Registring a tartan

[David in Maryland]

There is a group of us "Tarheel" MacLeod's that are interested in creating a "North Carolina MacLeod" tartan. There is already a California MacLeod tartan, and Chief John does wear this quite often. Does anyone know how to get this started? I would imagine we would probably have to get the Chief to stand behind the idea or the Clan MacLeod Society.

Cyndi, Matt? Any thoughts?

Here is some history of MacLeod's and Scots in NC.

Carolina Scots / Tarheel Scots:

The Highland settlement on the Upper Cape Fear Valley of North Carolina was the largest settlement of Highland Scots anywhere in the world during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. Today this section still stands as the largest settlement of Highlanders -- maybe just behind --or equal to the settlement in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

The people of North Carolina have always been called Tarheels. While there are a couple of legends floating around, it is generally understood that early on North Carolina was a great producer for
Britain in tar and turpentine. Many foreigners first exposure to North Carolinians would have been with those poor laborers in this industry who were known for having tar on their heels while at work --perhaps many of these workers were barefoot. To call one a 'Tarheel' may have originally been considered a lower-class designation. Eventually all North Carolinians would fondly accept the name 'Tarheel.'

There is a legend that during the War Between the States, General Robert E. Lee said the North Carolina Troops fought for the Confederacy like they had tar on their heels and wouldn't retreat in battle. He is known to have said, "God bless the Tarheel boys."

The first state sponsored university anywhere in the U.S. was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The nickname 'Tarheel' would also be used as their mascot name.

And as stated on Matt's Tartan Museum website, NC has more Scots than Scotland, and according to the Governor's office, North Carolina has more residents of Scottish heritage than any other state in the union.

[RockyR]

I have 2 suggestions...

1. Talk to the Clan Chief and see if he can help get it started or knows where to go.

2. Check out www.tartansauthority.com . They have a section that helps you make up your own tartan. I'm not sure if it's in the "members only" section or not, but joining is worth it! Also, they have a section for instructions on how to register...

http://www.tartansauthority.com/Web/...nRecording.asp

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Hi there! A few words of advice...

First, anyone underthe sun can design a new tartan and decide to call it "NC MacLeod." But it would mean absolutely nothing. If you want your tartan to be official, you need to get approval by the chief of the clan. I'd also reccomend getting it approved by the NC branch of the clan, as this tartan will be used specifically for them.

When you are ready to have it recorded, you can submit it to the Tartans Authority directly via their web site, which Rocky already posted a link to. They also have an article there about the recording process that would be very helpful for you to read.

But that's putting the cart before the horse. You need to actually come up with a tartan design first.

Here is what I would do: First bring the idea up to the Clan Society here in NC, to see if there is any interest in it. Second, start coming up with designs, and also let the clan cheif know what is going on and get his input. Once you've come up with a few designs, you can select a final one by any number of means -- either have a committee, a vote, or let the cheif select. It's up to how you want to do things.

As far as the design itself goes, the first thing I would do is to study all of the pre-existing Clan MacLeod tartans. You can use the Tartans Authority web site to begin this, but you may also want some more detailed information. Ruariadh MacLeod (first cousin to the chief) is a tartan expert, and he has written a fine little book on the MacLeod tartans. I beleive I still have one or two in stock in our museum gift shop (I can check this morning when I go in). It's only a few dollars, and well worth it for MacLeod tartan enthusiasts.

I say to study the pre-existing MacLeod tartans because, as you obviously intend this to be used as a clan tartan, you will want to highlight the fact that this tartan is a MacLeod. You want it to be based in the MacLeod heritage, rather than something new created wholecloth. So a likely course of action would be to take a preexisting MacLeod tartan, and change a color, or add a color. Or maybe combine elements of more than one macLeod tartan to create a new design. Or maybe combine a MacLeod and the Carolina tartan. You get the general idea. But my reccomendation is to start with the MacLeod tartans themselves and use them as your starting point for a new design.

Good luck with it all! And if you need any advice along the way, please let me know.
Aye,
Matt

[David in Maryland]

A MacLeod "cousin" of mine from NC belongs to the branch of the Clan Society that NC belongs to. He is going to bring it up with them. If they like the idea, the Society will take it to the Chief. Our plan will be to incorporate the MacLeod of Harris, is that is the branch most NC MacLeod's are, with the light Carolina blue or something like that. We were already thinking of combining the MacLeod tartan with the NC tartan somehow as a back up. I think Chief John would support the idea if we have a nice looking design. He was very supportive of the California MacLeod tartan, and wears that quite often.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Keep in mind that the MacLeod of Harris woven with a lighter, "Carolina" shade of blue is not a new or different tartan. It's simply the MacLeod of Harris tartan woven with a lighter blue.

Changing the hue of a color in a tartan does not change the tartan. That's how we get the different variations in color that we commonly see, i.e. ancient (light tones), modern (dark tones), weathered (very washed out tones), etc. It sounds like what you would be doing would be to weave the macLeod of Harris in all modern (dark) colors, with the blue light.

Now, if you wanted to create a different and new tartan, try chaning one of the other colors to a Carolina blue. Maybe the red or yellow stipe (although you run the risk then of looking very similar to the Campbell of Cawdor). You could change the green to a light blue, meaning no green in the tartan, but contasting light and dark blues. Very striking!

Aye,
Matt

[Thistle Stop]

Matt said it all very well, so all I can add is that if you want someone to design and register a tartan for you, I'm here! I have a tartan design service and have done both clan/surname and corporate tartan designs.