For most of us, knots usually don’t extend beyond shoe-laces and hair-braiding. For craftsman Skip Hipps, fancy knotwork is both his passion and his art form. Having moved to Kaua‘i just over a year ago from Arizona, Hipps feels honored
For most of us, knots usually don’t extend beyond shoe-laces and hair-braiding. For craftsman Skip Hipps, fancy knotwork is both his passion and his art form. Having moved to Kaua‘i just over a year ago from Arizona, Hipps feels honored that his decorative knotwork for frames, mirrors, canes and free-standing sculpture is available for sale at Ship Store Galleries in Coconut Marketplace. As one of the earliest forms of human weaving, Hipps claims that he is one of half-a-dozen “people anywhere in the world still doing this specific type of fancy knotwork.”
“My mother taught me to tie my shoes, and my grandmother taught me how to do a standard braid when I was in third grade,” said Hipps of his first touch with what became a lifelong fascination. “In fourth grade I was wandering through a used book store and found a copy of ‘The Encyclopedia of Fancy Knotwork’ — I bought it for two dollars.”
Later Hipps discovered the ‘bible’ for knotwork —“Ashley’s Book of Knots.” Hipps said, “Between the two I learned everything I needed,” and by the time Hipps enlisted in the Navy “there was no knot they taught that I didn’t already know.”
While being stationed at Barking Sands on Kaua‘i in 1980-81, Hipps fell in love “with the people, the food, the whole place.” A serendipitous turn of events brought Hipps back to the Garden Island after a 115 degree day in Arizona. “I thought, what the heck am I doing here, I need to go back to Kaua‘i. I put the For Sale sign in the yard on Saturday, sold the house on Monday and came out with two cases filled with rope to knot,” laughed Hipps.
Describing the amount of time and detailed work that goes into just one of his elaborate knotted frames or canes, Hipps’ perfectionism becomes evident. “If there is even a tiny mistake, one that no one else could ever find, I look at the piece and it just glares at me. I will only deliver my very best,” he said.
Holding up a small five-pointed star, “If I need five of these, I might make 15 before I get the five that match perfectly,” said Hipps.
Demonstrating the knotting of a star: “See, it’s in the tightening of the knot that finally determines if it’s right,” he said.
His hands nimbly flip strands of white into a flower-like pattern and with a few tugs, a perfect star emerges.
“It takes hours to do this type of work,” said Hipps when asked why this art form is so rare, “no machine can do it. In today’s world people want 50 or 100 of the exact same thing. People have lost patience for this type of detailed work.”
Hipps explains that his knotwork has been a constant in his life since buying that first book. Through his service years, he was often commissioned to make admirals’ and captains’ gifts. He savors the very start of a project when the “main sennit comes into form and everything just feels right,” and “the last knot, when I can stand back and just look at the whole thing, without a mistake.”
Having invented several of the joint or linking knots, Hipps main knotwork can be found in “Ashley’s Book of Knots.” Standard, yet far from simple, knots include: Russian, flat, square and herringbone sennits. These may consist of over 40 strands, all which require “constant attention,” said Hipps. “I may only be working with one, but I’ve got my eye on all of them.”
The most difficult stage in the process for Hipps is the application of the finishing resin, that makes the work both permanent and waterproof.
Hipps most recent work now hanging in Ship Store Galleries, of which he is most proud. “I just love this piece,” Hipps said of the custom black and teal frame he designed under gallery owner Fred von Wiegen’s behest. A 20-inch circular sennit without end frames a $15,000 painting by marine life artist Robert Lyn Nelson, entitled “Beloved Residents of Kaua‘i.” Hipps expressed his gratitude to the gallery: “They’ve put my work in such good company, it’s really nice to have it recognized in this way.”
For more information contact Ship Store Galleries at 822-7758 or visit their Coconut Marketplace location in Kapa‘a. Or visit Skip Hipps’ Web site: www.frayedknotarts.com/hipps.html.
