ38OXg&ab_channel=WestWho 

Pamphlets available for download from MEDALS

Five years ago, I established MEDALS, the Microphalerist Educational Archive and Library of Slabovia.  That site (and the physical collection) documents the wide variety of medals, honours, and awards bestowed by various micronations.  As part of this, we've created several different pamphlets that we distribute at MicroCons.  And, as of today, these pamphlets are available for download (PDF format, English only) from the MEDALS website under "Printable Materials".

The first pamphlet, Introduction, (which we first made up for MicroCon 2019) provides an abridged history of phalera (decorations) and the field of phaleristics.

The second pamphlet, Storing and Displaying, (which was premiered at MicroCon 2022) provides the reader with thoughts about storing, caring for, and repairing their decorations and honours.

The third pamphlet, Standardization (new for MicroCon 2023) proposes a standard size and materials for decorations, and gives some suggestions for how to present awards.

If you're at all interested in micronational awards, feel free to go to the MEDALS website and browse around!

MicroCon photos!

 My thanks to Adrienne Baugh, First Lady of Molossia, for these photos.  The first is a picture of me with the President and First Lady of Molossia, and the second was taken during my cyber warfare talk.