Thule Tartan

**Colonel MacNeal** · 10th July 09, 10:42 AM

The Thule Tartan - named for the mystical North Atlantic land which captured the imagination of the ancients, and was whispered among the legendary explorers of antiquity. The name is of ancient Greek origin. Not an earthly place, but more of a spirit of discovery.

I had considered naming this Erikson tartan, but Thule (too-lee) was more poetic, and seemed to have more opportunities.

Cheers, ColMac

**Colonel MacNeal** · 10th July 09, 10:39 PM

Usually people either hate or love my designs. Not accustomed to indifference.

**Zardoz** · 10th July 09, 11:33 PM

Honestly when I saw the thread title, I thought of the Thule Society!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society

I like the colors and sett, but I don't care for asymmetric tartans that much.

**Heming** · 11th July 09, 12:59 AM

We norse folk often call our lands (jokingly) "Ultima Thule", so I think your design would be spot on for many of us! If I may critique, I'd say this:

I like the check/stripe very much. I've always been a fan of asymmetric tartans, especially those that look symmetric at first glance. I think it's well proportioned, and I really like the idea of one stripe slightly wider than the other two in the triple blue and triple green stripes.

When it comes to colour, I don't want to say too much, as every computer screen displays colour differently, and what I see may be totally off from what you made. But on my screen, the red seems to have a lot of yellow in it (almost towards orange). I would prefer a more scarlet-like red (but not darker, just less yellow, think cardinal's dress). The dark blue is lovely (and effective!). I would probably darken the green a bit to match the dark blue in hue, this could again be a problem of my screen. The light blue is a bit red (almost lilac) to me. If the pale blue represents ice, I'd go a bit paler and probably a smidge towards green in order to avoid any red tones in the blue. But this is of course only my personal preference!

In sum, I think the design is very good, and if you decide to have it woven I'd be very interested in a swatch - and perhaps a kilt length.

Btw, I love the idea of a Leiv Eriksson tartan! One should honour the first European to set foot in the Americas with a tartan! It got me thinking of which dyes the vikings used, and I suppose it's more or less what the scots had in the same time period (793-1066 AD), but the vikings also had bright reds and purples from whelks (sea snails)... Hm... I have an itch in my drawing hand...

**English Bloke** · 11th July 09, 03:48 AM

Yep, I'll go with that. Darken the Green, Lighten the background blue and redden the pink. I Like it.

**castledangerous** · 11th July 09, 09:54 AM

I like it!

**-B-** · 11th July 09, 11:20 AM

it goes well with what i know of the other predominate use of the work for a roof rack manufacturer from Sweden/ US.

**Gunnar** · 12th July 09, 02:00 PM

Looks great! Very cool that you can clearly see the Icelandic flag in it

**raibeart_dubh** · 12th July 09, 02:31 PM

I rather like it. Nicely done.

**Colonel MacNeal** · 12th July 09, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by Gunnar

Looks great! Very cool that you can clearly see the Icelandic flag in it

Hi Gunni,

Thanks - glad you like it. I'm also working on a Norwegian version that has the blue and red reversed.

In addition to the flag colors, I was trying to evoke the snow and rain, the sea waves and the glimpse of a green shore, the glaciers and the northern lights. I don't know if it evokes that spirit, but I was hoping that it did.

Bless,
ColMac