Page 10 - Lydia Chen - The Complete Book of Chinese Knotting

00 Prelims (01-08) 3/23/07 3:04 PM Page 7

necklaces, pendants, brooches, belts, bracelets and rings) and as accents on clothing and other everyday items, but also
stimulates them to explore the vast potential of developing new Chinese knots through using innovative cord materials
and new color blends, and also by combining Chinese knots. Nine basic knots, nineteen compound knots and five tassel
designs form the foundations for making the 135 extraordinary creative applications illustrated in the book.
In this volume, The Complete Book of Chinese Knotting, published here for the first time in English, Lydia Chen has
condensed almost twenty-five years of untiring research on fourteen basic knots (up from eleven in the first book) into
four main methods of tying basic knots. This makes them not only easier to remember but is also more conducive to stim-
ulating creativity. In addition, she has summarized the different ways of modifying basic knots into nine major categories.
The variations of the fourteen basic knots may change, but they all fall within the ambit of these nine major modification
techniques. Together, they have spurred the creation of another 56 brand-new Chinese knots in this book.
Here also are displayed some of the author’s breathtaking original works, which she has created as wall pictures, orna-
mental hangings and exquisite jewelry to give a different dimension to the art of Chinese knotting. Many of these
complex formations are inspired by real and imaginary creatures encountered on early brassware, jade, stone carvings,
statuary, paintings, wall murals and mirror holders. Some are created with gold and silver thread – a difficult medium in
which to work because of its inelasticity – while others are painted to produce a stiff, sculptural effect. Yet others are
designed to project movement and life – a challenge in an art that is essentially symmetrical and static. It is the author’s
dream to inspire other enthusiasts to broaden the creative horizon of Chinese knotting.

REPUBLIC OF CHINA (IN TAIWAN) AND PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1949–PRESENT)
It was a blessing that the art of Chinese knotting did not become extinct after the birth of the Republic
of China (in Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Indeed, Chinese knotting has experienced
a resurgence since then, especially in the late 1970s, largely through the efforts of fervent knotting enthu-
siast Lydia Chen, who has spent twenty-five years researching and compiling traditional Chinese knots in
addition to inventing fourteen new basic knots, among them the creeper knot and the constellation knot.

Creeper knot Constellation knot

Gold thread necklace composed of creeper knots, Wall décororation formed of constellation knots,
by Lydia Chen. among others, by Lydia Chen.

A UNIQUE HANDICRAFT 7