Mefi Tartan

October 5, 2011 7:29 AM

Mefi Tartan
I made a mock up of the proposed tartan (a jokey pony suggestion for mod uniform in meta talk)

It uses colours from the blue, the green, the grey, the black (mefi music) IRL and projects, with yellow (links) and white (text)

Here's a version with a basic 'clothify' effect from the Gimp.

This is just me mucking around, you have to register tartans to make them official.

Role: artist

posted by titanium_geek (27 comments total)

I so want pants made out of this.
posted by mathowie at 7:30 AM on October 5, 2011

Put me down for a necktie.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:43 AM on October 5, 2011

I'm not normally a fan of the appropriation of tartans and the generation of new (often naff) designs, but this is pretty awesome. I'd wear this.
posted by Happy Dave at 7:45 AM on October 5, 2011

So, who's got a loom?
posted by bluishorange at 7:55 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

What the heck is a tart pony ...? Oh, a tartan. * clicks link * Oh, a TARTAN.

Godd stuff, good stuff. These tart ponies, are they available as t-shirts?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:45 PM on October 5, 2011

I have a medal winning, highland dancing, daughter, who could do justice to a mefi kilt.
posted by YukonQuirm at 10:22 PM on October 5, 2011

so go get some made up here!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:33 PM on October 5, 2011

That's a printing company, not a weaving company. However, if anyone wants to use it, please go right ahead! :)
posted by titanium_geek at 11:44 PM on October 5, 2011

gar. More explicitly, if anyone would like to print up/weave a tartan item(s) using this pattern, please go right ahead. Though if you sell them and make a million $$, we should talk, because I'm broke at the moment. :)
posted by titanium_geek at 11:58 PM on October 5, 2011

Yeah, it seems wrong to print a tartan somehow.
posted by bluishorange at 6:02 AM on October 6, 2011

My SO wanted to make me a kilt, too.. perfect timing!
posted by odinsdream at 7:53 AM on October 6, 2011

I'd feel funny wearing a tartan from a clan I'm not part of (and since I'm not Scottish, that's all of them) but I'd wear this one because I feel like I belong.
posted by tommasz at 8:17 AM on October 6, 2011

Please make me one of those skirts, thx.
posted by jessamyn at 10:25 PM on October 6, 2011

The tartan register is traditionally defined by usage. If your design gets used, and it turns out to be new, they often invite you to register it (as happened to the Womble tartan). Tartans are family identities, so you can tell if the folks approaching you on the hillside are likely to (buy|steal) your livestock, share a drink, or get invited home (and kill you in your sleep*)

With the grey and the green, it's a cross between an ancient and a hunting. I know people who do tartan research and registration, so if you want to make it legit ...

--
*: this last one reserved for the Campbells.
posted by scruss at 4:56 AM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

How about a Dress version - with a professional white background?
posted by expialidocious at 10:19 AM on October 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

Hmm... That's a pretty asymmetric design, not quite what I'd picture. How about something more like this tartan?
posted by JiBB at 2:41 PM on October 9, 2011 [8 favorites]

JiBB - your version looks nice too, and more 'real'. It does reduce the colours (mine includes all the subsites) and approximates colours- which would be necessary anyway, as I don't think you can order dye in hexadecimal or RGB values.

The off centerness of the design is lessened when you tile it like it would be on a fabric, and was intentional. :)

I could also go very meta about how I based it off the blue, the green, with the grey linking them all, with special highlights from projects, music, and IRL, with the gold of the links being the top most item, white text as well.

But hey, I just spent an evening mocking this up, please feel free to run with it. :)
posted by titanium_geek at 6:33 AM on October 10, 2011

Real woven custom tartans are available. (Here's their custom tartan designer.)

Prediction, based on some past research on what tartan yardage costs: it'll be godawful expensive — definitely upwards of $50 a yard and likely more. For comparison, this custom-woven tartan (which isn't even a custom design) ranges from $65/meter to $130/meter, depending on weight.
posted by Lexica at 11:07 AM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would wear this.
posted by The Whelk at 11:44 PM on October 24, 2011

Also JiBb's tartan is considerably more tasteful then my actual family pattern, which I still hold to for values of fake 19th century century Scottish nationalism folderol.

What I'm saying is make a tie and I will buy it, name your price.
posted by The Whelk at 11:50 PM on October 24, 2011

I would wear a MeFi tartan! It's nicer than my family one.
posted by arcticseal at 2:16 AM on October 25, 2011

off-centeredness is not a problem in tartan design.
I believe that a 'plaid' can be anything, even a solid colour.
The Maple Leaf (one of my favourites) is most definitely off-centered, and is all the more lovely for it.

I know that the folks over at x marks the scot had a custom weave done up a few years ago by a fellow in vancouver. Maybe someone with more google skills that I possess can dig up the costs/etcetera from their forums.
posted by Acari at 8:08 PM on October 28, 2011

And (edit window!) by 'off-centered' I meant, of course, 'asymmetrical'
posted by Acari at 8:09 PM on October 28, 2011

Oh, man! This caught me in a particularly tartan-obsessed mood - I'm getting back into weaving and have some MacPherson Hunting tartan scarves on the loom at the moment. Great idea incorporating all of the site colors!

My understanding of traditional tartan is that the warp and weft patterns are identical, even if the stripe pattern is asymmetrical, like the Buchanan tartan. Usually the stripe patterns are mirrored, though, and repeat in 2 blocks (ABABAB etc.) although there are some with a third block repeating ABAC, and I'm sure there are other variations.

I missed JiBB's nice design before taking a stab at this myself:

• One sett
• Repeating

If an official sett gets designated, I'll probably wind up weaving something out of it.
posted by usonian at 12:21 PM on November 16, 2011

Oh, and speaking of registering a tartan... The Scottish Register of Tartans will let anyone sign up and register pretty much any pattern they want, which sort of gives the impression that it's about as official as the International Star Registry... anyone know if there's a more tightly controlled tartan registry out there?
posted by usonian at 1:32 PM on November 16, 2011

...that was unintentionally harsh - the Scottish Register of Tartans certainly seems legit, right down to accepting woven swatches to be included in their physical archives. It can just be frustrating wading through so many modern one-offs when searching for older ones.

Ok, I'll stop threadsitting now.
posted by usonian at 10:22 AM on November 17, 2011

Thanks for linking to the tartan design tool; nice to find it again. Actual woven fabric is pricey. How about using the tartan as the basis for a design, like this, maybe based on this. I am not a designer, but I would like to have a MeFi tartan tshirt. Well, I'd be delighted to have a MeFi tartan kilt or sash, but it's a bit dear.
posted by theora55 at 5:52 PM on April 6, 2012 [1 favorite]