Celtic Art references

[Whiskeymike]

I’m wondering if anyone knows if there are any reference materials on how to produce Celtic art such at Celtic Knots from rod.  Specifically looking for order of operations, techniques, etc.

[4elements]

Find a copy of "Celtic Art, Methods of Construction" by George Bain. It deals with the patterns, not the materials, but is a good starting point. 

[JHCC]

Another great resource on design is Celtic Knotwork by George Bain's son Iain. The son presents a modification of his father's technique that is easier for dividing up a given space with knotwork. Both books are good, but I'd maintain that the son's book is more accessible.

[Whiskeymike]

Thanks for the recommendations.  Picked them up on Amazon for less than a tenner combined.

[SFC Snuffy]

I'm interested to know what your project is. I've always admired Celtic knots, and thought once or twice about how to reproduce one in metal without engraving it (a discipline I haven't the time, tools, or knowledge to mess with right now), but I've never gotten past "maybe someday." Best of luck to you.

[Frosty]

Yeah, that's right Mike we LOVE pics you know. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[John B]

Bit more to do yet when I get time

Not engraved but repoussed

[Frosty]

It looks great John, I'm a sucker for Celtic knotwork. 

You mean Chased John? Chasing chisels are blunted and smooth for: making, outlining or planishing around details by working from the front. 

Repousse means, "pushed from behind." And is usually done with a domed hammer to draw out the material to allow greater depth of detail when chasing. 

This piece appears to only have been chased in without being pushed out from behind first.

Engraved means cut in. 

I'm not playing semantic games the terms have specific meanings that apply to specific work processes. I look stuff up all the time, it's a weakness of mine. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[John B]

Hi Frosty, I would still call it repoussee, although on a small scale, the  material was worked from both sides to give the definition and depth I wanted.

i personally prefer working on lead backing, but this is not practical for current class time and health and safety restraints.

I normally make up the pitch blocks, pitch, tallow, fine grain sand  but this time I managed to purchase some jewellers pitch and this was a sample run to see how it performed.

I took some work in progress pictures although not of a very high quality, just to see where it was going wrong, and as a reminder as to proceedure.

In retrospect, choice of subject was not an ideal one, but worked out reasonably well. Just got to decide what to do with it now.

Tools used were small punches and chasing tools.

Material was annealed,  pattern marked on the sheet and embedded onto the pitch and the outline and knot direction marked on.

 

Clarified the route to take, and then chased in the outline, and defined it.

  

 

I then refined this defining which started to give some depths and heights,

I then removed it, cleaned and repositioned it so as to raise it from the underside.

     

I then continued to work it, repositioning it a couple of times until I was reasonably satisfied with the result.

Hope this helped sort out some of the semantics, there are a lot of grey areas, which does not help in black and white definitions.

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

14 hours ago, John B said:

Hi Frosty, I would still call it repoussee, although on a small scale, the  material was worked from both sides to give the definition and depth I wanted.

And you're exactly right. That's certainly chasing and repousse and a nice job of it.

I've only done a little, Altoid & cookie tin level beginner projects. You obviously have WAY more experience than I, I'll just watch and maybe ask a question once in a while now. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Whiskeymike]

John B, that looks very nice.  I'm jealous of your patience.  

I'm brand new to black smithing, but have been doing metal work for a while. My wife is mostly Irish and we both enjoy the patterns and art, so I like to include those influences to keep on her good side.   This is the starting layout for a design I'm working on for 3 Trellis that will go against pillars on the porch to support rose vines.   I plan to make it from 16ga steel, and my hope is to make some celtic knots (or at least the weave pattern) from 1/4 - 3/16" steel rod and incorporate it into the design for the border around the sheet, or through the large knots that are cut out.   Triquetras are another element that I'd like to work in. 

I received the books and they are good recommendations.  It's definitely going to require some trial an error.  A fair amount of it is very fine detail that I'll have to work towards over years, but it definitely helps wrap my mind around construction.