Author Archives: Kat

About Kat

Kat has been both the spokesperson for the CSI: The Experience exhibit and project manager for the Imperial Rome exhibit and has a love of all things historical and cultural. She is responsible for the Xplorations summer camp program, coordinating weekday labs during the school year, writing department curriculum and presenting at teacher trainings. Kat has worked at the Museum since 1996.

Educator How-To: Create your own medieval ID with basic heraldry

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Heraldry is a unique identification system developed in the Middle Ages to aid in the identification of fully armored knights on the battle or tournament field. The roots of heraldry lay in the insignia, seals, and symbols used in ancient times for individual and/or national identification purposes.

Heraldic designs were applied to shields, tunics, horse blankets, and other items. These graphic designs functioned much like a team jersey by identifying individual players. A variety of emblems were used to adorn shields and many are the same as modern team mascots.

Colors (Tinctures)
These devices were bold in design, so as to be immediately recognizable at distance. Bright contrasting colors and bold graphics were employed for maximum visibility.

Two metals and five colors are used in heraldry.

Metals:

  • Or: Gold (yellow)
  • Argent: Silver (white)

Hearaldry 1Colors:

  • Gules: Bright red
  • Azure: Royal blue
  • Vert: Emerald green
  • Sable: Black
  • Purpure: Royal purple (rarely used)

Hearaldry 2

Field Divisions
The shield may be divided. Two common reasons for division are differentiating, to avoid conflict with a similar coat of arms, and marshalling, combining two or more designs into one.

Hearaldry 3

An example of extreme marshalling.

 Charges
A charge is an emblem or device occupying the field of a shield. I only address emblems in this paper. Below are some common charges, but there are many more, each with a meaning.

Hearaldry 4

(Click here for more examples of charges.)

Design Your Own Shield
In order to design your very own shield, you will need the following items:

  • Copy of the shield template
  • Markers
  • Pencil
  • Emblem design you want to use
  • Ruler

Questions to consider:

  • Do I want to separate the field?
  • What emblem(s) do I want to use?
  • How will I make the best use of color to create a contrasting design?

Use a pencil to sketch out your design. Putting a copy of your emblem under the shield template and carefully sketching against a sunny window allows you to trace your design onto the shield.

Use markers to apply color. White is used to represent silver and yellow is used for gold.

Educator How-To: We’re batty for ornithopters

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Bats have frightened, awed, and inspired for millennia. Leonardo da Vinci used the bat’s amazing wing structure as inspiration for his version of the ornithopter — a machine which flies using flapping bird-like wings. No one knows for sure if he ever built or tested his invention, but Cardanus, a contemporary of Leonardo wrote that he had tried, “in vain”, to get the orinthopter aloft.

A sketch of Da Vinci’s ornithopter

Here is a version of Leonardo’s creation that you can try your hand at constructing and flying. Our version is technically a glider, but looks much the same as Leonardo’s ornithopter design.

Materials:

  • Cardstock copy of orinthopter template
  • Large plain craft stick
  • Paper clips – large and regular size
  • Craft glue
  • Scissors
  • Scotch Tape ™
  • Markers
  • Thin hemp-type string
  • 18th inch hole-puncher
  • Bat specimen or pictures of bats
  • Picture of Leonardo’s orrnithopter

Building the Ornithopter:

  • Display the picture of Leonardo’s ornithopter and discuss how he came up with the design idea after spending a great deal of time observing birds.
  • Study the bat specimen and/or bat pictures. Compare and contrast the bat wings with the ornithopter wings: Are the wings more bird-like or bat-like?
  • Color a large craft stick using a brown marker.
  • Color the wings and tail on the orinthopter template and carefully cut out the pieces.
  • Give the wings shape by closing the small V-shaped notch on each wing so that both pieces touch and then securing on the underside with transparent tape.
  • Using craft glue, attach the wing and tail pieces to the craft stick as illustrated by the picture below. Allow time for the glue to dry.

Bat Orthinopter 2

  • Next, bend the wings up along the large V in the wing pattern and carefully crease.
  • Use a 1/8th inch hole-puncher to make small holes just to the inside where the wings were taped to give them shape.
  • Use a piece of thin string to create a loop through the holes with a loose knot to secure it in place. This serves to keep the wings from spreading too far and to adjust the wings up when tightened.

Bat Orthinopter 1

  • It’s time to test the ornithopter! Make different sized paper clips available. Use these to properly distribute the weight of the ornithopter for better flight.
  • Spend time re-engineering the after the primary test flight.

Educator How-To: Identifying moon phases

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The moon’s appearance in the sky follows a 29.5-day cycle. During the cycle, it first appears as a crescent. The lighted portion that you can in the night sky see becomes larger as days pass, growing until you see a full moon. As more days pass, the lighted portion gets smaller again, until no moon is seen. The cycle then repeats. This 29.5-day cycle corresponds to the time during which the moon makes one complete orbit around Earth.

When you see a full moon, Earth is between the moon and the sun, and all of the lighted half of the moon faces Earth. When there is a “New Moon.” the moon is between Earth and the sun, and all of the lighted half of the moon faces away from Earth. When there is a New Moon, you can’t see any of the moon at all.

Materials:
Paper plates
Copies of moon phases (downloadable here!)
Scissors
Glue
Stapler
Jumbo craft sticks

Educator How-To:

Procedure:
Fold a paper plate in half and carefully cut out the middle of the plate with scissors.
Neatly cut out the moon phases and glue them to the rim of the plate starting with #1 in the 12 o’clock spot and working clockwise.
Staple a jumbo craft stick to the bottom of the plate.
Staple or glue the moon phase key to the handle of the plate.
At night, locate the moon. Holding the moon viewer with the stick pointing toward the ground, frame the moon within the center of the plate.  Observe.  Which picture does the moon most closely resemble? Find that number on the moon phase key and you will know the name for the phase of the Moon you are viewing!

Educator How-To:

Educator How-To: Nautilus and the Golden Spiral (an approximation)

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Editor’s note: In honor of our new Nautilus Live program — which takes Museum patrons to the ocean floor with telepresence technology — this month’s Educator How-To is all about the nautilus shell. From our veteran Xplorations educator Kat Havens:

It is difficult to deny the beauty and perfection of the nautilus’ spiraled chambers. Many have heard it is a perfect example of a Golden Spiral or have seen pictures of it neatly fitted into a Golden Rectangle. Although compelling, it is mathematical mythology.

Untitled

The angles found within the chambers of the shell exhibit multiple angles that are not congruent with those of the Golden Spiral. In fact, the spiral of the nautilus is more correctly known as an approximate logarithmic spiral or as exhibiting logarithmic spiral growth. Growing in this manner allows the animal to increase in size without changing its shape. We think that it is an excellent example of Mother Nature’s knack for beautiful symmetry.

Materials:

•    Cut nautilus shell
•    Styrofoam or paper plate
•    Sheet of craft foam or other padded surface
•    Paper – color of your choice
•    Acrylic paint – color of your choice

paint print

Procedure:

1.    Gather all of your supplies. Cut nautilus shells are common and may be purchased at seaside shell shops or found online at a reasonable price. They are reusable, provided they are cleaned promptly after each use. We tried cutting our own shells with a fine saw but, we were not completely satisfied with the results.
2.    Place “springy” material, such as craft foam, under the print paper. This allows for a better “pull” as the give in the foam allows for better contact between shell and paper.
3.    Pour a good amount of acrylic paint onto the plate. Manipulate the plate by tipping it around until the paint is spread in an even layer that is large enough to accommodate the shell. Place the shell into the paint and pull it out. You will find the paint may coagulate in the smaller chambers and makes an unclear print. This is solved by gently blowing on these chambers to break the paint bubbles.
4.    Carefully press the shell onto the paper.  Do not move the shell in any direction once contact with the paper is made as it will smear the print. Gently pull the shell up. Often, you can get another decent pull directly after the first print, so feel free to make two or more with one paint application.

nautilus print