How To Draw Celtic Knotwork: A Practical Handbook

by Andy Sloss

“Shows how a relatively simple series of ‘formulas’ can be applied, rather like a new language, to enable the reader to create knotwork patterns very quickly...opens new doors for the serious artist interested in learning the language of Celtic knotwork.”— Recreating History.

Genres: Art, Reference, Nonfiction, Drawing, Crafts, How To

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1995

Reviews

[Aiyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handy guide! The book is shorter than it looks -- a lot of the pages are templates. Also, while I appreciated that there was both practical instructions and a bit of musing on the mathematics, I wish those two things had been written in separate sections rather than interwoven, as the math is distracting while trying to learn the practical aspect.

[David Carrott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking for interesting pattern techniques to decorate jewellery and at first glance this book may have provided that.

Outside of the obviously useful pattern examples the description of how to produce them entirely fails. The math section is plain gobbledegook and the template key patterns at the end of the book are also useless for applying them to new shapes.

This books overpromises and under-delivers.

[David Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Used graphing method mostly -- some good examples but hard to follow when attempting the method.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Need to re-read this because on first read it's really not clicking for me. Using grided paper for Celtic knotwork gives everything this angular, mathematical look. It's very pretty, but it doesn't have that organic wobble of traditional Celtic art. I need to spend more time with this book... the system is fascinating and very clever, but so far, not entirely my cuppa Celtic tea.

EDIT: Read it again, and nah, still not a fan. It's a fun activity and a nice technique, but it's not Celtic. Curves and organic, sometimes uneven lines are such a big part of Celtic art. The gridded designs are far too angular.

[Toby]

It takes a but of thinking to wrap your head around exactly what the author is trying to get you to do. However, I think it makes a lot of sense once you grasp it. Only about 50 pages are how to, the rest is a kind of reference of the different knot sections that are possible. I can see that this would be a great way to learn to create all kids of knot work. And I can also see that it would be fabulously time consuming to learn to do well! But if you want to learn Celtic knot work, I can safely recommend this book as a way to get started.