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Greetings,
Here's the information we found on your arms ideas.
The first examples of heraldry are found around 1150, and heraldry didn't become common until the 1200's. However, the Normans did paint designs on their shields, and it would be possible to choose an appropriate design and pass it as SCA arms.
For an early Norman design, it would be most appropriate to use a simple design, such as a griffon on a plain background. We checked various combinations of white, green, and black, and did not find a conflict with a white griffin on a black field.
It's also important to specify the posture of the griffin. The most common posture for a griffin is "segreant," which is much like "rampant." The griffin is standing upright on one rear leg with wings lifted up (consult a heraldry book for a picture). These arms would be blazoned "Sable, a griffin segreant argent."
You could also use a background with horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, or checks in two colors and the griffin in a third. It's important to make sure that the colors contrast well with each other--to follow period practice (and make your device more easily identifiable), use
Arval D'Espas Nord, Rouland Carre, and Zenobia Naphtali contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel