Parts of Tartan

[bookish]

Correct, but most tartans have more.than one ground colour. In the Balck Watch the blue.and green are the gound.colours; in the Grant it's the red and green.

[]


No, they are called pure colours.



They are called half-tones.



Bars and overstripes, depending on the size and position.





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Thank you very much for the clarification!

I'll do some more targeted searching regarding "bars" and "overstripes". I have some graphic design terminology that I would like to explore in terms of tartan, and I think this info is enough to get me moving on that.

[Darrin1200]

I found this at the Tartan Registry. It doesn’t seem to use specific terminology, but it does discuss the relationships of the base colours and cross over points.

https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/threadcount

[figheadair]

Cross posting of something I wrote on my FB page.

Here's a graphic representation of how the 6 pure colours interact to produce 30 half tones in which diferent pure colours cross. It’s a wonderful example of the exponential growth in variations as another pure colour is added:

• 4 pure colours = 12 half tones.
• 5 pure colours = 20 half tones.
• 6 pure colours = 30 half tones.

The difference between combinations of the same two colours, for example; blue crossing green and green crossing blue is obvious.

[figheadair]

Connection to my previous post, here's a graphic representation of how the 4 pure colours interact to product 12 half tones. The difference between, for example; blue crossing green and green crossing blue is obvious.

[figheadair]

A visual overview of some of the terms that are integral to the study of tartan but can be confusing for those less familiar with the intricacies of tartan weaving.

On this combined image of the same c1820 Sinclair single-width plaid are a number of the commonly used tartan/weaving terms.

· Pivot – The two points on a symmetrical pattern where the pattern (known as the sett) repeats in the same colour and threadcount order in every direction. Most tartans are symmetrical.

· Half sett – Also called the ‘half repeat’, it is the point from the middle of one pivot to the middle of the other. The threadcount of the half sett is all a weaver needs to know in order to set up and weave the pattern. A warp is measured by the number of half setts

· Full sett (or repeat) – The complete pattern measured from a pivot to the next occurrence of the same pivot. A full sett comprises 2 half setts.

· Selvedge - Literally, it is a self-edge and refers to the woven-in edges of a piece of cloth that prevents the fabric from unravelling. A selvedge can be described as a form of over-locking and is a result of the weaving process where the weft (cross-ways) threads pass around the edge of the warp (length-ways) threads so binding them in. When the finished cloth is turned through ninety degrees the selvedges are the top and bottom edges.

· Balanced sett – The most common type of layout for a symmetrical tartan in which the pattern repeats sequentially from the centre out to each selvedge.

· Pure colours – Only occur where a colour in the weft intersects with the same colour at the same point in the pattern of the warp. Pure colours are only found in the diagonal from the pivots.

· Half tones – Where a colour in the weft crosses a different colour in the weft. Because of the angle of the threads, the half tones of two colours, for example; red and green, will look different in warp and weft. Where green crosses red, the half tone will look redder; where red crosses green, it will look greener. The greater the number of pure colours, the greater the number of half tones.