Help with Design Ideas

 
Dcgb7f
 
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Dcgb7f
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05 August 2015 14:10
 

I was just envisioning a standard heater shield. The statue we have in the church has him holding one axe (it’s rediculous long… almost like a pike) and a money bag at his feet.

Regarding the diocesan arms, they are lilies for St Joseph. My bad… though they might be hard to apart artistically.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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06 August 2015 03:14
 

The main reason I had for two axes rather than one, was to create / define spaces for other charges.  I also like the way they look, but that’s just me.

The long axe from the saint’s statue should look nice palewise or on a pale, with space on either side for other charges—I’d prefer same charge(s) on both sides for symmetry, but that’s not mandatory.

 

Before I forget - you said the statue has a shield - is there any design on the shield?

 
Dcgb7f
 
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Dcgb7f
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07 August 2015 01:19
 

There’s no shield. Apologies for poor wording. I had two separate thoughts: (1) just a standard shield, (2) the statue in the church.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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08 August 2015 03:50
 

No problemo.

But it triggered a thought - maybe good, maybe not ... How about, as the main charge, a (simplified) image of St Matthew holding a long axe, like the statue?  If he’s wearing blue (or some other dark color, depending on the actual statue) the field could be white & you could have an iris on either side; or if he’s dressed in white, maybe a blue field with a lilly (as in the arms of the diocese) on either side.

 

Possible variations on this theme might have the Saint with his axe on a pale between two irises or lillies; or a field per Chevron enhanced, in effect showing the Saint under the roof of the church.  Or maybe on a pale with the top pointed, arched or rounded (too tired to look up the proper terms for a blazon) whichever best fits the design of the church?

 

Any of this seem useful?

 
Dcgb7f
 
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Dcgb7f
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14 October 2015 10:32
 

What are y’all’s thoughts on the following. I tried for very simple. Is anyone aware of any similar, already-adopted arms?

Per fess embattled Azure and Argent a double-bitted axe Gules the blade charged with two crosses botony Argent.

 

Or

Per fess embattled Azure and Argent a double-bitted axe the blade charged with two crosses botony all counterchanged

 

The axe is, of course, a symbol for St Matthew’s martyrdom. I used a double-bitted axe (should I call that a labrys?) simply for symmetry. The embattled line and the crosses botony come from the coat of arms of the diocese to which this parish belongs.

 

I contemplated doing s seme of crosses for the field rather than charge the axe. My hesitation was that it would obscure the embattled partition.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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14 October 2015 12:01
 

Of the two, I would prefer your second design.  While the first design technically doesn’t violate the tincture rule, the red axe won’t show as well against the Azure upper half of the shield.  Also, on a purely practical level, a two-color design allows a full-color printing by using red ink on white paper, and even with black ink gives a clearer monochrome image.

Adding a bunch of little crosses just makes the design busier, and shifts focus away from the strong image of the axe.

 

My mind’s eye opinions FWIW.

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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14 October 2015 17:54
 

Joseph McMillan;104571 wrote:

Of course, to the extent that the preferences of the parishioners matter in a Catholic church (and I know from experience that this varies from diocese to diocese and pastor to pastor), it may be worth having a cross in the arms.  It might be on a chief, or it could be something like [Metal] on a cross between four irises Azure an axe palewise (or money bags, or some of each) [metal].


I don’t want to comment on the arms per se, and I feel that I might be treading on thin ice to bring this up as it may amount to threadjacking. Who knows, maybe it will be useful. Feel free to snip this out and put it in it’s own thread if you deem necessary.

 

In another thread, you had chided someone as cliche for using chevrons embowed to pun the name Sargent, citing another recent thread that considered using a torch to represent education. Not to be combative, but given the great number of crosses to represent religion, when does it also become cliche? Or is it so integrated into the subject that its use is accepted and expected?

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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14 October 2015 22:52
 

Fair point, I suppose.

I think, in mitigation, that I would say that there’s a difference between using one thing (the cross) as a substantive symbol, even if cliched, and using another thing merely to make a pun (the chevrons for a sergeant).

 

My reaction to the latter is probably shaped by the feeling I’ve had lately that we default somewhat too readily to looking for canting designs.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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14 October 2015 23:45
 

I suppose it depends on the quality of the pun.  My impression is that many nowadays prefer subtle allusions to obvious puns.  But it was not always thus!

For example, the Wappenroll von Zurich (if I’ve spelled it right) in IIRC the 14th century, recorded the arms - shield, simple helmet, and crest - of the notables of the city.  The Roll contained a number of canting arms, featuring charges canting on or alluding to the names of the bearers.  One that particularly stuck in my mind was for a family whose name sounded like the German word for a turnip - on a white shield a turnip, and for crest another turnip.  Compared to that, three chevron(nels) for Sargent seems positively elegant! smile

 
Jeffrey Boyd Garrison
 
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Jeffrey Boyd Garrison
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27 October 2015 22:18
 

Personally, I appreciate erring on the side of obvious and redundant… in the case of puns and allusions. I feel like too many modern assumptions are off the deep end with unique charges and convoluted designs attempting to convey "originality."

Crosses for Christianity and chevrons for sergeants are not only acceptable but preferred; the more uncomplex, ancient and universally recognized the iconography the better.

 

All this, with the understood exception of my dad’s arms… I write a credit check for his "nova" star, because…. we’re special. :-o