Quote Originally Posted by ThinBlueLine View Post
Greetings all,

I have been considering having a tattoo done of the Hannay crest badge and, being of the historian persuasion, I have been doing a fair amount of research to make sure I have the correct design.
I have recently stumbled across something that confuses me slightly. The following comes from "The Court of the Lord Lyon Information Leaflet No. 2, Scottish Crest Badges:"

"Crest Badges are for wear by the clansmen, and as they are made of silver or white metal they should never be illustrated on paper or other materials in colour, other than white or silver. Line drawings should be printed in
monochrome."

If I am reading this correctly then it means that the crest badge should be done in black and white or greyscale despite the color that would be in the wreath (blue and white).

For the most part this should not be a problem since the two major elements, the cross and the crescent, of the badge are black. However, I want to make sure I do not violate any rules of propriety by making an error with the wreath.

For illustrative purposes here is a colored version of the badge (not exactly the style I want to use, but it shows the two elements of the crest and the color of the wreath):



Any assistance offered will be greatly appreciated.
A couple things to consider:

1. First, the clansman's badge is actually the chief's crest within the strap and buckle. Display of this badge denotes that you are a follower/supporter of the person who bears the crest that is encircled by the strap and buckle. In other instances a person's badge is used to identify servants, possessions, etc. So, I'm wondering if you have you ever met David Hannay of Kirkdale? Is he a good guy? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life stamped with a sign of allegiance to him and his offspring?

2. When heraldry is demonstrated in black and white, a system called hatching, or Petra Sancta Hatching, is often used. In this method the direction of various hatchings or dots are used to denote specific colors of the arms. This allows one to accurately imagine what the arms would look like in the true tinctures even though the design is rendered in black and white. You might consider doing this, although it is usually used for etchings on silver.

3. Whatever you do, please do the research and confirm that you are actually a Hannay descendent. Too many folks rush to get a "clan tattoo" and then discover that their ancestors were actually English, Dutch, etc. rather than Scottish. Be wary of "sept" and surname lists for clans. Solid genealogy is your only real method here.

4. If you do get the tattoo, ensure that you have researched and found the actual blazon of the crest. What is rendered in your design as sable(black), may actually be argent(silver) and colored black in your illustration simply because the fellow creating the image thought it would look better that way.

5. Think long and hard about whether you'd ever plan to aquire arms of your own. That doesn't keep one from wearing his chief's badge and buckle, but it might change your mind about wearing it as a tattoo.

Best of luck, but "gang warily"...

David