Customer Reviews

Celtic Design: Knotwork

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3 star:		(1)
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Celtic Design: Knotwork. This book has over 400 illustrations, half of which are step-by-step instructions followed by analyses of knotwork patterns from traditional sources, such as a chapter on the knotwork carpet page from the book of Durrow, folio 1v, page 91, one of the earliest and most fundamental sources.The underlying plan of this design is superimposed on a step pattern from the Sutton Hoo hoard, an original insight. The rest of the book concentrates on examples drawn from historical sources, including The Book of Kells, folios 1r and 2r; the Ardagh Chalice; several from the Ardagh Brooch; the Lagore Crannog.

Chapter V is a valuable study in the craft geometry of building a panel by dividing a square by means of the half-diagonal star.

Fig. 96 is an ornamental serif from Lindisfarne Gospels, folio 3; fig. 101 shows "border design, full page format; adapted from the book of Durrow, drawn with a quill, as are most of the illustrations in this book.

Chapter 11, Spiral knot borders, includes Romilly Allen's twelve elementary knots, from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland, first published in 1883, unknown save by a handful of paleographers since - an invaluable source.

The author gives the knots according to the proper, scribal method, "the Secret of the Scribes", which until this book has never been published in any depth before. Figure 113 gives an analysis from a border from the South Cross, Clonmacnoise, in Ireland. The text ends with the eight cord border from the Book of Durrow. Untypically, he omitted to give the exact folio for this design. The appendix gives a selection of sixty variations of the triangular knot, of which several are from traditional sources, but most are original designs. He does not give a bibliography, unlike most of his other books on Celtic art, but this hardly matters as the sources are given in the captions to each figure, where they apply, and this book is primarily an original source book in itself. This book is a rarity in that it is written in the form of a modern illuminated manuscript, calligraphed with a quill throughout, and decorated with beautiful ornamental initial letters. The calligraphy is not as good as that of his later books - the first six are calligraphed, and the quality of the script improves throughout. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant, competent Foundational script, with captions in a Gothicized Irish hand, and as such is a good source book for calligraphers as well as those interested in Celtic Knotwork.

Of all Meehan's books published in the past ten years - over a dozen similar volumes, of which this was only the second - this one remains one of the most popular. It was written as a companion to the first volume, which covers all the other forms of Celtic Design in equal depth and with comparable style, except knotwork, which obviously required a volume all to itself, namely, "Celtic Design: Knotwork, the Secret Method of the Scribes".

This is an excellent book for those looking to create celtic designs.

This book teaches the three grids, king Solomon's knot, the foundation knot, and the Josephine knot. It goes into extending knots, building a panel, the analysis of plaitwork, the division of a square, spiral knots, and spiral knot borders.

The book is best used when accompianied by Aidan's other Celtic Design books. I have 7 of the books in this series and love them all!

All in all this is a great book for someone looking to create celtic designs.

Several years ago I was having a guitar made and wanted to use a Celtic theme for some of the inlay work. As usual, I discovered that this was a more complicated task than I had originally thought. Not all places on a guitar are equal, and trying to find a set of ideas that would work as a whole is almost as challenging as designing an illuminated manuscript page.

I my frantic search through the catalogs for books that provided more than pretty pictures, I stumbled across several volumes by Aidan Meehan, including this one on knotwork. Meehan's focus is as much on design as it is on imitation, which was perfect for what I was trying to do. The book is done in clean legible calligraphy with countless illustrations of both technique and results, making it a bit of an artwork itself.

Whether 'secret' or not, Meehan presents knots, their creation, and use in fine and methodical detail. He works through some important knots, then turns to panel design, plaitwork and spiral knots. Probably much more than I will ever need, but making this a valuable resource for the artist and the historian.

A good book on knotwork. Starts out with very basic, step-by-step instructions, but then covers lots of more advanced designs and variations. Many sample designs are shown. (Book claims 434 illustrations). It is all black and white except the cover.

If you're only buying one of Meehan's books, get this one. It's earned its cost 100 times over in helping me design my own knotwork patterns. The history is interesting on the first read; I'm not working on (nearly) priceless vellum so I can afford rough drafts on scrap paper and don't follow the formal construction methods. But there's plenty of material to serve as a starting point.

The collection of Trinity knots in the back is fabulous--try them in balloon art for a change of scale.

My review for this book is the same as for the Beginner's Manual from the same author. I guess I expected more instruction. There are fabulous examples of historical knotwork, but very little instruction on how to create your own. I suppose copying is the way to teach yourself this style of art.

Getting to know how this art was born, I strongly recommend to those who appreciate Celtic Art

I have not yet drawn knots from this book, but I have worked through Celtic Knots-Mastering the Traditional Pattern which I recommend at a first book for beginners like myself. However, I had read this book and can't wait to start drawing its knots.