How does one design a tartan?

[greenguzzi]

I posted this in another thread, but I didn't get a reply. So I thought I'd try again....

I own a kilt because my wife, knowing that I've always wanted one, gave me one as a gift earlier this year. Even though I've always wanted a kilt, I'd never really thought much about tartans.

But since I received my kilt I have been fascinated by tartans. I got hooked on the House of Tartan's "Interactive Tartan Weaver". Very cool! Is there any other "loom simulation" software out there? It's amazing how just a few parameters can make such intricate patterns. I love the way the threads interact with each other.

I confess, I have only a basic idea of how a loom works. But I'd love to find out more. Time for me to start googling, or maybe head for the local library!

Are there any rules (or at least advice) in designing tartans? Maybe in the colours used, or the thread counts permitted. I'd love to try my hand at it. How does one ensure of not accidentally plagiarising (or maybe even caricaturing) another tartan?

I know that there are registers of tartans. But it would seem to me that it wouldn't be that hard to codify tartans. As complex as the end result is, they seem to have so few parameters; so therefore should be easy to codify. Has anyone every tried to do this?

But what I'm really asking is for assistance in creating my own tartan.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

A few recommended articles:

The Art of Tartan, by Jamie Scarlett

What is a Thread Count?

Recording a Tartan

[ChattanCat]

Try Dave Dove, he designed a tartan:
Dave Dove Tartan

[davedove]

Try Dave Dove, he designed a tartan:
Dave Dove Tartan

I went through Matt Newsome though. I provided some ideas for colors and such, and he did the rest until I found one I liked.

[Ryan Ross]

If you like the look of it, it's a good tartan for you to use. Design a tartan to please yourself, and incorporate any historic, symbolic, or decorative aspects that strike your fancy.

That's the best advice I could give.

Good luck to you.

[Ancienne Alliance]

...and please show us what you come up with !

[bjproc]

i'm using this site to generate a tartan for my name

http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tar...g.pl?source=rb

you can choose from any of the tartans they have uploaded and change colour and thread count

very easy to use

[Rogerson785]

This is the web site I have used when trying to design a new tartan, or copying tartans from other books and making slight variations to them. You will need to open of the Tartan Search, and then the Online Designer. You can also use the Tartan Ferret to view existing tartans.

http://www.tartansauthority.com/web/site/home/home.asp

[Ryan Ross]

Another piece of advice, given to me by Bob Martin, was "try not to make the small lines too close together or too narrow". According to Bob, if you do that, you can lose a small line in the taper of a pleat (this would mainly be a problem with an 8 yard kilt, I would think, and only with very small, closely grouped lines). Just a thought.

[bjproc]

i've just got an email back from the STA saying that the design i drew up is fine for their records, only thing i need to do is double the thread count and not to have any odd numbers.

strathmore will help me out with that, as i'll be getting them to weave the tartan.