I discovered the beauty and variety of woven bands from the Baltic region and have become fascinated by the amazing patterns that can be seen in museums.
I also love designing my own versions. I recently wove a set of handfasting bands in silk. Celtic handfasting or the binding of hands, is an old marriage custom.
The Endless or Eternal Knot.
The pattern on these woven bands is known as the Endless or Eternal Knot. It is one of the eight Auspicious symbols in Buddhism. It can represent eternal love and friendship. A gift of the endless knot symbol is said to make an auspicious connection between the giver and recipient. I wove six bands and used six colours for the symbols: red for passion; orange for kindness; yellow for joy; green for health; blue for devotion and purple for steadfastness.
Durham Weaver
June 2014
June 2014
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| A set of six silk handfasting bands by Susan J Foulkes |
Just beautiful! I love your colours!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I clicked over from the Braids and Bands Yahoo Group. Welcome to the world of blogging; it can be a lot of fun! The Handfasting bands are extremely lovely! Were they all 6 used in the same ceremony? I've seen that some couples use multiple bands, but most seem to use one. ~Annie
ReplyDeleteAs you can see from my next post, I wove these bands for an exhibition. It would be lovely if they could be used for a wedding, although I would imagine that a couple would want to make a personal choice of colours and symbols.
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