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Compendium of Celtic Crafts

by Judy Balchin, Courtney Davis, Vivien Lunniss and Suzen Millodot



      Celtic art, with its interlaced patterns, fabulous beasts and love of bright colors, is enjoying a period of particular popularity at the moment.  Here is a whole book of projects so you can paint, draw and craft all manner of items in the Celtic style.

This compendium brings together projects from five earlier books plus a few new and revised pieces. Celtic art is different from most other styles in that it has to be constructed rather than just drawn, and this technique has to be learned before anything else can happen.  There are some relatively easy-to-follow methods showing how this can be done (although bear in mind that this is a huge topic) with rulers and math instruments. I say "relatively" because this is not a simple style to construct, and to do it fluently would require a very large tome indeed. But you can make a decent fist of it with this book, even attempting some of the advanced zoomorphic work if you have progressed that far.  Having mastered the basics, the book goes on to show you how calligraphy Celtic-style can be done, as well as applying the methods to glass painting and papercrafts.  A departure from drawing and coloring is present, too, in the section dealing with knot tying.

Anybody looking for a challenge and something a bit different won’t be disappointed with this book, although the purchase of at least one additional book on the constructing side of things would be advisable.

If you cannot find a good range of arts and crafts materials locally, try SearchPress.com for a list of suppliers.

The Book

Search Press
October 2008
Paperback
184448355X / 9781844483556
How-To Books / Arts and crafts
More at Amazon.com US || UK
Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2009
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