Coat of arms: can a charge be placed over a variation of the field? Sorry, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this much detail about heraldic blazons. I'm curious if traditional heraldry allows you to place a charge on top of a variation on the field. The variation of the field needs to follow the rule of tincture, so it must be made of alternating color and metal, which means any charge you put on it, whether metal or color, will violate the rule of tincture. For instance: > Bendy of six, or and sable. A chief argent. Whatever tincture you make the chief, it will violate the rule of tincture either because it will overlay the _or_ (metal), or because it will overlay the _sable_ (color).

Per Wikipedia,

> Where a charge overlies a partition of the field, the rule [of tincture] does not apply.

So, a charge can be either color or metal when it is above a variation. The page on tinctures also mentions

> Heraldic furs (i.e. ermine, vair and their variants) as well as "proper" (a charge coloured as it normally is in nature) are exceptions to the rule of tincture.
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> The rule [of tincture] also does not apply to charges placed upon party-coloured (divided) or patterned fields; a field party or patterned of a colour and metal may have a charge of either colour, metal, or party or patterned, placed on it