I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic

knots is to use graph paper. This gives you an even guide to follow as
you plot out your knot. I usually use graph paper where every second
dot is slightly bigger, going both up and down. This leaves you with
one regular dot, and then an emphasised dot, then another regular
dot, and so on. You can make your own own 'dot' paper with regular
graph paper by taking a marker or pen and making a dot at the
corners of the graph squares (see panel below for dot marking). You
can also print out a premade copy here.
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create a Basic
Celtic knot. Each new step will be in red. As you go through the
panels, old steps will turn gold, and there will be a new step
highlighted, again in red.

Mark off a portion of your graph

paper, at least 5 big dots and 4 little dots
across. Mark the same distance down (5
big and 4 little dots) so you have an even
square. Each small dot is going to be an
intersection where two "ropes" of knot are
going to cross over each other. Put a
double lined "X" over a little dot on your
graph paper. It should look like a tipped
over tic-tac-toe board.

Continue drawing your "X" over

each little knot up to your border. Do not "X"
the little dots that lie right on your border line,
just those that fall within the border. Your big
dots never get crossed over. Think of the big
dots as posts that the knot must bend around to
follow its path. You'll find that your
crisscrosses will meet up on the diagonal,
which is a good thing. If you are making a
very large knot, you can make this step go
faster by using a ruler and just drawing a line
along the diagonal of the little dots. However,
when you begin to make really complicated
knots, the "crisscross" method keeps things
from getting tangled up.

At this point, you should have an "X"

over every little dot in your marked off area.
You can use your big dots to help gauge the
width of your knot bands as you draw your
knot. The band should be the same distance
from the big dots as you go around. Whether
you want thin spaghetti strands overlapping, or
thick noodles, is up to your personal taste.
However, take care to keep the thickness the
same throughout the knot, whatever you
choose, because usually the knot is supposed to
be one continuous strand, with no beginning or
end. There are some cases where this is not so,
as shown on the Examples page.

Now that we have all the little dots crisscrossed, we must join the knot
lines along the sides, top and bottom of the marked off area. Find where two
lines branch out from the body of the knot, angling towards each other. Make a
double lined bend to connect them. You may vary the sharpness of the turn to
suit your tastes, from a 90 degree angle to a soft, round curve. There are alot of
variations you can do by varying the angle of the bends.

Now all the loose ends on the knot should be

joined, except for at the corners. Add the caps on the
corners of the knot. This part is easy, as there are only
two lines in each corner to join! As with the sides, the
way you join the two strands is up to you, and again
you may want to experiment with rounder corners or
pointy corners. Or you can make a corner that is
shaped like a flower petal, where it flares out from the
last crisscross and then in again to join to a point.

Now all your corners should also be joined.

As you check over your knot, there should not be
any loose ends left at all, on the sides or on the
corners.

When the caps are on all our corners we will begin to make the lines of our knot
interweave. Each line as it interweaves must go over, and then under, any other line it
intersects as you follow its path. This makes any line go over-under-over-under the other
lines in the knot. It is very important that this pattern is kept, or you're knot will have very
obvious gaps where there'll be two overs or two unders in a row. To start your over/unders,
pick a point of intersection on your knot. It doesn't matter where. At this intersection, erase
part of the double lines to one of the ropes of knot, making the illusion of one rope passing
over the other.

Continue to follow that one rope of knot,

erasing as you go, alternating whether it goes over
or under the next rope it meets. If you reach the end
of the knots path, and there are still lines of
over/under that haven't been erased, don't worry.
This just means that your knot actually has more
than one continuous strand of rope in it. Simply
pick an unerased intersection and look at the other
ones around it. If the rope leading into the
intersection has just come from under another rope,
you need to erase your lines so it now passes over
this one. It should then continue to pass under the
next line.

This is the simplest variation of the basic knot we have just made. Using only 3 big
dots and two little dots across and down. It is the smallest knot formation you can make in a
square shape. The only other shape that is smaller is the one based on a triangle and today it's
usually called the 'Trinity Knot'.

In this version of the Basic Knot, I have

doubled the lines interweaving through the knot. To
do this, instead of just drawing an"X" over each point
of intersection, you also draw an extra line down the
middle of each leg of the "X". Instead of creating one
fat rope crossing over/under other fat ropes, you are
making two thin ropes. Finish your knot as usual,
except when it comes time to erase your over/unders.
Instead of erasing both lines to go over another pair
of lines, make one line go over/under the other pair,
and make the other line go under/over, so each line
alternates whether its going over or under another
pair of lines. You can also make this knot with three
thin ropes, or four etc.

This Basic Knot is alot like the last one we

just did, except instead of doubling the line all the
way around the knot, it is just doubled where the
intersections are. You can leave the split in the lines
very thin, or you can make it a bigger split, as I've
shown here. This almost gives it a chain link effect,
and looks very nice if you are using pointy corners.
As before, you can make as many splits as you want
at the intersections if your lines are fat enough.

 I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic knots is to use graph paper.
This gives you an even guide to follow as you plot out your knot. I usually use graph paper
where every second dot is slightly bigger, going both up and down. This leaves you with
one regular dot, and then an emphasised dot, then another regular dot, and so on. You can
make your own own 'dot' paper with regular graph paper by taking a marker or pen and
making a dot at the corners of the graph squares (see panel below for dot marking). You can
also print out a premade copy here.
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create variations on the Basic Celtic
knot. Each new step will be in red. As you go through the panels, old steps will turn gold,
and there will be a new step highlighted, again in red.

To alter our Basic Knot, we're going to begin the

same way as a Basic Knot would start. Mark off a portion
of your graph paper, including at least 5 big dots and 4
little dots across. Mark the same distance down your
graph (5 big and 4 little dots) so it is even. Each small dot
is again going to be an intersection where two "ropes" of
knot are going to cross over each other, but this time we
are going to interrupt their path with "walls", which will
force the knot lines to bend in different directions. The
walls are placed between two (or more) big dots, and
only lay on the horizontal and vertical. Place these walls
anywhere you like on your graph.

On the example I have marked off four walls in a

symmetrical manner. You do not have to make the walls this
way, however, you can place them anywhere within your
marked off area on your graph, so long as the walls lie
between two big dots. Your walls may also be made in
combination when you are creating your knot. You can line
them up several across, or partner them up into "T" or"L"
shapes, for different knot designs. You can also try "+" shapes,
and even more complex shapes just by joining up the walls in
different combinations. Always remember to make the walls
stay on the horizontal and vertical, however, or your design
will not turn out right. I often mark off where my walls will go
in light pencil on my good copy, or with a different colored
pen if it is my rough copy. This method of decorating basic
knot shapes is great when you have a very large knot, and
want to add some more detailing to it.

At this point, you want to start marking "X" over all

the little dots on your graph. Do this over every little dot on
your graph except for those that have a wall through them.
This is where the knot lines are going to be bent away from
their paths. As they cannot pass through a wall, the lines will
fold away naturally into other shapes and directions as we
shall soon see. Again, you can make the thickness of the knot
lines any width you want, only keep it consistent throughout.

Continue to cross off

all your little dots, until they
are all marked off.

Now your knot should have all it's little dots crossed.
You can probably see already where the pattern is going to
go, just by looking at your design. This is good. When you
are having to make alot of different patterns to fill an entire
page, you can often tell just by making your knots up to this
stage whether they are going to look all right together and
how they are going to fill up the space. At this point you can
then either scrap them if they aren't going to work, or add
more walls where you think they should go without too
much pain and suffering!

Now we add the caps on the corners of

the knot. Normally you also check to see if your
knot needed to have "elbows" or bends put on
the sides, but for this example there aren't any.
Again, like in the Basic Knot, the corners can be
capped many different ways. Notice how at no
time do my knot lines or corners pass over my
walls, this is how the pattern develops.

Now your end caps are on all the corners and your
knot is almost finished. Begin to make the lines of our knot
interweave. Each line as it interweaves must go over, and
then under, any other line it intersects as you follow its
path. To start your over/unders, pick a point of intersection
on your knot. It doesn't matter where. At this intersection,
erase part of the double lines to one of the ropes of knot,
making the illusion of one rope passing over the other.

Continue to follow one rope of knot, erasing as

you go, alternating whether it goes over or under the
next rope it meets. If you reach the end of the knots
path, and there are still lines of over/under that haven't
been erased, don't worry. This just means that your knot
actually has more than one continuous strand of rope in
it. Simply pick an unerased intersection and look at the
other ones around it. If the rope leading into the
intersection has just come from under another rope, you
need to erase your lines so it now passes over this one.
It should then continue to pass under the next line.

In this example I have used the same size graph

we used in the Tutorial, and just marked off my walls in
different places. There are two vertical walls in the center
on the right and left, and one long (a double wall) one in
the lower half on the horizontal. Knowing that the walls
can only fall on the horizontal and vertical, you should
eventually be able to figure out where the walls are in a
knot just by looking at it. With most it will be easy, but
when they start using the combination walls to make the
patterns it can get a little confusing! I find it helps if I
want to figure it out to take a marker to where you think
the walls should go, and then see if it works by trying to
make one yourself.

In this version, I have made four walls come off of the

edges of my design. The first comes down, off the top of my
graph, in the right hand corner. The next comes across my
graph from the right side, near the bottom . The next comes up
the graph from the bottom on the left side and the last comes
across on the right side near the top. I have made the corners
beside the walls using little "spear" shapes. These are like
little diamonds and simple put a twist in the knot line so it can
bend back again and continue on its way.

For this example, I have made four walls come from

the center of my design, and then they bend at 90 degrees
almost like 4 "L"s attache din the center. I have also used the
"spear" shapes again, but they could just as easily be rounded
shapes, rather than the diamond shape shown here. If you
would like to be e-mailed when new Tutorials are up and
running, click here!

This example shows how complex you can make

your knot appear without much effort. Just by adding more
walls to it you can get a variety of patterns. Here I have also
made my knot fill an area other than a square. To do this, I
simply marked off the appropriate area on my graph and
proceeded as usual. All the other steps will remain the same
when you make you knots fill unusual shapes, although you
may have to change the shape of your "elbows" in some cases,
like when you are filling a circle. Your normal "elbows" will
not fit within the circle shape cleanly and you sometimes have
to jimmy it around a bit to make it look nice.

This example is again within an

unusual shape. As before, all you need to do is
mark off the desired area on your graph paper
and then continue with your criss-crossing and
elbows, and corners, as you normally would. It
is useful to practice making these knots because
they are very helpful when you have an odd
space to fill in your artwork. If you would like
to be e-mailed when new Tutorials are up and
running, click here!

This variation is made inside of a circular shape,

which I marked off on my graph paper with a compass.
Again, using the methods in the last Tutorial, you can
dress up the knot a bit with more bends and turns using
walls. Notice how the "U" bends along the edges of each
quadrant of the knot were elongated a bit, so they reach
to touch the edge of the circle. This is one of the
modifications you will have to do to a knot to make it fit
within a circle nicely. Also, the bends to either side of
the "U" bends have been tucked in more, to make them
fit within the circle better.

This example is again within a circular shape. I

started out with a larger circular area to allow for the
extra detail I wanted to include. Then, using more walls
and finishing the knot off as usual, I altered the "U"
bends and other edges as needed to make it fit within the
circle nicely. If you would like to be e-mailed when new
Tutorials are up and running, click here!

 To make the Trinity knot we are going to use a compass. You can also use circle templates,
which come in handy when you are fitting the knot into an specific area, but for a free form
knot the compass makes the knot perfectly symmetrical and easy to create. This type of knot is
today most commonly called the Trinity knot because of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy
Ghost). But it also may refer to gods of even older origin: the old triple gods and goddess' of
the ancient Celtic religion. Regardless of its current name, you will find the Trinity knot very
common in old manuscripts. It was used everywhere, as part of bigger knots, and as free
standing knots.
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create what's sometimes a Trinty knot.
Each new step will be in red. As you go through the panels, old steps will turn gold, and there
will be a new step highlighted, again in red.

To make the Trinity knot, you will need a

compass and a piece of regular paper. Be sure to protect your
working table underneath from the point of the compass, or
the compass will dig little holes! Make a fair sized circle on
the page, say at least two inches in diameter. Make sure there
is a bit of room around the circle yet on your page, as the
resulting knot when we are done will be slightly larger than
this initial circle. Do not adjust your compass after you have
drawn this circle, as we will need it to be the same size for the
next circles we draw.

Mark the circle at approximately the

twelve o'clock position. Place the point of the
compass on this point and use it to make marks
where it crosses our initial circle on each side. You
do not have to draw the whole circle, just where it
would cross our first circle.

Now place your compass on one of the

marks you have just made, it doesn't matter
which one you do first. Draw a semi-circle
within our initial circle. It should start at the
twelve o'clock point and end in the lower quarter
of the circle. You don't have to continue the arc
outside of the initial circle, you only need to
draw what falls within our starting circle.

Make the other arc

the same as you did the first
one. The two arcs should cross
at the centre point of your
circle. If they don't, check to
make sure you have not
changed your compass
setting...it should still be the
same size as our first circle.

Placing your compass point on the lower

tailing end of one of your arcs, mark off another tic on
the bottom on the circle. You don't need to do a mark
on either side of the arc tail, just on the lower half. If
you want to verify your dimensions, you can put your
compass on the other arcs tail and check to see that it
would make a mark in the same place on the bottom of
the circle, but you shouldn't have to. So long as you've
kept the compass size the same it should all line up.

Place your compass on this

bottom mark and draw another arc from
side to side within the circle. This is the
basic skeleton of the Trinity knot, and all
we have left to do is double up the lines
and erase our overs and unders.

Enlarge your compass diameter now, by

however much you'd want the thickness of the strands of
your knot to be. Place the compass point back onto the
marks we made in the upper half of the circle. From each
point, draw another arc within our circle, and extending a
bit beyond. It is important now to make sure that you
extend the arcs a bit outside of the circle, so they will
meet up when the arcs are all drawn. Draw these new arcs
from both of the upper marks, and from the mark on the
bottom as well.

Pick a point where one of your knot strips intersects

another, and make it pass over the other, erasing the under
lines from the "under" strip from within your "over" strip.
The next pass for the knot strip, following the same
strand, will be to go under the next intersection, so erase
appropriately. The last pass will again be over, so erase
the underneath one.

At this point the initial circle can be

removed, as well as the marks for our arcs. You can
place your Trinity knot within a circle, as I did for my
e-mail button (which is a fancier version of a Trinity
knot) by using the centre point of the old circle, and
making it whatever size you want. It also fits nicely
within an equilateral triangle, or you can let stand
alone. In the examples, I describe a few ways to dress
up the Trinity knot, using more circles, and how to
alter it to fit an unusual space.

For this example I have made a regular Trinity

knot, and then added three circles. To make the circles,
use the centre point from your original circle for the
Trinity knot. Make sure when you make the circles that
you leave enough room for the knot strips to pass over
each other and the circle, you shouldn't have three strips
crossing over the same spot of you won't be able to
weave the over/unders properly. Then you just start
erasing the over/unders as usual, except that you are
weaving it through the circles as well this time.

This Trinity knot is a bit more complex. It is

actually two Trinity knots woven together, one larger and
the other smaller. To do this, make your first Trinity knot as
usual, and then enlarge your compass even more. About the
width of your lines again is usually sufficient. Draw your
arcs now with the point of your compass in the alternate
circle points from the ones you used to draw the first knot.
These will be the ones on the circle that the petal points of
the first knot touch, not the plain marks on the circle. You'll
see if it's right when you place your compass, as you want
to put this new knot askew of the first one, not directly on
top of it. Then enlarge your compass by the line width
again and draw the other side of the knot strips. Erase your
over/unders as usual.

For an unusual space, it is often helpful to use graph paper again and circle or oval
templates instead of a compass. Use the graph paper as you make the knot to make sure each
line on each side is equidistant from the dots around it. This type of knot is a bit more freehand,
and you may have to do some shifting around to make sure the knot is symmetrical. Use
different sized ovals and circles to make the knot fill the space, and then go in and make your
overs and unders. If you would like to be notified when new Tutorials are up and running, or
have a question about knotting, e-mail me!

 I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic knots is to use graph paper.
This gives you an even guide to follow as you plot out your knot. I usually use graph paper
where every second dot is slightly bigger, going both up and down. This leaves you with one
regular dot, and then an emphasised dot, then another regular dot, and so on. You can bold
every second dot yourself on regular graph paper by just using a different colored pen or
marker to touch them up (see panel below for dot marking).
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create what I call the Leaf Knot, as the
runs on the knotwork seem to form little leaf or petal shapes. Each new step will be in red. As
you go through the panels, old steps will turn gold, and there will be a new step highlighted,
again in red.

To make the Leaf Knot, we will be using a

graph section that is 5 big dots across, and 4 little dots
down. You need to place two "L" shaped walls as shown
in the diagram. Make sure you place them correctly,
leaving a single little dot between the extended arms of
the "L". There should be a single little dot left in the
middle as well.

Start to criss-cross your little dots. For

this pattern you will actually not be crossing all
the little dots in the area we've marked off, just the
ones that fall within the rectangle our walls made.

Notice how the criss-crossing is only

within the rectangle. Normally you would continue to
cross the rest of the dots, but you do not need to for the
Leaf Knot. The term "Leaf Knot" is not an official term,
by the way, it is just what I call this style of knot because
the loops formed in the end seem to look like leaves. It is
actually only variation on the basic knot, but it occurs so
often in manuscripts in this form that giving it its own
name seemed appropriate!

Put your corners on

the knot now, but again, only
put them within the rectangle.

Continue the lines

of knot from where they
branch out from within the
rectangle around the outside.
They should join up on the
other side, as shown in the
diagram, so that there are no
unattached ends.

Pick a place where

the lines criss-cross, and erase
it so one passes over the other.
Erase the other two crisscrosses so that the over/unders
alternate. If you want to be
notified via e-mail when new
Tutorials are up and running,
sign up here!

 I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic knots is to
use graph paper. This gives you an even guide to follow as you plot out your
knot. I usually use graph paper where every second dot is slightly bigger,
going both up and down. This leaves you with one regular dot, and then an
emphasised dot, then another regular dot, and so on. You can bold every
second dot yourself on regular graph paper by just using a different colored
pen or marker to touch them up (see panel below for dot marking).
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create the double Leaf
Knot. Each new step will be in red. As you go through the panels, old steps
will turn gold, and there will be a new step highlighted, again in red.

The Double Leaf Knot is a bit

different to make, because not only do
you have to use the regular walls to make
it work, but you also have to use a pair of
"fake walls". Normally walls only go
between big dots, but in this intance you
also need to put the walls through some
little dots as well. Along the little dots
outside of our normal walls, mark off two
more "L" walls as shown.

Within the large rectangle

made by the "fake" walls, begin crisscrossing all the little dots. As in the
normal Leaf Knot, you don't cross the
dots outside of the rectangle.

You should end up with five little

dots that have been crossed.

Now add your

corners inside on the
rectangle. You will only be
able to make two corners in
the innermost part of the
rectangle.

Join the knot lines

around the outside of both the
rectangles, as shown. Again,
there should be no ends left
unjoined.

Pick a place where

the lines criss-cross, and erase
it so one passes over the other.
Erase the other four crisscrosses so that the over/unders
alternate. If you want to be
notified via e-mail when new
Tutorials are up and running,
sign up here!

I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic knots is to use
graph paper. This gives you an even guide to follow as you plot out your knot. I
usually use graph paper where every second dot is slightly bigger, going both up
and down. This leaves you with one regular dot, and then an emphasised dot, then
another regular dot, and so on. You can bold every second dot yourself on regular
graph paper by just using a different colored pen or marker to touch them up (see
panel below for dot marking).
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create the Leaf Knot border.
Each new step will be in red. As you go through the panels, old steps will turn
gold, and there will be a new step highlighted, again in red.

The Leaf Knot Border is made by using "L" and "Z" shaped walls, as
shown. You can put as many "Z" walls as you want betweeen the "L" walls, just
be sure that there is one little dot between the arms of the walls. There should be
a single little dot left in the center of the rectangles made by the walls.

Begin to criss-cross the little dots that fall within the rectangles. As in
the the single Leaf Knot, don't cross the dots that fall outside of the rectangles.

When you are finished cross-crossing, there should be strings of triple

criss-crosses going down through the rectangles.

Add your corners within the rectangles made by your walls.

Now as with the regular Leaf Knot, attach the loose ends around the outside of the walls.
This will form a continuous border - there should be no loose ends, and the lines should wrap
around the walls at the ends of the border.

Pick a place where the lines criss-cross, and erase it so one passes over the other.
Erase the other criss-crosses so that the over/unders alternate. If you want to be notified via email when new Tutorials are up and running, sign up here!

I find one of the easiest ways to build nice, consistent Celtic knots is to use graph
paper. This gives you an even guide to follow as you plot out your knot. I usually use
graph paper where every second dot is slightly bigger, going both up and down. This
leaves you with one regular dot, and then an emphasised dot, then another regular dot,
and so on. You can bold every second dot yourself on regular graph paper by just
using a different colored pen or marker to touch them up (see panel below for dot
marking).
In each panel I will show you step by step how to create what's commonly called
the Lover's Knot (it looks sort of like two infinity symbols interwoven). Each new
step will be in red. As you go through the panels, old steps will turn gold, and there
will be a new step highlighted, again in red.

To make the Lover's Knot,

(sometimes also called the Josephine's
Knot) you need to place two walls as
shown. There should be two big dots
between the dots that make up the walls.

Criss-cross the little dots that

fall between the two walls. As in the Leaf
Knots, do not cross the dots that fall outside
of the rectangle made by the walls.

Add the elbows within the

rectangle, and as well to the top and
bottom of the rectangle. You should be
left with two unjoined ends on each
side.

Join the knot lines around the

outside of the walls, so that there are no
loose ends.

Pick a place where the lines crisscross, and erase it so one passes over the
other. Erase the other criss-crosses so that
the over/unders alternate.

The Lover's Knot can also be made

with rounded loops, which often looks nice,
especially when you are using it for romantic
purposes, like decorations, etc. It has a bit
softer look to it, but it can be made either way.
If you want to be notified via e-mail when
new Tutorials are up and running, sign up
here!