Celtic Knotwork Designs
Design Source Book, No. 19
Mythical Creatures
Design Source Books, No. 21  
By Elaine Hill

    Here are two books that can be used together in some instances, or apart to give your work a flavour of the mysterious past. They both recapture a time long ago when people wove tales of magical creatures, and the Celts adorned their work with intricate knotwork patterns. Many of the designs in the Mythical book have a strong Art Nouveau flavor, complete with its writhing, spiralling style making the most of hair and vegetation to give movement (and a certain panache). Here are dragons, mermaids, fantastic beasts, angels and monsters from Celtic, pre-Columbian, Greek and Indian cultures to name a few. All those writhing tendrils complement those Celtic patterns well, and the two books seem to complement each other. At only £4.95/$9.95 they certainly give good value for money.

   Some ideas as to the use and extension of these designs is given at the beginning of each book in the series, and many ideas presented themselves to me as I leafed through. The Mythical Creatures would look great as embroideries, glass paintings, on rather stylish cakes in some instances and fabric painting. Try the Celtic ones for making your own notepaper, calligraphy, textile art and jewellery - most of the designs in these two books are very unisex. The Mythical Creatures are all large, and not all would shrink well while the Celtic patterns come in many sizes and intricacies. I can envisage a dressing gown back adorned with a hybrid from these books - definitely a case for much use of jewel-like colors. Two very usable and pleasing entries in this long series, and as with all of this series the buyer is free to use them for your personal use or sell the items you make for charity. BUT beware; these are NOT public domain so no commercial use is permissible.