Quote Originally Posted by davidlpope View Post
Option #1 reminds me of the Montreat Tartan. The threadcount isn't that similar as much as the overall effect is.

Anyway, like Jock, I don't have a dog in this fight, but would offer one perpective that may have not been raised before in terms of colors used.

Recent tartan designs tend to focus on particular shadings of color used in the tartan- a particular rusty red, a particular piney green, for example. "Design your Own Tartan" types of computer programs exxagerate this trend as one can choose between many shades of the same basic color. The plus and minus of this approach is that often the overall pleasing effect of the tartan is dependent on using those exact colors. Consider the "Isle of Skye" tartan. Beautiful by all accounts, but if went to tinkering with the colors just a little it would not be as recognizable or, IMHO, as attractive. Another example is the Leatherneck tartan, which isn't woven in a recognizable (modern, ancient, etc.) color scheme, but uses a "muted" red, "modern" yellow, "ancient" green, and "St. Andrew's" blue. The effect is nice, but you're a bit limited to those particular colors for it to be recognizable.

The other option would be to design a tartan which used a more traditional approach to colors in unspecified shades (blue, red, green, azure, yellow, white, black) and focus more on making the design elements themselves more recognizable. If you took this path one could have the tartan woven in modern, ancient, weathered, or muted color schemes, to in the same way that traditional clan tartans are woven.

Once again, I don't really have an opinion on the design ultimately chosen, but just wanted to raise a broader point about modern tartan design.

Cordially,

David
Thanks, David. This is something I have thought about to a certain degree and I attempted to deal with it somewhat when discussing Amble's Maples designs. Indeed, I think I have discussed the fact that you don't always know what will happen when different weavers get their hands on a sett in a previous incarnation of this discussion. Even trying to reproduce very specific colors different weavers will come up with different results. That's why it's always good to ask for swatches when making a choice. Throw in ancient, muted or weathered options and you have a real mess on your hands.

Regards,

Brian