Courtney DavisCeltic and Old Norse Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)

I am using this together with other resources to create a large mixed media canvas. The designs are well drawn and it is interesting (and important for accuracy) to know where the design originated.

I WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING DIFFERENT AS I WAS LOOKING FOR STENSILS?

Whilst only a pretty slim book of some 44 pages, I’m really pleased with it.I’ve enclosed some pics of a few pages, the designs have been reproduced from actual works, whether they’re taken from the Book of Kells, sword hilts, or stone crosses, each design is lettered & a description of their origin is written underneath. I found this fascinating, it’s nice to know where the examples in the book originate from, so if you were interested in a particular design, you could always look up more pieces of a similar ilk online, to broaden your appreciation & knowledge.As a reference book, this is a great place to begin your understanding of both Celtic & Norse designs; so you can derive inspiration & create your own designs afterwards, or use the designs in the book as they are, the only caveat is you’re not allowed to reproduce them in another book, & are limited to using ten designs per project, I think that’s both fair & reasonable.As another reviewer has stated, some of the designs are quite large, filling an entire page in some cases, so they may not be as immediately useful as is, but scanning the images & resizing them to your individual needs will soon address that problem.I’m looking forward to using some of the designs in my polymer clay work, wood carving, & jewellery making as I’ve always been drawn to Celtic & Norse designs, I’m thrilled with this book, it’s very simple, but it’s nice to have a collection of perfectly useable designs in one volume, I think it’s excellent value & would encourage me to explore some of the publisher’s other titles now I know what to expect.

This is quite comprehensive in its coverage of known historical styles; examples ranging from the Book of Kells to Sutton Hoo burial and later Norse decorations.The art in it is loosely drawn and not precise — which is likely deliberate — but if you were going to use it to build a tattoo design or similar, I feel you’d be better off measuring out grids and learning the actual methods to draw knots, spirals and such, and practicing getting them more neatly rendered. You won’t find any details on how to do that in this book at all.What it does do is give you the name of a certain style of origin of Celtic or Germanic art next to examples, so that if you see something you like you can further research and find more of it.Its not expensive though, and it’s worth the cost if you are interested in this kind of artwork.

Usefull to trace on wood

Hassle-free transaction and as described - many thanks!

Very good

I had no concerns with regard to the seller. The order arrived swiftly and in good condition. However, I was dissapointed with the content of this book and found the designs quite masculine and boring for my purposes of design reference to include in painting and needlework. If Ihad been able to see a sample of content prior to purchase I wouldn't have bought it as not suitable for my purpose.