Clay Celtic Knot Trivets and Wall Hangings

Celtic Knots may be trending in tattoos and jewelry lately, but these interwoven designs have been around since at least, the 7th century. These knots are woven lines that have no beginning and no end, and studying them gives us a peak into world culture and history, as well as the use of symbolism in art. My students were especially interested in how the meaning of things can change with as the people change. The Trinity Knot now represents the holy trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in pagan times, the same knot represented birth, death, and rebirth, or youth, adulthood, and old age.

After learning about various knots, the students produce their own knots, not with drawn lines, but clay coils. This is a great way for students to merger meaning with ceramic techniques and skills . The fact that the finished product can function as a trivet, is yet another bonus.

 

I printed a bunch of various famous knots, laminated them and hot glued the edges to make templates that my blind students could use. They could also choose to make up their own knot design and symbolism.

One student laughed when I told her that rolling a coil was a skill, so I let her try to roll one without any instruction. Her first attempt took a long time to get a dried, flattened slug like shape. With a few tips she made a longer, rounder coil in a fraction of the time. The trick is to start with your fingers and hands together and and roll them from the tips of the fingers to the bottoms of the palms while spreading the distance between the hands and fingers to stretch the length. Most people beginners just roll the length of their fingers, and they are not creating distance between hands and fingers before coming back to the middle to roll and stretch it again. It's important to be sensitive to where the thick parts are and apply more pressure, while lightening pressure at the thing parts. If the coil does flatten a little, twist it like a candy cane (minus the hook) and continue rolling.

Once the coils are made, the weaving can begin. Wherever there is overlap, or ends joining together, score each side (scratch using a needle) and apply slip or water before pressing them together. The clay should be wet enough that the coils don't crack when lifting and bending during the weaving process.

A simple knot of two verticle loops and two horizontal loops can be made by keeping the loops open until the weaving is done with one side of the loop and then the other. I like to close the loops where there is already going to be some overlap with another coil. Here you can see me in the beginning stages of starting a knot that has 3 loops going each direction. It's a good idea to tent it with some plastic over night so that the drying process is slow and even, otherwise you'll get some clean breaks at the spaces between overlapping, where the coil dried too quickly. Enjoy the process and enjoy the product.