Waymark Hand Made Vegvisir Canvas Wall Banner | 16 by 22 Inches | Heavy Cotton Canvas with a Turned Ash Cross Bar and Tassel Fringe | Norse Home Decor Gift | RK-1659

The Waymark is a hand made vegvisir banner on heavy natural cotton canvas, hung from a turned ash cross bar with ball finials and mounted on a matching ash staff. The eight spoked stave is applied by hand in a warm ochre ink, thin lined and open, so the weave of the canvas shows through it. The head of the banner is rolled over the bar and set with two solid brass studs, and a row of eight cotton tassels finishes the lower edge.

The honest history of this symbol is more interesting than the version that gets repeated. The Vegvisir is not a Viking age design. It appears in the Huld manuscript, compiled in Iceland in 1860 by Geir Vigfusson, and in a small group of related Icelandic grimoires from the seventeenth century onwards. The manuscript entry is short and worth quoting in substance. It says that if this sign is carried, a person will not lose their way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is unknown. So it is a genuine piece of Icelandic magical tradition roughly eight hundred years younger than the longships, and it means what it says on the tin. It is a wayfinder. This banner is made and finished in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

Reading the eight staves

Look closely at the stave and you will see that the eight arms are not repeats of one another. Each arm ends in a different terminal, some barbed, some forked, some closed with a cross bar, and that difference is the whole design. The eight arms stand for the eight directions, and giving each one its own ending is what turns a wheel into a compass. A version where all eight arms are identical is a decorative copy made by somebody working from a low resolution image, and once you have noticed it you will see it on a great deal of merchandise.

The Vegvisir is often confused with the Helm of Awe, which also radiates eight arms from a centre. The difference is easy. The Helm of Awe has eight identical arms, each tipped with the same trident like fork, and it is about protection and fear. The Vegvisir has eight different arms and it is about not getting lost. Two different staves for two different jobs.

The canvas and the ash

The cloth is a heavy undyed cotton canvas of about twelve ounces, close to what is used for artist duck and workwear. It is chosen because it hangs with weight rather than fluttering, holds a crisp edge without a lining, and takes a hand applied ink without the line bleeding along the weave. It is left undyed, so the colour is the natural cream of the cotton and it will mellow slightly with time.

The cross bar and staff are turned from ash. Ash is pale, straight grained and stiff for its weight, which is exactly what a piece that has to hold a wide banner without bowing needs. The finials are turned as part of the bar rather than glued on separately, so there is no joint to work loose. The wood is finished with a light oil that leaves the grain open and slightly matt.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On the Waymark, runes can be burned into the ash cross bar along its length, or added to the canvas below the stave. If you want a different stave on the canvas altogether, that replaces the Vegvisir rather than sitting beside it. See the engraving page.

Mounting and display

There are two sensible ways to hang this. The first is on the wall from the cross bar, using the small wall cleat supplied, which puts the staff hanging free below the banner and reads best above a mantel or a doorway. The second is standing, with the staff dropped into a floor stand or a heavy pot of sand, which suits a corner or the side of a fireplace and lets the banner move slightly when a door opens.

Keep it out of direct sunlight. Undyed cotton yellows and hand applied ochre fades faster in a south facing window than most people expect, and neither is reversible. Keep it away from cooking steam for the same reason that stops people hanging textiles over a stove. If you want it dead flat, hang it for a week and let its own weight pull the fold out of the head rather than pressing it.

Care

Dust it with a soft brush or the upholstery head of a vacuum on low suction, working downwards, and comb the tassels straight with your fingers afterwards. For a mark, spot clean with cold water and the smallest amount of mild soap on a white cloth, dabbing rather than rubbing, and let it dry naturally. Do not machine wash it, do not bleach it and do not put it near a tumble dryer, because the canvas will shrink unevenly against the rolled head and the ink line will soften. Wipe the ash with a dry cloth and give it a wipe of furniture oil once a year if the room is dry.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This banner is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The ink is applied by hand, so the line weight of the stave varies a little and it will sit a few millimetres off centre one way or the other. Cotton canvas is a natural cloth with its own slubs and colour shifts between bolts, and ash varies in grain and pale tone from one board to the next. The size, the materials and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the leather belt in the photograph included

No. That is a styling prop. This listing is the banner, the ash cross bar, the ash staff and a wall cleat.

Is the design printed or embroidered

It is applied by hand in ochre ink on the surface of the canvas, so the weave shows through the line. It is not embroidery and it is not a heat transfer.

Can it hang outside

It is made for indoor use. Undyed cotton mildews and the ink fades quickly in weather and direct sun.

What is the difference between this and a Helm of Awe

The Vegvisir has eight different arm terminals and is about finding the way. The Helm of Awe has eight identical trident tipped arms and is about protection.

Can I have runes added to it

Yes. Runes can be burned along the ash cross bar or applied to the canvas below the stave. A different stave replaces the Vegvisir rather than joining it.

How long does it take to arrive

One to two weeks of making and hand finishing, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Waymark vegvisir banner in heavy natural cotton canvas
• Turned ash cross bar with ball finials, brass studded to the banner head
• Turned ash hanging staff, slotted and pegged
• Eight hand tied cotton tassels along the lower edge
• Small wall cleat and fixing screws
• Care card for canvas and oiled ash
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the other viking flags and belts, the wider viking home decor, the engraved and personalised pieces, and the guides for what the Norse staves actually meant.