Auslan ‘Brooch’

Description

NOTE: These brooches are very limited. We request a strict purchase limit of 1 brooch of this design per customer. If you have purchased previously, please allow those who may have missed out to nab their very own. Thank you very much.

A long time ago, Quetzy learned how to sign “Jingle Bells” in Auslan, the Australian Sign Language.  We thought that it was high time to learn another song and stumbled across the Auslan online signbank.

https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/

We often have conversations with folk about our “badges” and being the reserved makers that we are, we never correct them to say ”we make brooches not badges”.  Curious to see if there is actually a difference between the terms ‘brooch’ and ‘badge’ in Auslan, we were delighted to learn that there are indeed two different signs!  Woo hoo!

The Auslan sign for ‘brooch’ goes like this: hold your left forearm across your chest so that your left hand is located in the place where you would pin a brooch.  Form a wide v-shape with your thumb and pointer finger, pause for a moment and then pinch the pads of your thumb and forefinger together.  It’s kind of like making a little bird beak start open wide and then close it.

The Auslan sign for ‘badge’ starts in the same location, with your left hand positioned on your right chest side, but instead, form a fist with the palm facing your chest.   You then move your fist in a quick clockwise rotation, just like a round badge that says “I’m a big flat piece of metal with a picture pressed onto it, not a finely crafted incredible piece of wearable art”.

The signing hand has been cut from two layers of matt beige-coloured acrylic, with etched details.  The pale blue movement arrows have been mounted on a narrow, clear backing bridge, secured behind the fingers.  The brooch pin on this design is angled across the hand and behind the finger as this was the only arrangement that held the brooch flat when worn.

I’m this big
Weight: 12 grams
Width: 52mm (as pictured)
Height: 56mm (as pictured)
Thickness: 6mm (without clasp). 13mm with clasp (at thickest point)