Tartan of the Month - Jul 12. What do you see?

**figheadair** · 6th July 12, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by Dixiecat

We'll have to take your word on the colour of the stripes in the right circle as they don't look like any colour other than the background. Brown must have been a hard colour to stay fast? Or is it just a trick of the lighting?

But your circles are covering halftone areas and therefore don't represent pure colours. If the right hand one is moved up or down to cover the green square then it would also encompass the brown overstripes too. Here are high-res extracts of the blue and green sections.

Blue square with light blue/green overstripes.

Green square with brown overstripes. There are a number of ways of getting brown with natural dyes. Traditionally a shade like that shown would probably have been obtained from a dyestuff like cochineal or madder (neither of which only give red) which would have been saddened, or one of several tannin sources. Slightly later Wilsons used imported the tropical hardwood known as 'Rid-wood' in conjunction with Shoemack and coppras to sadden the colour.

**David Thorpe** · 6th July 12, 02:34 AM

Originally Posted by figheadair

...Slightly later Wilsons used...

So this is either pre-Wilson or an earlier Wilson?

**figheadair** · 6th July 12, 03:56 AM

Rural weave - definitely not Wilsons'.

**SlackerDrummer** · 6th July 12, 11:33 AM

Hey, I was pretty darn close.

It's a very attractive tartan, I think.

**xman** · 6th July 12, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by figheadair

Rural weave - definitely not Wilsons'.

How do you know?

**figheadair** · 6th July 12, 11:09 PM

Because I've had my hands on many examples of both types of cloth for over 30 years. They are quite different and distinct. This piece has neither the colours or handle of Wilsons' cloth, was woven with singles etc.

**figheadair** · 6th July 12, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by SlackerDrummer

Hey, I was pretty darn close.

It's a very attractive tartan, I think.

Not bad at all. Here's an accurate reconstruction by count and different colours. The actual shades will of course appear differently on different screens.

So what else can we tell/guess about this piece?

**xman** · 7th July 12, 03:56 AM

Originally Posted by figheadair

Because I've had my hands on many examples of both types of cloth for over 30 years. They are quite different and distinct. This piece has neither the colours or handle of Wilsons' cloth, was woven with singles etc.

Thank-you Peter. Not that I doubt you, just that I wonder.