These are the arms I made for two my maternal uncles Michael and Patrick. They are based on the arms I created for my Papa Meskel.

http://img273.imageshack.us/img273/7311/unclepatcoatofarmscolorfinalxg1.jpg

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/9991/unclemikearmscolorsketchgg4.jpg

edited by member

I really wish I could’ve made these appear a bit larger on screen, as I love the detail in the trout and the cowboy boot with hat. The detail of the spur is really nice, but… Plus you can never see the highlighting and shading I do when I post using Image Shack… oh well… bíodh sé mar sin (so be it).

My own self-criticism of them is mainly that the helm for my Uncle Mike’s arms is too large/tall in relation to the shield. Otherwise I like both.

I like these designs, Denny: very clean, simple and attractive.

thanks Patrick.

You’re quite welcome! I really like the direction your work is going in. I may have to commission you again, just to see the differences. You know what might be fun? What if your Uncle Pat’s helm was wearing the cowboy hat? Not traditional, of course, but I never met a real cowboy who gave two hoots about how things were supposed to be, and the hat’s the first thing on in the morning, the last thing off at night and an important part of any cowpoke’s identity. Plus, I think any real cowboy would rankle at the idea of a boot on his head.

I keep thinking about your question of what to do about arms for the deceased. When a member of a Lodge dies, it is Masonic tradition to ‘drape’  the Charter (our document from the Grand Lodge saying that we’re official). Perhaps a black drape at the top of the shield?

Patrick Williams wrote:

I keep thinking about your question of what to do about arms for the deceased. When a member of a Lodge dies, it is Masonic tradition to ‘drape’  the Charter (our document from the Grand Lodge saying that we’re official). Perhaps a black drape at the top of the shield?

Usually, in Britain at least, the armorial bearings of a deceased person are displayed in a "Hatchment"

Quote:

A Hatchment is a funeral escutcheon or armorial shield enclosed in a black lozenge-shaped frame which used to be suspended against the wall of a deceased person’s house. It was usually placed over the entrance at the level of the second floor, and remained for from six to twelve months, after which it was removed to the parish church.

At the universities of Oxford and Cambridge it was usual to hang the hatchment of a deceased head of a house over the entrance to his lodge or residence.

 

Hatchments have now fallen into disuse, but many hatchments from former times remain in parish churches throughout England.

 

If for a bachelor the hatchment bears upon a shield his arms, crest, and other appendages, the whole on a black ground. If for a single woman, her arms are represented upon a lozenge, bordered with knotted ribbons, also on a black ground. If the hatchment be for a married man, with a surviving wife, his arms upon a shield impale those of his wife; or if she be an heiress they are placed upon a scutcheon of pretence, and crest and other appendages are added. The dexter half of the background is black (the husband being dead), the sinister half of the background is white (his wife still being alive).

 

For a wife whose husband is alive the same arrangement is used, but the sinister background is black (for the wife) and the dexter background is white (for the surviving husband). For a widower the same is used as for a married man, but the whole ground is black (both spouses being dead); for a widow the husband’s arms are given with her own, but upon a lozenge, with ribbons, without crest or appendages, and the whole ground is black. When there have been two wives or two husbands the ground may be divided in a number of different ways. Sometimes the shield is divided into three parts per pale, with the husband’s arms in the middle section and the arms of each of his wives to each side of him. Sometimes the husband’s arms remain in the dexter half and the two wives have their arms in the sinister half, divided per fess, each wife having one quarter of the whole shield, one half of the sinister half.

 

Colours and military or naval emblems are sometimes placed behind the arms of military or naval officers. It is thus easy to discern from the hatchment the sex, condition and quality, and possibly the name of the deceased. In Scottish hatchments it is not unusual to place the arms of the father and mother of the deceased in the two lateral angles of the lozenge, and sometimes the 4, 8 or 16 genealogical escutcheons are ranged along the margin.

 

Hatchment originally meant, in heraldry, an escutcheon or armorial shield granted for some act of distinction or "achievement," of which word it is a corruption through such forms as atcheament, achement, hathement, etc. "Achievement" is an adaptation of the Fr. achievement, from achever, a chef venir, Lat. ad ca put venire, to come to a head, or conclusion, hence accomplish, achieve.

Reference:Hatchments in Britain (10 vols) (1974-1994) General Editors: Peter Summers and John E. Titterton

http://i77.imagethrust.com/i/427898/hatchment.jpg

Of course this does not mean that american armigers need follow suit

Denny,

I also really like your designs and can only commend your rapid understanding of blazonry as well as the displayed improvement in design and stylistic "signature".  The one problem I have with your Uncle Mike’s crest is the fact the lure is "floating" in space.  If you recall, the crest should be able to sit on a helm—nothing "lost in space".  As it is, the lure/spinner does not fit this parameter.  If you could paint the fish after the strike, so the hook is through it’s lower lip, that would be more appropriate (in my mind).

Still; overall you get an A+ for content and execution!!

Martin’s suggestion of a hatchment could be another project for you to undertake—and nothing like something close to home to give the project immediacy.  The Arms as emblazoned do represent your Uncle Mike and if you had a Letters Patent issued in memory of him (were he to qualify), the Arms would be as you’ve emblazoned them, not as a hatchment.

Therefore, why not attempt the hatchment as a funerary device AND as a practical exercise propelling you onto another heraldic tangent?

Cheers,

—Guy

Martin Goldstraw wrote:

Usually, in Britain at least, the armorial bearings of a deceased person are displayed in a "Hatchment"

Of course this does not mean that american armigers need follow suit

Hatchments seem to have been prepared on occasion during the colonial and early post-independence period, but few examples survived even into the late 19th century.  As far as I can tell, the custom never seems to have caught on to any great extent, and died out (no pun intended) quite some time before its popularity diminished in England.  Still, there’s no reason American armigers shouldn’t follow the English tradition.

There are some American examples (the Gore Roll, some carved tombstones) of replacing the crest with a skull and crossbones on the arms of deceased persons and subsituting some appropriately somber motto, such as Memento mori, for the armiger’s own motto.

The hatchment, painted on a lozenge-shaped wooden plaque, would make a nice wall ornament for his widow.

I’ve seen the skull & crossbones/"momento mori" that Joe mentions from the Gore Roll. While its certainly historical, it hardly seems fitting for your uncle’s character as you describe him.  Nowadays we seldom if ever see this sort of morbid theme on modern grave markers.  If there is some sort of decorative design on his actual tombstone, it might (or might not) suggest a suitable decorative addition to the hatchment.

Personal taste of course, but I think I prefer the hat on the boot, as you drew the crest, to just the hat.  Since crests are often shown on the wreath alone (no helmet) this version would IMO also look nicer than just the hat on a wreath sitting atop the shield.

But personal tastes may differ.

I would like to have a hatchment—altho I hope the occasion doesn’t arise for many years to come—but I want to know what to do with it afterwards without having to give quite a lot of money to the church to host it. Any suggestions?

nice designs and well drawn.

I do have to agree that the hatchment is probably the most traditional approach for dealing with the arms of the deceased, but if tradition is the argument, then they would not make a nice decoration for the widow’s wall as hatchments were only meant to be displayed publicly for a time and then moved to the local church. And, while a nice reminiscence, how long will the widow want to display this ‘picture’ of the decedent?

My suggestion of draping was born of trying to find something different that could be used for a time and then set aside. After all, as Denny is honoring his Irish ancestry here by using the same CoA for both relatives with merely a change in crest for difference, why get British and do a hatchment?

As the widow, or one of her children, will ‘inherit’ these arms, I really suppose that the achievement by itself is the most appropriate gift. A living and useful rememberance. A hatchment might make a wonderful addition to his grave marker, though.

Limited rejoinder—(1) hatchments aren’t AFAIK uniquely British, though I can’t say how broadly they were or are used in other countries; & (2) since we’re not limited by British useage, why not hang them on the widow’s wall as a memento mori (or countenance the widow doing so)?  Churches here are unlikely to cater to the British tradition of hosting permanent display of hatchments, so why not at home?  "Yes, those are the arms of my late husband/father/grandfather…"

Or if the particular form of traditional hatchment seems inappropriate (doesn’t to me, but to each his own) rotate the plaque a 1/4 turn & paint the arms on a square panel.

Patrick, as a 4th degree member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians I can relate to the draping idea and I can’t really say more than that. And since Uncle Pat was a Hibernian as well, I may think about this more… just not sure how to do this practically speaking. I had at first considered just doing the arms and placing his hat (this is a rendition of his real hat, albeit much cleaner as the one he had is a typical working hat in typical working condition! LOL) on a corner of the shield and leaving it at that. But, as any good cowboy can tell you your boots are as of much import as your hat. In the field both are life and comfort savers – literally. I used his favorite boot for this design as well. Again it is cleaned up as his real one is worn and the leather is to the point where the leg of the boot falls over on itself. I suppose I could just place the boots off to the right of the shield resting against the shield and hang the hat on the upper corner to balance it all out. I don’t know how heraldically correct that might be… but I do recall seeing more personal stuff on Ermine’s website… so maybe I will just go in that direction… any ideas on that yeah or nay?

Martin, thanks. I like hatchments myself. I think they are nice. But, since the aprish church he belonged to is a rather “modern” parish as far as Catholic parishes go (don’t get me started on that…) I’m not sure they’d be willing to have the hatchement as the pastor is always a “positive” sort of fellow who detests anything that reminds one of death or suffering (he removed the 50 year old statues that had blood or wounds showing and replaced them with more visually nicer and happier pictures…) so I’m not sure he’d take it even to place in the basement. So, that would leave me with leaving it with Aunt Pam. She has a small ‘shrine’ (bad choice of words, but that’s what she calls it) in her home for my uncle. I can see her placing this there, but at some point in time when she has healed a little more from his murder in their home no less she may want to remove these things as they may be too depressing. So, I don’t want this to be one that is too reminiscent of death that she might remove it as well. So, that’s why I thought of doing just a basic design.

However, I have been playing with the idea of painting these on wood and then fastening them to a wooden lozenge painted black. This way they could be removed from the lozenge if she ever just wants to have the arms without the lozenge. Plus aside from being a working cowboy he was an excellent craftsman with wood. So, doing this in wood might be more personal again. And since he left me several of his woodworking tools, though I don’t know why as I have never really worked with wood per se and certainly not like he did, it would be a nice way for me to finally use these tools…

Guy, thanks. I was wondering about the mayfly (it’s called a spinner by the by only because once it has left the water it basically spins above the water, so this is an actually mayfly one sees here in Colorado in early spring). So, since it real and not an artificial fly I wonder if I should change it to an artificial fly and place it in the lip as you suggest or just drop it all together… I’ll have to talk to Uncle Mike’s wife who commissioned this for his surprise b-day party… maybe I’ll leave this part blank and let him decide after I give him the real arms as his gift in early November. What do you think of the attempts at calligraphy? I think it is better, but I am still no where near the masters IMO. Nice, but needs more practice.

I think you are right about the hatchment. I’ve already painted two achievements on wood and my mom has just purchased a table I am prepping to paint her arms onto as well, so I am not totally unfamiliar with wood. So, maybe I should do this to broaden my heraldic abilities and thereby strengthen my heraldic experience. Plus as an eventual Interior Designer when my studies are complete I wanted to incorporate heraldry into that art form as well, so why not do this as it can only aid that as well?

Joe, so I will be in line with an American tradition if I do hatchments, right? I am leaning towards doing it now and I would really like it if I were using American heraldic practices if I did. Granted that history seems short by your comments, but at least it is there… right? Or am I grasping at straws there? I am still considering doing some sort of drapery instead, so if I don’t go the hatchment route I will maybe go that way… is that kosher either? This is very important to me as I was very close to Paddy and I’d like to do this all up right on as many levels as I can think of.

Mike, so would you like the idea of removing the helmet and crest and just placing the shield in between some boots to the sinister base and resting his hat on the dexter chief of the shield as it is hanging off the boots above? Or do you think that is too much like what you didn’t like as you pointed out in your post?

Ton, thanks. You don’t think that Mike’s helmet is tom large for the shield? How would you fix the mayfly problem as Guy rightly pointed out?

Thanks everyone…

Michael F. McCartney wrote:

Limited rejoinder—(1) hatchments aren’t AFAIK uniquely British, though I can’t say how broadly they were or are used in other countries; & (2) since we’re not limited by British useage, why not hang them on the widow’s wall as a memento mori (or countenance the widow doing so)?  Churches here are unlikely to cater to the British tradition of hosting permanent display of hatchments, so why not at home?  "Yes, those are the arms of my late husband/father/grandfather…"

Or if the particular form of traditional hatchment seems inappropriate (doesn’t to me, but to each his own) rotate the plaque a 1/4 turn & paint the arms on a square panel.

Yeah, I remember seeing some pics of Dutch hatchments, if I remember correctly. Michael, it’s not that the traditional form of the hatchment is inappropriate, but that the arms hopefully live beyond the decendent. When Denny’s aunt is finished grieving a hatchment is likely to wind up in a box somewhere and may deter her or her children from using the arms. If we in the US also had the custom of placing hatchments in the church as a memento mori, then making them would be more sensible, but momentos mori in the home?

Donnchadh wrote:

Patrick, as a 4th degree member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians I can relate to the draping idea and I can’t really say more than that. And since Uncle Pat was a Hibernian as well, I may think about this more… just not sure how to do this practically speaking. I had at first considered just doing the arms and placing his hat (this is a rendition of his real hat, albeit much cleaner as the one he had is a typical working hat in typical working condition! LOL) on a corner of the shield and leaving it at that. But, as any good cowboy can tell you your boots are as of much import as your hat. In the field both are life and comfort savers – literally. I used his favorite boot for this design as well. Again it is cleaned up as his real one is worn and the leather is to the point where the leg of the boot falls over on itself. I suppose I could just place the boots off to the right of the shield resting against the shield and hang the hat on the upper corner to balance it all out. I don’t know how heraldically correct that might be… but I do recall seeing more personal stuff on Ermine’s website… so maybe I will just go in that direction… any ideas on that yeah or nay?

Denny, the crest is okay as it is. I was just thinking out loud. As for the drapery: why make it a permanent part of the artwork? Render the achievement, frame it nicely and drape the frame. Then, when your aunt is ready to put away the shrine and get on with her life all she needs to do is undrape the frame and she has her arms ready to go.