Practice Makes Perfect

My pencil sketch of the word "Transformed" is complete and ready for ink.  However, before I take permanent black ink to my final work, I need to practice.  I created another version of the pencil sketch with only a few of the letters to work with first.  This enables me to practice my knots and to get control of my pen.  It also allows me to experiment with the placement of the ink in each letter. 

I tried both interior black with white ribbons and interior white with black ribbons.  The interior black with white ribbons shows the lacing of the knots, which I think I like better.

When making the Celtic knots, it's important to get the lines perfect so that the knot is clearly visible and the lines begin and end exactly where they should.  You can see in this practice sketch that my lines are not quite perfect yet, thus more practice is needed before I tackle the final work in ink.  Practice makes perfect!