Hello everyone,

I just received my Mercenary's Tailor kite shield and I am wondering what you think would be appropriate and inappropriate colors for such a shield in the era +/-1099. I mean I got to have colors to represent the hood. :)
I am looking for some type of two tone simple geometric design such as diagonal stripes or maybe a diamond pattern which can be found in Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight.

By the way the shield is nice and solid and I would highly recommend it. The only small issue are the modern belt buckles used to attatch the quige strap. Perhas these should be tied on instead- I don't know- it's really not a big deal. Allan is a great guy to do business with.

Thanks everyone,
Jeremy

Well, day-glo chartreuse and electric pink are out.

The basic Crayola 8-pack crayon colors of red, blue, green, yellow, black, and purple, plus good old white work for me. If you are looking for replacement buckles, there's Billy and Charlies http://www.billyandcharlie.com/ where you can get period buckles.

In keeping with the appropriate colors in heraldry during the time period your talking about (assuming you would follow heraldry), would be the following: azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black), or (gold or yellow) and argent (silver or white). Keep in mind that vert (green) and purpure (purple) were generally not used until late in the medieval period.

If your not going to go for historical accuracy then anything BUT pink is cool! ;)

Good luck on your project!

Thanks guys,

I am thinking of using milk paint as reconmended by Patrick Kelly in his article on the Normans. I will probably cover this paint with a coat of linseed oil.

Helen, do you have any more specific information on the proto-heraldry of this period. I would post the pic from Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight but I don't know how. It is on page 47.

Jeremy

I went ahead and sent you a PM Jeremy.

Just got my own MT kite shield and I'm leaving it alone for the moment as I love the natural leather color, at least for now.

Period paints are certainly worth it if one wants to go that way, but I am curious about what would work best ? I would avoid a paint that would crack or flake easily.

I wonder if some paints would soak into the leather and have a toughening effect on the leather: Increasing the cut resistance of the leather ? I have no idea if this is realistic or not, much less a historical concern?

With Japanese armour the thick lacquer coating probably make leather lamellar scales much harder to cut.

Oh, that thick rawhide on the rims of the shield seems very very hard to cut and I'm now convinces that steel rims are not a better option.

Anybody try to cut into one of these rawhide rims yet ? Sorry, I would rather just take advantage of other's tests rather than making my own tests. ;) :p

Patrick Kelly did a really nice job painting his kite shield and I really like the way he split the colors into an asymmetrical but balanced design: Much more interesting than a simple up/down or side to side split.

Yes, Jean I like the plain leather also, but it isn't historical, thus I must paint it.

This whole historical use of colorthing can be annoying. I am beginning to think that if I was to buy a conical helm then historically that SHOULD be painted. All of the illuminations I see of conical helms show different hues desplayed within the helm. Some of them look kind of like they have racing stripes so believe me when I look at A&A's beautiful helm I shudder at the thought of covering its form in garish primary colors. But what can you do? If it's historical it MUST take precedence.

I am undecided, however, as to the pattern or the colors I will choose for my shield. I do think that the milk paint would be a good option sealed with linseed oil. The paint site I am looking at states that tung oil can be used for sealing but tung oil is native to China and would not have been used in Europe.

Jeremy