Creating Celtic Knotwork: A Fresh Approach to Traditional Design (Dover Art Instruction) - Softcover

Buziak, Cari

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486820335 ISBN 13: 9780486820330

Verlag: Dover Publications Inc., 2018

Inhaltsangabe

"The complex designs can be confusing, but I love how this book makes it simple to follow. The author offers two innovative — and very simple — approaches to designing unique celtic knot designs that make it easy enough for (almost) anyone to create their own." — Daily Greet

Whether you're a complete beginner or have already attempted to learn the art of Celtic knotwork, this is the book for you! Artists at all levels will treasure this guide, which not only demonstrates how to duplicate patterns from a rich and varied gallery of examples but also how to take the next step to creating your own unique designs.
This newly revised edition of Creating Celtic Knotwork features a wealth of added material and revisions. Author Cari Buziak draws upon her extensive teaching experience to present easy-to-understand, well-illustrated instructions that explain all the basic techniques of Celtic patterns as well as the art's meaning and history. In addition to spirals, mazes, and step patterns, the designs include dragons, hounds, and other animals as well as human forms. Exercises and tips encourage experimentation that will allow you to develop your own variations on traditional forms. Information on drawing tools, painting materials, transferring patterns, and other practical aspects will help you get started right away.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Cari Buziak currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, with one cat, one dog, and one beehive. She enjoys crafting, creating costumes, knitting and quilting. In a mix of old techniques (handmade gesso, egg tempera, gold leaf) and new (several Mac computers) she re-creates ancient manuscripts in painted and digital form for a wide variety of merchandising and fine art needs.
Cari's current and past published works include book illustrations for Interweave Press, Penguin/Pearson Books, Llewellyn Publications, and Chronicle Books as well as designing Irish dance dresses, jewelry designs, and other commissioned works. Her work has been featured in design magazines, and she has had gallery exhibitions in Calgary, Toronto, Indiana, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Japan, London, and New York. Cari's artwork also appears in private collections in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Creating Celtic Knotwork

A Fresh Approach to Traditional Design

By Cari Buziak

Dover Publications, Inc.

Copyright © 2018 Cari Buziak
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-486-82033-0

Contents

The Basics, xi, 
Borders & Corners, 29, 
Crosses, 39, 
Spirals, 49, 
Maze & Step Patterns, 59, 
Zoomorphics, 71, 
Techniques & Materials, 107, 
Biography, 113, 
Dot Paper, 114, 
Dot Paper: ring style, 115, 

CHAPTER 1

The Basics

Getting Ready ...

To create Celtic knots I use a technique that's based on a gridwork of alternating big and small dots. The dots create a pattern that allows you to make new knotwork designs easily and even in shapes other than just rectangles or squares, as you'll see later in this and other chapters. This book includes a few sheets of ready-made "dot paper" for you, but to create your own is easy.

Normal graph paper is made up of a series of squares all over the page. You can sometimes purchase it with bigger or smaller squares, depending on the size of knot you want to create. If only one size is available it can be scaled up or down using a photocopier, or made from scratch at any size using a computer.

Using different-colored markers or a pen, alternate coloring one big dot, followed by a smaller dot, all across the page of graph paper. Make sure that as you move down to the next row you continue to alternate the dots. If there is a big dot above in the previous row, then below it there should be a small dot, and so on. Once the whole sheet is covered, make a photocopy before using it — that way you won't have to make it again next time.

Basic Celtic Knotwork

For clarity, in my examples I will display only the big and small dots and not the graph paper lines.

To make your first knot, mark off a box anywhere on the sheet, at least 5 big dots and 4 little dots across. Mark the same distance down (5 big and 4 little dots) so you have an even square. For the dot system to work properly, make sure box corners are always on a BIG dot.

Each small dot is going to be an intersection where two "ropes" of knots are going to cross over each other. Begin to add a double-lined "X" over the little dots within the marked-off box, with each set of the "X" lines running to either side of the little dot like a tic-tac-toe board tipped on its side.

Continue drawing a double-lined "X" over each little dot until reaching the box border. Do not "X" the little dots that lie right on the border line, just those that fall within the border. Your big dots never get crossed over by the knot. Think of the big dots as posts that the knot must bend around to follow its path. You will find that the "X" patterns will meet up on the diagonal, which is correct. If you're making a very large knot, you can make this step go faster by using a ruler and just drawing a line along the diagonal of the little dots. However, when you begin to make very complicated knots, the "X" method keeps things from getting tangled up because it's easier to see clearly what's going on as you proceed.

At this point, there should be a double "X" over every little dot in the box. There will be empty spaces along the sides of the box and at the corners, but the center portion should be filled with the "X" pattern, as shown here.

Now that all the little dots are bordered with the "X" pattern, join the knot lines along the sides, top, and bottom of the box. Along one side (it doesn't matter which you begin with) find two pairs of lines angling out toward each other from the body of the "X" pattern. Connect these to each other with a smooth curve. Vary the sharpness of the turn to suit your tastes, from a 90-degree angle to a soft, round curve. There are many variations you can create by varying the angle of the bends.

Once all the loose ends that angle toward each other on the sides are joined, add corners. As with the sides, the way you join the corners is up to you, and you may want to experiment with different corners (see the examples on pages 9, 10, 13 and 14).

Joining the corners is easy, as there are only two pairs of lines in each corner to join. If there are other lines left over, then you have probably drawn the marked-off box incorrectly and put a corner on a small dot. Remember, for the pattern to work every corner of the marked-off box must be on a BIG dot. Also, check that you have not added an "X" to any of the small dots on the box border line. That will also break the pattern.

With all the lines connected on the knot we can begin to make the strands weave, or interlace. Each strand, if you follow it with your finger, will be made to appear as though it alternates over and then under and then over any other strand it intersects with. So any strand in the knot will appear to go over-under-over-under the other strands in the knot.

To begin, pick an intersection on the knot over a little dot. It doesn't matter which you choose. Erase part of the double lines, making the illusion that one strand is crossing over the other (see top left of the graph).

Trace the path of that same strand of knot. When it reaches the next intersection, erase part of the double lines, but this time change the direction of your erasing — if you erased the first intersection as an over, this next one should be an under, or vice versa. Continue to follow the path, alternating overs and unders as you go. If you reach the beginning and there are still strands of over/under that haven't been erased, don't worry. This just means that your knot actually has more than one strand of knotwork in it. Simply pick an unerased intersection and look at the other ones around it. If the strand leading into the intersection has just come from UNDER another strand, you need to erase your lines so it now passes OVER this one. Continue until all the intersections have been erased.

Finished!

Modifying the Basic Knot

To add complexity to your knotwork, begin the same way we started a Basic Knot. Mark off a portion of your graph paper with 5 big dots and 4 little dots across. Mark the same distance down the graph (5 big and 4 little dots) so it is even. As you already know, each small dot is going to be an intersection where two strands of knot are going to cross over each other, but this time we are going to interrupt their path with "walls," which will force the knot lines to bend in different directions. The walls are placed between two (or more) BIG dots and only lie on the horizontal and/ or vertical. Place these walls anywhere you like.

On my example I have marked off two walls jutting out from the top and bottom borders, as well as floated one long wall in the center of my box. Walls may also be placed in combinations when creating your knot. You can line them up several across or partner them up into "T" or "L" or "+" shapes, and each will give you a different knotwork pattern. Always remember to add the walls on the horizontal and vertical (never the diagonal), or your design won't turn out right.

At this point, start marking your "X" pattern over all the little dots on your graph. Do this over every little dot on the graph EXCEPT for those that have a wall through them. This is where the knot lines are going to be bent away from their paths — because they can't pass through a wall, the lines will bend away naturally into other directions.

Now your knot should have all the little dots crossed. You can probably already see how the pattern is going to go just by looking at the design. This can be...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Dover Publications Inc.
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0486820335
• ISBN 13: 9780486820330
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 113
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Soc. Agr. La Raia Ss; http://www.la-raia.it; ; Strada Monterotondo, 79; Novi Ligure; 15067; Italien