Re: Heraldic help

[clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

Henri LaGrave:
> Making and passing a device is an educational experience, no doubt about it.
> I think there'd be less grumbling if more of the education happened up front,
> rather than after the submitter has invested time, money, and identity on a 
> particular concept.  

Generally, when I do consulting, I try to do more than just take
forms and checks. I will offer my help in coming up with a design
that's not "typical SCA style," and offer Pedro's Brief Heraldry
Lecture, so that problems can be cut short at the start. I can't
draw worth a darn, so I generally ask that they find a
draughtsman, rather than depending upon my skills. In the event
that the client wants a name as well, I try my best to help them
there as well-and while I'm no linguist, I believe I'm doing a
good job. 

> PS  It would also help if a herald who claims he can't tell a goat from a cow
> because he's a city boy, who disregarded two written clues in order to
> mis-identify the main charge on the device that someone else would be
> saddled with, didn't shrug it off as an amusing bagatelle.  This is supposed
> to inspire confidence?

As has been noted before, we register the _picture_. If it looks
like a cow and she wants a goat, it's going to be a cow, or, more
likely, it's going to get boinged-which it did. To quote Bartolo
of Sasso Ferrato, "Arms exist to tell people apart." If the
picture's ambiguous, the arms are not performing their function.
Usually, arms aren't displayed with little nametags under
them-that would remove the whole point of having them in the first
place!

Pedro de Alcazar, AoA
Barony of Storvik, Atlantia
Pursuivant Extraordinary and Junior Minion
Or, six Castles Vert within a Bordure Gules Bezantty
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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