Increasing Your Knot Vocabulary
Paper, free motion embroidery,
thread, burn-out.
I find a great sense of poeticism in knot-work as being one of our oldest, most basic and sophisticated technologies. There is an endless wealth of ideas, associations and symbolism to knots and knotting. Knotting practices are representative of a greater identity, encompassing the beliefs, practices, languages and superstitions of many cultures.
I am interested in the knot as a universal language, one that carries residual histories and memory, connecting the past to the present as a living tradition.
As a ritualistic process, it is compulsive and repetitive; used to build connections and bridge gaps.
Knots can be transcendental, where one type of knot may be found similarly among other knotting practices under a different name; and the names of the knots themselves are each rich with significance and word histories.