Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
...are we looking at a cunning plan to offer another colour scheme to sell more tartan?I really don't mind that, it is business after all, but I do like to know these things before parting with hard earned cash.
This is probably the case. Personally, I've disposed of these notions that the "weathered looks like a piece of tartan buried in a bog", "ancient looks like it was made with plant dyes", etc. To me, the commercially produced color schemes reflect nothing other than different palettes of colors. The only exception to this are the Wilsons of Bannockburn colors, which do seem to be a close match to the original Wilsons dye colors.

All that being said, I find that most tartans look better in a particular color scheme than others.
Take the Hunting MacMillan, for instance. In the modern colors, the blue and green are so dark as to blend into the black lines. The result is a tartan that, from a distance, looks uniformly dark with yellow overstripes. The same tartan in the ancient colors looks to me to be too "pastel" shaded. On the other hand, the Campbell clan tartan looks just right using the same palette- I think it has to do with the contrast of the black overstripes on the lighter green and blue without the presence of other colors.

I've recently had some Hunting MacMillan done up in a "modified weathered" color scheme. To my eye, it is more attractive than any of the available color scheme options for this particular tartan. If I were to have another kilt in this same tartan I'd have it custom woven in colors approximating House of Edgar's "Muted" color scheme, which I also think looks nice with many green/blue/black tartans.

For red tartans, I find that red/green tartans look nice in the ancient colors, but I don't fancy the ancient colors for red/green/blue tartans, prefering the modern colors.

So, perhaps it's best to forego the bogus origins of the color schemes and just say what most of us are really thinking- "I like the look of the tartan in these colors better!"

Cordially,

David