Shield Design

As stated in my previous post, we kicked off the new year with a Medieval-themed party (as you do) in which one of the challenges was shield design.

Him Outdoors and I provided the shields (we had made them from cardboard and spray-painted them in background colours) and various craft supplies, and the contestants had to make up a shield. I had previously sent out a link about basic heraldry in case anyone wanted to hone up on knowledge; there were points for the design itself and the acompanying wiffle-waffle. Here are some examples.

The Luminosity with shield

The Luminosity created this powerful depiction of her family crest with swirly designs, ribbons and sheep. It's bright, expressive, and with personal significance. The next design to feature was also yellow and made reference to the holder's title or family name, but maybe not so much of a crest.

Although hard to see in this image, the design on the right features hand-drawn crucifixes, two upright and two upside down, intermingled with smiley faces, to highlight the ridiculous attempt to force religious conformity onto the medieval peasant class who were just trying to get on with their daily lives. The one on the right scored highly with the judges as it indulges the inner child and playfulness through smiley faces, googly eyes and cartoon animal characters. The use of the ribbon, pom-poms and jingly bells also adds to the tactile nature and auditory sense of fun. 

Here we have the importance of description. The very simple design - a single white ribbon and two butterflies belies a complex explanation of the shield representing two parts of the bearer's life: England (the faded quarter from the past) and Australia (the more vibrant three-quarter section at the top in the present). The white ribbon represents a contrail in a blue sky as the transportation occured, and the butterflies indicate the physical transformation.

The explanation for this one is from someone who had clearly read the basic heraldry guidelines so I shall let them tell it. 

A background of GULES (red) symbolising the fiery nature of the bearer. 

An ORDINARY CHEVRON of SABLE almost equally bisecting the shield indicates affinity with justice and equality.

Une abeille OR et SABLE (the gold/ black bee) RAMPANT surrounded by two bees GUARDANT indicates both a watchful nature and teamwork quality. 

Three charges of googly eyes SABLE and ARGENT speak to watchful yet playful characteristics. 

Some challengers went with all the things that are important to them. Hence Purple Lady with images of romance, theatre, family, work, leisure activities and cats. Meanwhile others went with the 'white tears of Henry Cockington' in a design that was very much a single entendre. 

Purple Lady with shield

Henry Cockington

There were blatant appeals to judges with the combination of Liverpool and Burnley football club crests, and a Shakespearean pun, 'a plague on both your horses', involving unicorn heads and coronavirus bobbles. Also (pictured in the group image but no individual photo) was a delightful interpretation of chaos (cats; eyeballs; jingly bells) and the unknown (blank space) summing up that bearer's identity.

Original Gravity with a blatant appeal to the judges

A Plague on Both Your Horses

And the winner was... Gindelle with her thoughtful piece reflecting growth (a tree image), transformation (an origami butterly) and the family foundation of her last name in a replica Lego block. Congratulations to all for the (various levels of) effort, fun and creativity!

Gindelle with the winning shield design