andrewkerensky wrote:Well I have asked the DAR request team if they can help me with a design. I do have a fairly straight forward design. It shouldn't really be a difficult design. I basically have 2 elements and a shield, i'd just like the elements to be tastefully done. The shield to be perhaps 16th century or 'Swiss' in design. If I can't move my project forward i'll hire a tattoo artist (i'm informed they are pretty good with Shield design.)
I'm not explaining myself very well. If you haven't settled on the basic design of the arms--i.e., what is on the shield, conceptually and not in artistic detail?--then it's premature to be worrying about the shape of the shield for one particular emblazonment. Once the arms are settled, you can have them painted, carved, engraved, or tattooed on a plain 13th century heater, an Italian horse-head, an 18th century spade, or a rococo cartouche.
I personally don't see anything particularly wrong with the sackbut and thistle, although thistles are sort of hackneyed as symbols of "I have Scottish ancestors." (You may have some other reason for using a thistle, of course, and in any event they're your arms.) But if I were advising, I'd suggest simply a sackbut and nothing else. It would fit well either vertically or bendwise. It's distinctive and certainly not over-used.
Maybe I'm not fully understanding: are you committed to the design "Per chevron a sackbut fesswise and a thistle"? If so, I don't understand why there's still anything to discuss with the SABH or the IAAH design team. What am I missing?