Korean Knotting (Maedup) - Ring Knot

[Mrs Glenys Chew]

Good evening!

In my attempts to make the toy hammock for my 4-year old, I came across the above knot, illustrated in Kim Sang Lan's "Decorative Knot Craft" (copyrighted 2006, first published UK 2008 by David & Charles, ISBN 0715329227 (9780715329221).  It's illustrated there in four-unit and five-unit variants, both flat and ring (ball).

To my untrained eye, it looks an awful lot like a Turk's Head type knot.  Is that so?

Regards
Glenys Chew

[KnotMe]

interesting.  i have the original french version.  you'd think with all the nonsense amazon recommends to me, they should have recommended that one.  of course i need to decide if i need the english version now...

that said, my copy is in a box somewhere in my basement along with hundreds of other boxes, so i won't be seeing it anytime soon.  8(

nevertheless, i will venture with my untrained memory that the ring/mat knots in Korean and Chinese knotting are turk's heads.

someday when my books see the light of day again i can scan in some of these knots and show them to Pat or someone and get an official assessment.

[Mrs Glenys Chew]

Thanks, Carol.

Is there a similar knot in Chinese knotting?

I wonder how these knots came to be formed, so identically, and yet half a globe apart, in very different cultures?

Regards

Glenys

[KnotMe]

yes, Chinese and Korean knots are almost identical.  The proportions of the tassels tend to be a little different and the colour selection is different, and the Koreans like to braid their cord especially for knotting vs the mass produced cord typically used in a modern Chinese knotworks (or the flatter hollow braids used before mass production).

so, both Chinese and Korean use turk's head type knots for mats and rings.

as for how West and East end up with the same inventions before the internet or faxes or tv/movies?  two likely explanations:  parallel evolution (solving the same problem generating the same solution).  also: sailors and merchants/traders. 

[Mrs Glenys Chew]

Thank you, Carol.

I've also been looking at the Butterfly Wing knot, and I find it's exactly how I used to tie a Carrick Bend and get it wrong trying for a Diamond Knot.  So I guess I learnt that one by accident    I'm rather flummoxed by the instructions on the Chrysanthemum knot, though, so as I want to use the Butterfly Wing for decorating my 4-year-old's school uniform, I might try a simpler arrangement just off a thicker body.  A sort of stylised version.

Regards
Glenys

[KnotMe]

what the Koreans call the chrysanthemum knot is the pan chang knot or mystic knot.  have a look around the 'net to see if you can find instructions that you like better...

[Mrs Glenys Chew]

Thanks, Carol, I will do that.

Regards

Glenys