~nimuae is a german artist, a master of knots, you could say.
Her gallery is filled with amazing knotted colourful works and her tutorials are a guidance to anyone, who wants to try this art too.

She also is the founder of the dA-group #Bracelets-and-Knots, dedicated to all forms of knot art and gathering a lot of talented artists.

~nimuae was kind enough to give me this interview and tell us about her art, projects and inspiration.

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Hello, ~nimuae, could you tell us a bit about yourself, please? When did you start making knot art?

Hi and wow, it is such a huge honour to be chosen for this interview. There are so many great other knot artists on dA... So first a big THANK YOU for this. It means so much to me. Well, a few facts about me: I'm a 27 year old girl from Germany and I'm into knot work for about 20 years now. Everything started when I was 7 or 8 years old when I received a Christmas present: It was a book about how to make friendship bracelets by Marina Schories. It was a very good book and so I managed to knot my first easy bracelets in very short time...and I was able to make bracelets, improved my skills by teaching myself with other books and made bracelets from time to time...

Well, then the years went by and suddenly it was 2009 when I discovered knotting as a hobby again. It was perfect to calm down in the evening after a stressy day at university. Then I first checked the internet and finally recognized that making friendship bracelets was not dead at all. There were millions of patterns and new techniques and people who still loved to knot and I had to try all these patterns, now! I became a member of two large friendship bracelet communities, formed the -group together with the brilliant and soon got inspired so much by all these great and creative people that I was able to improve my skills every day. Together with some of these amazing people I'm working on a book about knotting. This year I started to make my first serious tries in macrame and published my own German website about knotting. And now I know that you can knot almost everything!



What tools and materials do you need for knotting?

First of all you need string - this can be crochet thread, bead yarn, embroidery floss or other. Then you need scissors, a measuring tape, safety pins and a pillow or a clipboard to fix strings while working. There are many other ways to fix a piece, but these two are the most practical ones in my opinion. For some projects I also need glue and wire. And then, most important: You need two healthy hands.

Could you give us a short explanation of the process of making a knotting-piece?

Well, first you should know what you want to knot. That helps a lot, although sometimes nice things come out, too, when you just try to improvise. But, well, this time we don't. So you usually choose a pattern or tutorial, prepare the materials, choose colours and type of string, measure and cut it and fix them on the clipboard or pillow. Then you have to arrange the strings and start with what ever you've chosen. Usually knotting takes a lot of time, even smallest bracelets take me about half an hour, so one of the larger projects might take weeks or even months. During this long time you have to make sure that all your knots have about the same size and shape. When it's finally done, you may cut and clue, braid or sew the loose strings.

Knotting is best known for the colourful friendship bracelets. But you took this art beyond that. Where do you get the inspiration for your works?

I know a whole lot of really brilliant artists and amazing knotters that inspire me day by day. And when I surf the internet there are so many interesting knotted pieces, that I simply have to safe the pictures of them and try it myself. Most of the time when I do so I try to give my own piece a personal touch and don't just simply copy the references. Sometimes I even invent new techniques when something knotted opens up a new world of thinking to me. My other main inspiration is nature. As a flower child by heart I love walking through the woods and thus also get inspired by animals and plants...



Are most of your works commissions?

Oh no, not at all, I'm not a professional artist. Commissions are rare exceptions. Most of my works are presents for my friends and family.

Is there something you absolutely want to try out with knots? A special project maybe?

Oh yes, there's something I'm thinking about all the time: in my gallery there are some flowers and twine-like colliers and in this style I want to make a flower crown for my wedding day. I don't know when my boyfriend and I will finally marry. We're engaged for more than 4 years now. So maybe there's enough time left for the flower crown project. It would really be something special, because it will be the first piece I would make for myself...

Do you have any tips or tricks for people who want to learn knotting?

Of course! First of all there are many great websites about knotting where you can learn almost everything from first steps to bigger projects.

Here are my favorite ones:

About friendship bracelets
- Friendship-bracelets.net (english)
- Freundschaftsbaender.at (german)
- Knuepfwerkstatt.de.vu my own german one, but will be soon translated into english

About Macrame
- Macramecollective.com (english)
- Free-Macrame-Patterns.com (english)
- Olgasmacrame.com (english)

Use them, they may help you a lot!

And some general tips and tricks:

1st
Practice your knots till you feel secure enough to start a first project.

2nd
Start with easy patterns, like striped friendship bracelet patterns or square knot macrame bracelets.

3nd
Try to improve your skills in small steps. Don't expect too much. Knotting should be first of all fun and not competition.

4th
Don't knot while you're angry. You have to be calm and concentrated.

5th
Become a member of a knotting community and ask skilled knotters for advice when you are insecure about something.


And to finish this interview, please show us your favourite pieces of your gallery.



Thank you, ~nimuae, for this interview.

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Be sure to check 's gallery for more stunning pieces and also pay a visit to her group .


_{This interview was held by *digikijo}