The Ten Commandments for a Designer of Finnish Heraldry

These are the guidelines used when heraldry is designed in accord with Finnish custom. Note that no other tinctures than those mentioned are used. The use of heraldic furs is scarce.

These “commandments” were drawn up by Jukka Suvisaari and amended by a committee set up by the Heraldic Society of Finland in April 1990. The committee consisted of Kimmo Kara, Juhani Vepsäläinen and Jukka Suvisaari.

The Commandments [ Suvisaari, Kruunattu hevosenkenkä Hästsko med krona, 2005. pages 21-23.]

*1. Only heraldic tinctures are used. These are the metals, gold (Or) and silver (Argent); and the colors, red (Gules), blue (Azure), black (Sable) and green (Vert). In heraldic drawings yellow can be used in place of gold and white in place of silver. In flags and pennants this is almost always done nowadays. Heraldic colours are bright and clean; tones of the colours are picked from center of the scale.

*2. The use of only two tinctures, of which one is a metal, is preferred. The use of a third tincture requires good reasons, but a fourth is definitely bad heraldry.

*3. According to the tincture rule, one must not place colour on or next to colour or metal on or next to metal, unless the line of contact is very short.

*4. Letters, numbers or texts do not belong on a heraldic emblem.

*5. Figures (charges) must be as big as possible and fill the space intended for them as completely as possible.

*6. In figures natural presentation is not important, but characteristic is. (i.e the ferocity of the lion, majesty of the eagle, gracefulness of the deer)

*7. In principle the charges should be two dimensional. At a minimum they must be recognisable even when presented as coloured flat surfaces, without shading or extra borderlines.

*8. A heraldic emblem must be easy to remember. It should not be crowded with too many symbols, only the absolutely essential. The ideal is only one charge.

*9. It is forbidden to be repetitive in heraldry: one idea should not be symbolized with two or more charges. On the other hand, if one charge suffices to symbolize two or more ideas, it only strengthens the symbolism of the charge, and therefore the whole emblem.

*10. The charges and the whole emblem must be such that they can be redrawn according to a written description (blazon) of the coat of arms or flag without a model. This means that the charge must be a general presentation of its kind. For example, a castle cannot be a specific castle, but only a stylized heraldic castle (although it can be explained as referring to, say, Korela Fortress). In other words, the description of the charge should not require the use of a proper noun.

Notes

References

*Jukka Suvisaari: Kruunattu hevosenkenkä - Hästko med krona. Coat of arms from Espoo and Kauniainen, Published by Espoon perinneyhdistys Aurora ry. Printed by Gummerus Oy 2005. ISBN 951-98984-3-3