Books! Real books printed on paper. I had forgotten...

I love my Kindle.  I really, really love my Kindle.  And the fact that it syncs with my phone and tablet and I can pick up on my reading on any of them and not lose my place.     love, love, love

In fact, of the thousands (yes, no kidding) of books that used to live with me, most are long gone.  Three categories remain:  classic mysteries (in case civilization fails, I will still have something to read), Arthuriana, and useful-in-the-studio books.  Design and process mostly.

All the following books are in my own library.  All are great in their own various ways.  All the links take you to amazon.com, which does not pay me to do this.  My financial relationship with amazon is that a lot of my money flows through them to various vendors.



Celtic Designs: An Arts And Crafts Source Book.  By David James.



The decal design for the Domestic (see previous posts) will feature Celtic knotwork type designs, and I am ready to begin that part of the process.  So I went down to the studio and rounded up my Celtic design books.  And immediately became very, very happy.





Celtic Stained Glass Coloring Book.  By Courtney Davis.



Initially I thought I would find designs online, but the process was just not fun.  The minute I had an actual book in my hands I was happy and excited.







Celtic Borders & Decoration.  By Courtney Davis.



Nice to remember the thrill of books.  Not giving up the Kindle, though.  For a straight read, it is just the content that matters, not the delivery system.  But for looking at pictures and trying to find one I want, give me a book.  On paper.  That I can put sticky notes on.

 


Celtic Design. The Dragon And The Griffin:  The Viking Impact.  By Aidan Meehan.

My favorite of all these books, not only because it was a gift from a DD, but because she knew that this would ring SEVERAL of my chimes: art, history, history of art, geography, geography of art.  Not to mention those fabulous Celts and Vikings.  And did I mention dragons?







And now we draw a modest veil over the further proceedings.  Was a scanner implicated?  Were the copyright laws violated?  If you publish a book of designs for artists and crafters, should you not expect that they would blatantly, literally copy them?  Rather than just provide a "source of inspiration" as this book says.

Great Book Of Celtic Patterns:The Ultimate Design Sourcebook for Artists and Crafters.  By Lora S. Irish.




Actually, that last book (terrific book, btw) just did not work for my nefarious plans.  The weight or thickness of the lines in the drawings was too light.  Absolutely great for illustrating the structure of all those tortured Celtic knot animals, but too thin to show up as a nice design element on a sewing machine.  If you're using a scanner.  Which I am not admitting to.