Time for a New York State tartan?

**Woodsheal** · 2nd May 10, 06:14 AM

For these HONY's, I like the original "bluish" blue better than the "purplish" blue. Amble's pic isn't showing up, but I doubt if I'd care for a white overstripe.

Honestly, I still like the original muted version with the brown and gray best, but will defer to the majority...!

**beerbecue** · 2nd May 10, 07:32 AM

I like the 1a more than the 1b - the red stripe is too wide for me... I made a slight modification (but did not bother registering) that I quite like the effect of... I removed the red stripe between the two yellow stripes , so the color and thread count would be ILL NAV 64, OLD RED 2, BLK 2, GOLD 4, BLK 2... the rest is the same... I think it allows the gold to pop out more.... I like cherry red better than old red... but, I think these new designs are very good and so much closer to at least what I would envision...

nice job Brian and Amble

I tried one more pattern, that I think would be great for to the stripe - either red or yellow, and would create two very different looking kilts.. GOLD 4, BLK 2, NAV 32, GRN 32, BLK 2, LT BLUE 32, GOLD 4, BLK 2, RED 4

I have uploaded the images to the Picasa link in my previous post....

**Amble** · 2nd May 10, 09:02 AM

Thanks, beerbecue.

When I think of New York, I feel the vibrancy of the city, the expanse of the ocean and the lakes and the beauty of the countryside. When I heard of the state symbols (bluebird, maple, apple, ladybug, garnet, lilac), these designs just happened.

The "I love N Y" with a red heart logo is well known, even to us up here in Canada. I felt that a more colourful, upbeat and "warm" design was warranted.

I may need more time to figure out how to upload photos etc. here. In the meantime, here is a link to design # 5 which is the first to have a white stripe (as suggested to represent snow). I thought you might like the red, white and blue combination:

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/details/19023

Here is 1a revised as beerbecue suggests:

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/details/19035

Here is beerbecue's suggestion that would be great pleated to the stripe:

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/details/19040

All of these plus more are visible on Scotweb's "Online Designer" site at the following link:

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/

***Amble****

**Brian K** · 2nd May 10, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Woodsheal

For these HONY's, I like the original "bluish" blue better than the "purplish" blue. Amble's pic isn't showing up, but I doubt if I'd care for a white overstripe.

Honestly, I still like the original muted version with the brown and gray best, but will defer to the majority...!

Thanks, Brian, I appreciate the compliment. I do, however, like the idea of having a "regular" and a hunting tartan more and more. There are millions of people in our great state and why should we not offer a choice?

Amble asked me to post her design with a white stripe:

Bear in mind Amble's warning about designs with more than 6 colors. She has ordered cloth recently and full well knows the upcharges. For 7 colors it's just as much as if you order s design with a special color. It might not be a good idea to ensure that our design is, by default, more expensive than other cloth.

I hesitate to show it here, but another option for white would be to substitute white for another color altogether and make a dress or dance type tartan. I chose to use white in place of green because when it snows here most of the green disappears

. When you see it you'll understand why I hesitate - white is a hard color to work with in a tartan!

We have more food for thought!

**Wompet** · 2nd May 10, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by Woodsheal

For these HONY's, I like the original "bluish" blue better than the "purplish" blue. Amble's pic isn't showing up, but I doubt if I'd care for a white overstripe.

Honestly, I still like the original muted version with the brown and gray best, but will defer to the majority...!

I'll second what Brian said above, except that now that we can see the design I can definitively say that the white overstripe doesn't work for me. It feels like it's fighting with the yellow overstripe, if that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Brian K

Thanks, Brian, I appreciate the compliment. I do, however, like the idea of having a "regular" and a hunting tartan more and more. There are millions of people in our great state and why should we not offer a choice?
...
I hesitate to show it here, but another option for white would be to substitute white for another color altogether and make a dress or dance type tartan. I chose to use white in place of green because when it snows here most of the green disappears

. When you see it you'll understand why I hesitate - white is a hard color to work with in a tartan!

We have more food for thought!

Since the hunting tartans are defined as having cooler colors (e.g. greens and blues) in the undercheck, any of the previous HoNY designs would be considered "Hunting" by default.
The white substituted works well as the "Dress HoNY" or "HoNY in Winter."

**Bob C** · 2nd May 10, 07:04 PM

I'm with Woodsheal. I don't like the purplish blue. I would also say the white stripe does not work at all.

I also think we should settle on one tartan.

**Brian K** · 2nd May 10, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Wompet

I'll second what Brian said above, except that now that we can see the design I can definitively say that the white overstripe doesn't work for me. It feels like it's fighting with the yellow overstripe, if that makes sense.

Since the hunting tartans are defined as having cooler colors (e.g. greens and blues) in the undercheck, any of the previous HoNY designs would be considered "Hunting" by default.
The white substituted works well as the "Dress HoNY" or "HoNY in Winter."

Thanks, Wompet and Brian for the feedback. I think we might (MIGHT, mind you) be coming to some sort of consensus around HONY 1a, but instead of using Illinois Navy for the darker blue, revert to the original blue, which was, I think, Denim Blue (almost a dark grey, actually).

As to the idea of a hunting tartan, my understanding has always been that a hunting tartan contains earthier colors to blend in with the natural surroundings better than brighter/darker colors. If I do say so myself, I think my original is closer to a traditional hunting type tartan then the others. YMMV

In any event, I'm even less certain about what the feeling about trying to have more than one tartan approved. I still like the idea of an official "regular (technically a district tartan in this case, I suppose) and an official hunting tartan approved. It sounds like Wompet likes the idea of an official dress/winter tartan.

What's the best way for us to sort all this out?

BTW, This is one of the more active threads I've been in recently and I've had fun with it. I hope others have enjoyed it also. If anyone knows other New Yorkers who might like to chime in here, please encourage them to do so. Designing something by committee, so to speak, is tough and I want to thank everyone for their input, their patience and their willingness to compromise. I think we're going to end up with something(s?) nice to propose.

Regards,

Brian

**Kilted Jeeper** · 3rd May 10, 05:22 AM

Wow, I go away for a few days and you guys are really coming up with some great stuff. I think I need to throw my vote in with the 1a!

**macwilkin** · 3rd May 10, 10:43 AM

One thing to point out: designing a tartan is one thing, let alone getting official recognition from the legislature, but you also want it to be adopted by individuals -- before approaching any state legislator, I would be approaching the major Scottish, Caledonian and St. Andrew's Societies in New York state asking for their endorsement of the tartan.

You might wish to consider how the designer of the Iowa state tartan went about it:

http://haggis-iowa.com/iowa_tartans.html

Scroll down for a brief history of the process they went through.

T.

**Brian K** · 3rd May 10, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by cajunscot

One thing to point out: designing a tartan is one thing, let alone getting official recognition from the legislature, but you also want it to be adopted by individuals -- before approaching any state legislator, I would be approaching the major Scottish, Caledonian and St. Andrew's Societies in New York state asking for their endorsement of the tartan.

You might wish to consider how the designer of the Iowa state tartan went about it:

http://haggis-iowa.com/iowa_tartans.html

Scroll down for a brief history of the process they went through.

T.

I agree, Todd. I haven't read the article yet - I skimmed it once before - but there's no sense in going to the legislature and getting something approved if no one else is interested. Others in this thread have suggested the same route of starting with local Scottish organizations of various stripes and I think it's a good one.

We're a pretty diverse group here and I have confidence in our ability to come up with a design with broad appeal. Getting the support of a number of groups, and the pre-approval publicity it could generate will be important in gaining popularity of tartan for the Empire State.

Regards,

Brian

PS - this is not the article I remember. It seems there was a longer one somewhere, but I appreciate the link. I like the idea of the approval happening on Tartan Day. The next one is about 11 months away. I wonder if we can manage it?