maedup books (korean knotting)

Decorative
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I’m about to do something a little wacky and was wondering if anyone else wanted to join in. 8)

The other day I discovered a Korean online bookstore (http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/). A little cutting and pasting from a maedup website (매듭) and I had a search for maedup books published in Korea. Based only on the little cover images I’ve filled a shopping cart and intend to order the books as soon as I figure out the right buttons 8) 8). Mousing over the links it seems like I might have to sign up for a club or something, I’m not sure. I might delay a few days to see if I can round up a Korean reading acquaintance, but if not I’ll still grope through the process (hey, are there any Korean IGKT members? I wonder where my guild directory is…). So, anyone else want me to order some extra books while I’m at it? 8) The conversion rate is pretty close to 1000 Won to a dollar (Canadian, American and Australian dollars all being close to par) so the book prices are all pretty reasonable. Obviously shipping, tariffs and shipping again will boost that cost.

A couple of years ago I did something similar with Amazon France. The advantage there is that I could type knot (noeud) with my regular keyboard and there is a one to one correspondence with the forms to fill out with Amazon.com (amazon.ca, and amazon.co.jp). Plus I’ve got high school French.
http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w/171-1608841-0109052?__mk_fr_FR=�M�Z��&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=noeud&x=0&y=0

Here’s the search for amazon.co.jp
http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?__mk_ja_JP=�J�^�J�i&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=����&x=0&y=0
for some reason the search isn’t all that great with the signal to noise, but if, for instance, you try the second book down, the “people who bought this book also bought these books” links will give you much better results.

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I ordered my books from a local Korean bookstore (Today’s Books, http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fmaps%3Fie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26um%3D1%26q%3Dtoday’s%2Bbooks%2Bburnaby%26fb%3D1%26view%3Dtext%26latlng%3D13912300166759049381&ei=k5qoSNzsGKXopgSf98D7BA&usg=AFQjCNFnxqgkFVe9JtBG_hMqZeYo2Iqkrw&sig2=OZ84hxTQIV-TfL8XrkWOPg)
and they arrived in exactly one week, no shipping or tariffs (still had to pay GST tho) but double the price from the website. So that was relatively painless, plus the shopkeeper has promised to look into the tool site I found and call Korea for me (!!, double yay, because I emailed them in English and got no response) to see if I can get some Korean knotting tools and braiding stand. I’ve been looking at my new books, and have no regrets. That said, Kim Hee-jin is a prolific author and a lot of the same pictures appear in each of her books, so there is significant repetition between them.

First up is the one in English: Maedup: The Art of Traditional Korean Knots (http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewEng.laf?ejkGb=ENG&mallGb=ENG&barcode=6101565912334&orderClick=LAG)

Over half the book is historical and cultural context information. Then comes a gallery of knots with their romanized names and in most cases a translation to English of the meaning of the name. Next is a detailed description of various types of tassels. The names and meanings are covered and very nice process images that will allow the adventurous and/or experienced tassel maker to puzzle out how it’s done, but a bullet-proof hand-holding how-to these aren’t.

The appendix contains a gallery of traditional and more modern works by the author, as well as some work by various members of the Korean Maedup Research Institute. Lastly there are step-by-step illustrated instructions for: button (2 strand diamond), sauvastika, double connection (2 strand matthew walker), clover-leaf, good luck, and pan chang (mystic) knots.

This is a great book, highly recommended. Note that this book was (theoretically) simultaneously published in the US (New Jersey to be specific) by http://www.hollym.com/ but typing in a variety of keywords, title, ISBN, etc. yields no results (amazon.com isn’t any better). What goes on there, I have no idea.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788936900052&orderClick=LAG
Entirely in Korean, nicely illustrated, but with lots of text, this book has no how-to or cataloging type mandate. For someone who doesn’t read Korean, this one is an easy pass.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788990382139&orderClick=LAG
Published by the National Museum of Korea, this book obviously accompanied a major exhibit of maedup by Kim Hee-Jin. Larger in size and with proportionally larger illustrations. Many of the same illustrations, but also many more. There is also a CD which appears to have the whole book on it, although the source files are all jpg, so although it is a digital copy, it’s not a searchable digital copy unless you feel like running it through an OCR (optical character recognition) program. Sporadically bilingual, some articles are translated and some caption segments are translated into English. There is no how-to information, but for the anglophone researcher, there are sections with specific knots and tassels named in hangul Korean (native Korean script) and romanized Korean, combined with the romanized Korean and English translations in the first book, you have a rosetta stone for your Korean/English maedup adventures. There is also a nifty line-drawing notational scheme for maedup knots that definitely requires further study.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788985764407&orderClick=LAG
Entirely in Korean, this is a how-to book coauthored by Eunyoung Kim and someone else (not Kim Hee-Jin). Those who have seen http://www.seoulmaster.co.kr/bbs/study.php will recognize the illustrations for knot tying. Some project how-to’s, a less thorough, but more detailed tassel section with process photos (and no doubt enlightening Korean descriptive text 8) ends the book.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788995084243&orderClick=LAG
Knotted-Cord Decoration Combining Tradition and Modern Taste by Cha Myung Soon. This could be the unnamed co-author of the previous book, but I am not certain. The English is limited to a translation of the book title, author name and the item names in the captions of the gallery. The gallery is extensive and in places has a more production, less pure art type sensibility. Nice step by step illustrations (different from above) for the double connection, double connection with side loops, double connection with knotted side loops, clover leaf, a variety of cloverleaf combinations, button, sauvastika, good luck, mystic, mystic butterfly with double coin (carrick bend) wings, glasses knots.

http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788992788175&orderClick=LAG
Another book by Kim Hee-Jin, this one is in some ways a purely Korean combination of the previous 2 books. The how-to photos, readers of http://www.knots.or.kr/maedup/knots/knots.htm will recognize, but marked up with more landmarks and helpful (??) arrows. More tantalizing process illustrations of the cord-making process that I don’t remember seeing elsewhere give insight, but alas, no concrete details on that topic.

I missed a couple of books in my first order, so when I have more thoroughly absorbed these books and my bank account recovers, I’ll be back for more. 8)

3

Hi,

thanks for the detailed recommendations. Am looking for a book with detailed how-to/ techniques on Korean tassel making. Any good recommendations? in English, pls. Thanks

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i was in barns and noble the other day and just happened to pick up a book on meadeup and m excited to rty it. the name of the book is Elegant knottedjewlery by becky meverden. She lived in Korea and learned this craft. the book was only $22. I also picked up Orna mental knots for beaded jewlery by suzen millodot

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Look for the new book at Amazon.com : Knot Another

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Can’t wait until it’s available in Europe (uk or de/at).

Thank you for your post!

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Hi there, I’m involved with the promotion of Knot Another! so just thought I’d post some more information for people interested in an illustrated book on Maedeup knotting in English.
The author of Knot Another! , Elsabe J. van Rensburg, is a South African woman who spent time in Korea while her husband was posted there as a diplomat. She learned Maedeup during her time there. As she explains in the foreword, part of the way she learned was by making notes and sketches of each step of tying different knots. She continued making sketches as the knots got more complicated and soon began to lend the sketches to her fellow classmates when they asked for help in getting the knots right.
The book is done in precisely the same style. It progresses from basic knots to more complex, combination knots and also provides instructions on how to make your own tassels (known as ‘sul’). The opening pages provide a brief illustrated guide to Korean knots, information on cord lengths required for each knot and the equipment and materials you will need. The book is then divided into two sections. The first section presents 31 knot projects. Each project begins with a color photograph of the knot in question, a summary of equipment and materials necessary, followed by written and illustrated instructions for tying each step of the knot, based on the hand-drawn illustrations the author made while she was learning Maedeup. The second section provides 19 combination knot projects, each presented in an almost full page color photograph with written instructions.

Though my own knowledge of Maedeup only began when I started promoting this book, my impression of it is that it’s rather beautiful work. I think that comes through in the book in the way the author connected with this traditional art in quite a personal way, through her own drawings.

Since Knot Another! was published in Thailand, the other main distributor outside Thailand is in the United States. The book can be ordered online from amazon and shipped to Europe: http://www.amazon.com/Knot-Another-step---step-projects/dp/6119020403/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290077479&sr=1-1

If anyone is interested in more information, you can email: maedeupknots@gmail.com
Hope that helps!

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Thanks for that - ordering from Amazon in the USA for delivery in the UK has a total cost just over 16 GBP (or 19.21 GBP if you want it quicker) not bad for a knot book these days.

Barry

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For any more interest in English maedup books/resources/video tutorials, there’s an English language blog by a Frenchwoman called Veronique McKay that is fairly extensive. She has now turned her interest in maedeup into her own business by incorporating decorative korean knots into the jewellery she makes. She has just let me become an administrator on her blog and I’ve cross-referenced igkt and included a link to this thread for readers of the blog that might be interested in the Korean resources that Knot Me listed in detail at the beginning of this post.

If interested in checking it out: http://themaedupshop.wordpress.com/blog-news/

She also has a store page, but it’s in French.

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The important thing to keep in mind is that a tassel is a tassel. Korean, Chinese, Japanese, other. The basic Asian tassel is long and simple with a smooth wrapped neck and almost any book on tassels will provide what you need to make one. Just make it long. I’d start with Anna Crutchley’s wonderful book: http://www.amazon.com/Tassels-Book-Inspirational-Tassel-Practical/dp/1859672221/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291997395&sr=1-7 (she has others, but this is the one that I own and have read so…)

For more specifically Korean tassels (her Asian info is from a Korean source, so she includes some knotting with the tassels) I highly recommend Nancy Welch’s books. Not covering the material with the same precision and detail as Anna, Nancy more than makes up for that with pure creativity and and the cornucopia of ideas she presents. All of her books are wonderful: http://www.amazon.com/Tassels-Fanciful-Embellishment-Nancy-Welch/dp/0937274534/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2, http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Art-Tassels-Design/dp/0806962534/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3

Here’s a video for making an Asian tassel with a paper core: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTMy5UQl8I

Korean tassels often involve making the tassels even narrower, but bundling 2 or 3 together http://www.antiquealive.com/masters/decorative/master05_view1.html