Page 133 - Lydia Chen - The Complete Book of Chinese Knotting

08 Creative Designs (130-147) 3/26/07 10:18 AM Page 130

Flowers and People

Because of the limitations of Chinese knotting in terms of expressing flexibility and
movement, it is not easy, though not impossible, to form flowers and people. Success
with knotting flowers depends very much on the type of knots used. Although you
may think that a chrysanthemum is readily formed from a round brocade knot with
multiple outer loops and a compound good luck knot, this is not necessarily the case
as these are not very versatile knots.
When making knots depicting people, it is sometimes necessary to realign the
cords in order to better express the limbs.

This “still life”of a vase of wild flowers is an
15 innovative interpretation of the traditional
sketch or painting. It is tied with jute cords.
TYING INSTRUCTIONS
1.To make the vase, tie a cloverleaf knot and
tighten the loop to form the mouth. Leave a cord
end on the right side to complete the right part
of the vase. Pull the other cord end out of the
knot body to the left to complete the left part of
the vase.Tie a long pan chang knot to make the
base.
2. For the flowers, tie round brocade knots, then
pull the cord ends back to the knot body to make
the center of the flowers.
3.Tie pan chang knots with compound outer loops
for the leaves.

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