[ANSTHRLD] fess urdy, Thor's hammers (was: Device attempt. . .)
Coblaith Muimnech
Coblaith at sbcglobal.net
Thu Aug 5 15:39:32 PDT 2010
Jbrandl10 wrote:
> http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll227/aednial/jbrandldevice2.gif
>
> Sable, on a fess urdy argent between 3 mullets of 8 points argent,
> thor's hammer sable, charged with thor's hammer gules fimbriated
> argent
In the emblazon you've given the white line between the hammers is
far too thin to be fimbriation. So what you've got is a red hammer
(which happens to have been drawn with a white pencil) on a black
hammer--a clear violation of the rule of contrast <http://
heraldry.sca.org/laurel/rfs.html#8.2>. Even if that weren't a
problem, a hammer on a hammer on a fess violates RfS VIII.1.c, which
says, "All charges should be placed either directly on the field or
entirely on other charges that lie on the field," <http://
heraldry.sca.org/laurel/rfs.html#8.1>.
> http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll227/aednial/jbrandldevice.gif
>
> Sable, on a fess urdy argent between 3 mullets of 8 points argent,
> 3 thor's hammer argent fimbriated sable
Again, the emblazon doesn't show fimbriation. It's just three white
hammers (which happen to have been drawn with a black pencil) on a
white fess. Zero contrast; no go.
It's possible that you could end up with three Thor's hammers voided
sable if you made the black line much, much thicker. On the other
hand, a Thor's hammer could be ruled too complex to void, based on
the guidelines in the cover letter to the November, 1992 LoAR <http://
heraldry.sca.org/loar/1992/11/cvr.html>. I took an image of one I
had handy and subjected it to the photoreduction test (as described
in the June, 2004 LoAR <http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/
2004/06/04-06lar.html#57>), and the results were not favorable.
> I am also thinking about taking the center hammer and inverting
> it, how do you think that would look, and how would it be blazoned
>
It'd have all the problems the original version has, plus an
additional, unnecessary layer of visual confusion.
Assuming you also successfully converted the hammers to hammers
voided, it'd be blazoned, "Sable, on a fess urdy between three
mullets of eight points argent a Thor's hammer voided inverted
between two Thor's hammers voided sable," or something like that.
Have you spent any time looking at real medieval and Renaissance
emblazons <http://coblaith.net/Heraldry/Armorials/default.html>?
They're excellent inspiration, and looking at them could help you
come up with a way to combine the elements that are most important to
you in a device that works.
Coblaith Muimnech
<mailto:Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>
<http://coblaith.net>
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