A Boy Scout Practicing His Knots

Celtic knots that is. Celtic Knot work dates back as far as the 400s, though earlier simpler symbols existed in celtic and roman culture well before Christ. These knots have taken on a variety of meanings. The simplest and most recognizable is the triskele or trinity knot. These triangular knots had countless variations and have been observed in Pictish, Welsh, Gaelic, and Saxon art. Their use in Christianity would repesent the Holy Trinity. Another common knot was the love knot. These could very complicated or as simple as the one I have done. They typically have one strand and involve a heart in the design. The heart was for love and the single strand meant a single, unified life as man and woman. The small section of unfinished knot is a border. These are commonly found on manuscripts like the Books of Kells as illuminations in the margins or title pages. Since monks had to had copy all the pages of books down onto expensive animal skins, they figured, might as well make it worth the time and money. If you haven't seen an illuminated manuscript, I highly recommend it; they are beautiful.  All these knots I learned yesterday, online at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCelticGoldsmith?feature=mhsn. The Celtic Goldsmith is his youtube username, but his real name is Jason Bellchamber. He is a custom goldsmith specializing in Celtic, Native American, and Norse art. Check out his work here http://www.bellchamber.net/.

This last one is the spreadsheet of all the ideas I had about a pocket knife I want to make. I started the initial forging the other day, but still have a lot to do. Wish me luck!