Blue or Purple?

[mookien]

For the Silver Thistle tartan, STA has a “picture” at the following url:

http://www.tartansauthority.com/tart...histle-fashion

The corresponding "picture" on the Register shows

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar....aspx?ref=3789

They both have the same threadcount, but on at least two computers the Register shows the color Oxford as purple and the STA as blue. I know that computer displays only approximate true color, but they are not usually this far off. Will someone please explain the difference? Thanks.

[SlackerDrummer]

Given that there is an Oxford blue (as compared to Cambridge blue) and I am unaware of an Oxford purple, I'm inclined to think it should be blue.

[Paul Henry]

There is no accepted colour code agreement in the world of Tartans, which means that different weavers can choose variations of the colours as long as it is substantially the listed colours in the thread count. It's very interesting to compare the same tartan from different makers, sometimes they are very different. So, the answer is to get a sample from the weaver, and only then base your judgement on the sample infront of you

[freddie]

Sorry, they both look the same to me - blue. Am I missing something?

[mookien]

Gentlefolk: I'll try to illustrate the "problem" using snaps from both web pages. On my computers, the STA picture of the Silver Thistle tartan shown at the first url above looks as follows:



But, the picture of the Silver Thistle on the SRT web pages at the second url above looks like this:



The first should contain blue where the second contains purple. If not, the problem must be on my end. :-)

[Paul Henry]

I really think you are worrying too much over this, the difference is subtle , and at least one of these is a computer image.
Read my earlier comments again, and get some samples if you are thinking about buying a kilt, but remember to check the actual weavers version of the tartan

[Calico]

You are correct that the 2nd looks more purple than the first. But they both look blue, to me.

[Paul Henry]

Here is an example just to show you how the differences can actually look
Maclean of Duart by two different weavers

Look especially at the blue, they are very different, but they are both "blue" and the weavers have chosen the actual blue themselves.
The other colours are much more similar to each other.
both tartans were taken together so that whatever the differences of processing or monitors the differences between the tartans will remain.
The choices of colour balances in tartan is very much a personal/weavers perogative, and it's actually part of the fun(or difficult) side of chosing which cloth to choose!

[mookien]

I'm not interested in the tartan, though I love the look. I'm just not sure which look. ;-)

I simply find it curious, even odd, that two of the premier tartan organizations in the world show the same tartan so differently - apparently beyond any difference one would expect from the imprecision of a digital rendering.

In one, the brightest color in the tartan (Oxford) displays as blue, in the other the same color (Oxford) is shown as purple. Is it (as I infer from paulhenry's comments) that there is no accepted standard (via an RGB mix, for example) for the color Oxford? Or, did one of the orgs. simply make a mistake in its display?

Can anyone out there speak for the House of Edgar from where this tartan allegedly originated? Where is Claire Donaldson when you need her?! :-)

[mookien]

paulhenry: Thank you for going to the trouble to "educate" me. I appreciate it. Wow! The blue on the right looks "blue", but the one on the left looks more like "sky blue" to me. That's a dramatic difference. In fact the Maclean on the left almost looks like a faded or muted color scheme throughout, compared to the one on the right.

At this point the bottom line for me is, "What you see you may not get, so get the tartan".