Celtic Knotwork

Rating:
Summary: construction of celtic knotwork
Review: This book is the only one that I have seen that shows you enough of the construction of celtic knotwork to enable me to modify existing designs. If you simply want to copy things, the dover art series is the book for you. If you wish to get into the details of the art enough to create fresh designs or to 'straighten bent borders' and 'bend straight borders' or cut things in half, this is the book for you. After reading it I found that I also noticed things in existing art that I had never looked for before. Prior to reading this book I had tried to freehand modify certain designs, and met with fairly, though I am a fair sketcher. With this book I was able to modify a design for my purposes, and then using a chalked grid, draw it from scratch on leather, to use in quillworking.

Rating:
Summary: So easy you'll be drawing knots within hours
Review: Wonderfully written with detailed pictures from the Book of Kells as well as others showing the underlying layout of the actual knotwork. The techniques shown are SO easy and SO basic, it's a wonder that this isn't more popular. I thought to myself before I purchased this book that it was going to take a lot of practice and time to get it right, but the first day I was actually drawing knots! The second day I was learning how to bend them into borders and other shapes. If you ever thought that you'd like to learn how to draw knotwork, you can! Buy this book and you'll be drawing within hours.

Rating:
Summary: So easy you'll be drawing knots within hours
Review: Wonderfully written with detailed pictures from the Book of Kells as well as others showing the underlying layout of the actual knotwork. The techniques shown are SO easy and SO basic, it's a wonder that this isn't more popular. I thought to myself before I purchased this book that it was going to take a lot of practice and time to get it right, but the first day I was actually drawing knots! The second day I was learning how to bend them into borders and other shapes. If you ever thought that you'd like to learn how to draw knotwork, you can! Buy this book and you'll be drawing within hours.

Rating:
Summary: The best moethod I've seen
Review: Yeah, the method is technical. A T-Square and triangle are helpful. But for complex, good looking designs, this is the book to use.

Why is it different? Most books (elder Bain, Sturrock, Meehan) use a center line method--you draw the center of the knot using the grid, and then yuo trace out along either side. But the problem with this is that the line widths vary easily, and thus the knots don't look so good.

This book uses a Edge line method--the edges of the knots are drawn with the grid. So all of the pieces of the knot are the same width. Which makes it look much nicer.

And it makes it simpler in some ways. Since the edge lines are made with a ruler, after all of the layout work (which there is a lot, I'll admit) there is little freehand work needed, jus' for the curves. (And a circular stencil makes this so much easier).

Rating:
Summary: The best moethod I've seen
Review: Yeah, the method is technical. A T-Square and triangle are helpful. But for complex, good looking designs, this is the book to use.

Why is it different? Most books (elder Bain, Sturrock, Meehan) use a center line method--you draw the center of the knot using the grid, and then yuo trace out along either side. But the problem with this is that the line widths vary easily, and thus the knots don't look so good.

This book uses a Edge line method--the edges of the knots are drawn with the grid. So all of the pieces of the knot are the same width. Which makes it look much nicer.

And it makes it simpler in some ways. Since the edge lines are made with a ruler, after all of the layout work (which there is a lot, I'll admit) there is little freehand work needed, jus' for the curves. (And a circular stencil makes this so much easier).