From Coat of Arms to Tartan: The Cadilhac Case.

[Tarheel]

[QUOTE=figheadair;1319703]I'm not sure I understand the comment about an asymmetric sett but it's definitely possible to pleat to sett as this example of Glenorchy shows.
QUOTE]

I have again gained from the experienced and learned members. The kilt pictured (pleated to the sett) appears to be pleated to the stripe to my quick glance. My knowledge grows the more I explore. I find this is a pleasant sensation.

[figheadair]

[QUOTE=Tarheel;1319711]

I have again gained from the experienced and learned members. The kilt pictured (pleated to the sett) appears to be pleated to the stripe to my quick glance. My knowledge grows the more I explore. I find this is a pleasant sensation.

Appearances can be deceptive. This one is defnitely pleated to sett.

[OC Richard]

In general I'm not a big fan of asymmetrical tartans. I know, I know... they've been around for centuries, but they just don't "look like tartan" to me. For sure symmetrical tartan designs are inherently stronger, as is anything with a symmetrical design, such as the vast majority of corporate logos, cars, the human face, and so on.

[ctbuchanan]

As a Buchanan I'm partial to asymmetrical tartans. Ours have been made into kilts for close to 200 years now with pleasing results. I have a modern with a smaller sett and an ancient with a rather large sett. Both look great to me.

I've also read many commentaries that say an asymmetrical design is more pleasing to the eye which is why the Buchanan Modern is so popular in shirts by Lands End, LL Bean, Orvis etc.

I like your design very much and think it will make a fine kilt. What a nice thing to premiere at the wedding.

CTBuchanan

[OC Richard]

My foremost inspiration is my family's coat of arms:



I designed the following tartan, based in particular on Québec's tartan:



(https://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/design/86306)

This confuses me. You say your foremost inspiration is that coat of arms, but then say your tartan is based on Quebec's.

Seems to me the options are

1) base a tartan on that coat of arms
2) base a tartan on Quebec's tartan
3) make a tartan combining elements of the two (which is what I think you did)

For to me, the coat of arms and the Quebec tartan are miles apart.

(The Quebec tartan)



I can see the value of fusing the coat of arms with an existing tartan (even though the two seem unrelated visually) because going directly from the coat of arms to tartan, a literal reading of the coat of arms in tartan terms, leads to a design that's not very attractive:



or

[cadilhac]

Thanks for your great input, @OC Richard! Indeed, my first attempts were way more true to the coat of arms, leading to designs that were either unappealing or did not look anything like tartans. To get a good "tartan feel" to it, I skimmed through dozens and dozens of designs, until I realized that I really like the construction of Québec's. Hence I used this pattern with the colors of the coat of arms, added the three stripes and some other minor tweaks, leading to my proposal above. Now certainly it does not respect the order given by the blazon, but I feel it is still somewhat faithful, and—also importantly—appealing. That the structure is given by Québec's tartan is thus but a lucky coincidence :-)

Cheers!

[OC Richard]

Looking back and forth between your tartan and the Quebec tartan, as best I can tell the two are the same, only with different colours.

That brings up the issue of whether it would be considered a new tartan, or not.

Because, if I understand the protocol (such as it is) when one changes the colours the tartan is still regarded as being the same tartan. Maybe it's a grey area. Because there are various colour variants of Royal Stewart (black, camel, grey, navy, white, etc) which are all still called "Stuart" (Black Stewart, Navy Stewart, etc) but on the other hand the colour variant of Royal Stewart with a royal blue background is called MacBeth.

Something to consider; somebody who doesn't know the correct name might end up calling your tartan "Black Quebec" or "Quebec Hunting".

Anyhow here's another stab at following the crest only, but reducing the white and trying to make it look "more like a tartan"

[Todd Bradshaw]

In terms of echoing the COA's colors, I think it does that quite well.

[cadilhac]

@OC Richard: Ah! That's a very interesting consideration, indeed! I did not think about registering this, and the Québec tartan is quite obscure due to its unofficial state, but you are definitely right. Punching the tartan in the official tartan website does not bring any close match, though, and the criteria for "new tartans" according to the official rules seem to allow just a change of color. I did not plan to register it, though.

Now the design you propose is getting even closer to my first attempt, here:



What's your educated opinion on it? Overloaded maybe? I wanted the Y2R2K2 cross to represent the open collar, but I'm not sure it is useful.

EDIT: I think I didn't think of it as "tartan enough" because of the colors (and my complete lack of understanding of tartans at this point :-) ) Playing a bit with the colors gives it a feel I like more.



Now I'm still playing with this Y2R2K2 (here a Y2R4K2), and maybe the best option would be to drop the Y altogether here.

@Todd Bradshaw: Thanks very much! You certainly are the Great Tartoonist of this forum :-)

[figheadair]

I find the latest ineration a little too busy for my liking. Too many two thread stripes on too narrow a ground.