[antir-heralds] Question re submission forms.

[Britt]

On Nov 15, 2007 7:15 PM, Wenyeva atte grene
<litlnemo at slumberland.seattle.wa.us> wrote:
> Britt wrote:
> > Can't anyone actually draw their armory anymore?  Are we going to put
> > computers at events to display people's arms because it's too much
> > trouble to use a pencil?
> > </pained tone>
>
> (snipped)
>
> Keep in mind that the use of computers doesn't always mean Fox-Davies
> clip art. Heraldic artists may create beautiful hand-drawn work... and
> then scan it and e-mail it to a client on the other side of the Kingdom.
> Computers are actually a great boon to us in this sense. Much faster
> than snail mail!

Sebastian's done this.  So long as people remember that color copies
are not acceptable, that's fine.  Clip art... <shudder>

Color copies, for anyone who hasn't heard this, don't give true color
and their inks are too fugitive for submissions.  Submissions heralds
all over the SCA tell tales of pink reds, purple blues, black purples,
ambiguous mulberry nobody can classify as either gules or purpure,
etc.  I've had a folder on the back seat of the car for three hours
and when I pulled the forms the colors had washed out to fainter than
pastels.  Everyone thinks their printer will be fine, but even the
'archival quality' stuff isn't.  For one, when you archive you put it
away and don't handle it and pass it along from hand to hand and mail
it across the country twice through varying weather and humidity
patterns.
A return for color printer ink that goes from black to moss green in a
month is preventable.

Adminstrative Handbook section IV:
IV.C.1. Submission Forms - Appropriate forms must be included for all
submissions, including appeals, resubmissions, name changes, etc. A
minimum of two sets of name forms is required for all name
submissions, one for the Laurel Office and the other to be retained in
kingdom files. A minimum of three sets of colored armory forms is
required for all armory: two for the Laurel Office and the other to be
retained in kingdom files. The preferred medium for colored armory
sets is watercolor markers such as Crayola Classic Markers. Pastel or
neon colors are inappropriate for colored armory forms. However the
forms are colored, the submission may be returned if the tinctures are
not recognizably heraldic tinctures.


May I add that Rose Art (mentioned in a couple of LoARS), Prang,
Colorific and Faber-Castell are equally acceptable, and Prang are fine
so long as you're using classic colors and not the off-tones.
Washable or not doesn't matter overall, as even with washable Crayolas
there's a hint of color left after the forms get stomped into a mud
puddle (this has happened).  Colors need to be unambiguous.  Wine is
neither gules nor purpure, but bubble-gum/grape purple is certainly
not gules.  Pale blue or royal is azure, definitely.  Turquoise and
teal are neither azure nor vert.
Treat your submission forms as though they were to be handed to a
class of first-graders to be handed around, just after snack time.
Use bold colors and lots of it (markers, never pencils, NEVER
crayons!) in a medium that's meant to take a beating.  Metallics are
for display, white and yellow are for forms.
No highlighters - not only do they fade but there's no Laurel budget
for ibuprofen for eyestrain headaches. :)
Pencils neither have the intensity of color (I've never seen colored
pencil red that didn't look orange or pink on a form) nor staying
power (they rub off on other pieces of paper in the packet) to be
viable.
Crayons melt. I got a submission packet on a warm, not hot, day that
needed only a wick to be turned into a candle.  Six pieces of paper,
name forms and docs as well as devices, all glued together by crayon
wax. You think that's bad, you should hear some of the tales told by
Ansteorran and Atenveltian subission heralds!
Paint flakes off.
Metallics flake off.  Gold also turns a lovely shade of mud brown
rather quickly, while silver goes tarnished gray.  Or and sable
becomes impossible to discern when the metallics tarnish.
White out and white gel pens suffice for picking out details on color
charges.  Don't get a heavy buildup of white out and use the purest
white gel pen you can find (I favor Marvy brand), but these are for
details ONLY. They';re durable, however, and will keep your azure lion
from looking like a silhouette.

Even cheap dollar store markers work.  And most heralds own Crayolas.
It's really important to disambiguate submissions as much as possible,
and it's not even expensive.

- Teceangl