Chinese Knotting: The Flower Knot
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This particular knot has many names and seems to be a sequential
variation from a number of different families of knots. I've
chosen to give it the name of flower knot because I've
always thought of its basic shape and ordinal variations as
flowers.
Chen 1: Cloverleaf Knot (3, 4), Round
Brocade Knot (6)
Ashley: #2449 (1), #652, #2448 (3),
#2451, #2477, #2479, #2482 (4), #2453 (5o1), #2455, #2484 (6o1),
Korean:
Ginger
Knot (4)
Owen: Butterfly Knot (3)
Hensel: Dragonfly Knot (4)
TAoCaWK: Double Loop Shamrock Knot
(3), Shamrock Knot (4), Petal Knot (5-10), Ruyi Knot (3(1)x4)
3. 
4. 
5. 
5o2. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
- keep the loops that form the centre of the knot
similarly oriented. That is to say, as a general
rule keep the part of the loop that leads from the already
completed body of the knot aligned to the top of the knot and
the part of the loop that is closer to the free working end
aligned to the bottom of the knot. You can reverse this
orientation if you wish, as long as you are consistent with
all the loops.
- keep the centre loops as short as will still allow
you to work, the petals will take care of
themselves. Keeping the centre short and tidy will be closer
to the final structure of the knot and easier to control than
if the centre loops are allowed to get long.
- you'll find that if you pull hard enough, that you can take
up slack from one petal to another. This is not
recommended because the larger the knot, the more
this type of activity will deform the central structure of the
knot. Also, you may find that you are tightening the knot
too much, so that when it is time to adjust and fine
tune the final structure of the knot (or take it apart because
you made a mistake in design) that it is exceedingly difficult
to do so.
The 4 flower is probably the most common of the flower knots,
especially since it is easy to combine many of them into a single
design. For this reason, detailed
instructions are given for this particular flower.
The procedure to make 3 flower is exactly the same as the 4 flower except that you do step 1, skip step 2 and go directly
to step 3.
The procedure to make 5 flower can be exactly the same as the 4 flower except that you add an extra loop
between step 2 and step 3. As you can see from this illustration, however, the centre is
already getting quite large and loose, and if the centre doesn't
hold the whole knot will fall apart. A modification that will be
introduced for 6 flower can also be used for 5 flower. As always,
the option is yours.
This variant of the 5 flower is made with the same centre doubling
strategy as is used in making the 6
flower except, of course, leaving out step 3 so that you only have 5
petals.
As the flower knots get larger, the centers become larger and
looser, holding together more poorly. With the 6 flower knot, we
introduce the construction variations
that can be used to remedy this problem.
This 7 flower is made with the same centre doubling strategy as is
used in the making of the 6 flower.
As the 6 flower is constructed with a
"doubled" centre, so the 8 flower is constructed with a "tripled" centre.
This 9 flower is made with the same centre tripling strategy as is
used in the making of the 8 flower.
As you progress from the 4 flower through to
the 8 flower, the pattern of how to make a flower as large
as one has the patience for should become clear. Make as many
loops as you want. Increase the overlapping of the centre loops
as the centre becomes larger/looser than you want.
CLW
Creation Date: Mon Aug 3 22:40:51 PDT 1998
Last Modified: Saturday, 28-Feb-2009 12:07:45 GMT
Page accessed at local time: Wednesday, 10-Mar-2010 19:00:11 GMT
Generalities
The 4 flower is probably the most common of the flower knots,
especially since it is easy to combine many of them into a single
design. For this reason, detailed
instructions are given for this particular flower.
The procedure to make 3 flower is exactly the same as the 4 flower except that you do step 1, skip step 2 and go directly
to step 3.
The procedure to make 5 flower can be exactly the same as the 4 flower except that you add an extra loop
between step 2 and step 3. As you can see from this illustration, however, the centre is
already getting quite large and loose, and if the centre doesn't
hold the whole knot will fall apart. A modification that will be
introduced for 6 flower can also be used for 5 flower. As always,
the option is yours.
This variant of the 5 flower is made with the same centre doubling
strategy as is used in making the 6
flower except, of course, leaving out step 3 so that you only have 5
petals.
As the flower knots get larger, the centers become larger and
looser, holding together more poorly. With the 6 flower knot, we
introduce the construction variations
that can be used to remedy this problem.
This 7 flower is made with the same centre doubling strategy as is
used in the making of the 6 flower.
As the 6 flower is constructed with a
"doubled" centre, so the 8 flower is constructed with a "tripled" centre.
This 9 flower is made with the same centre tripling strategy as is
used in the making of the 8 flower.