My 8yr old said "dad, can we make shields tonight?"
Here is what I came up with.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/loaba/RafesShield.png
Rafe pretty well hates it (though he is to polite to say so), but I’m going to keep it on file anyway.
What say you folks? If I change anything, what should it be? Colors, charges?
Is there a reason for changing anything?
Yeah, there could be reasons to change things. Rafe is an azure kind of guy for starters. He’s really wanting to use a pair of crossed swords too. Personally, I think what I have is pretty sweet.
So I take it you don’t want to pass your arms on to your son?
I think his should be unique.
Completely unique, or differenced?
I give up. The core characteristic of personal heraldry is that it is hereditary.
This is not heraldry.
Joseph McMillan;86602 wrote:
I give up. The core characteristic of personal heraldry is that it is hereditary.
This is not heraldry.
I concur
i lean with Joe on this. i know it’s your situation. i know he’s your son. and i know i really have no say in the matter. however, you did raise the question so i’ll put my $.02 in using my family’s arms as an example…
when i decided to design arms for the family i asked my dad, who i do not get along with, nor talk to at all, and my uncle (his brother), what they would like after i talked with them about some basics of heraldry. in the end they wanted a quarterly style shield as can be seen in Highland-Scottish heraldry and in native Irish heraldry. they also wanted specific charges that gave a nod to the patriarch who emigrated here: his religious faith, which compelled him to move here; the two ranches he ended up owning as a pioneer; the land of our ancestors (Ulster); and a ref to the meaning of our name as it is in Irish (Gaeilge). and of course they had to have blue and white.
now…if it were left up to me only i would’ve used Gules and Argent, or rather Sanguine and Argent (a topic for a different debate) and i would’ve used only what is in the first quarter of our arms. but, since my father and uncle knew my grandpa (who died when my dad was 15) and my great-grandpa (who died when my dad was 13) i figured they were closer to the patriarch than i was and since they were alive i should have them decided what the arms should be and then "inherit" (such as it is since i designed them) these arms. and, again, these are not the arms i woulda chosen for myself.
i did that because heraldry is at its heart an inheritance. it is a legacy. yes, it can be specific to an individual, but when one steps back from the Anglo-centric POV of most heraldry books and looks at the reality that all arms are inherited (including those of the one man one coat camp) how can one not then see that the legacy of arms is in fact what is at the core of heraldry? all arms are inherited and therefore not everything about them is going to "speak" to the current armiger.
so, i’m with Joe on this one. heraldry is at its core, no matter what some would say, an inherited legacy…for better or worse. and i am of the crowd that thinks that part of heraldry should not be messed around with…at all. besides you have very attractive arms and your son should be proud to inherit your arms and though he is a youngin now he probably will when older. i am proud to inherit mine and, as i said, i do not get along with, nor like, my dad very much at all. but, i am proud to inherit arms that have the thought he and my uncle put into it and that were a tribute to our patriarch. but, that’s my opinion and it’s probably worth less than the $.02 i mentioned above.
So tell me how you really feel, yeah?
I’m not asking to be treated with kidd gloves, but I am asking to be treated with a little respect.
I’ll just scrap this idea right now. Mod, please delete this thread.
