Moroccan Geometry: S9 Master Class: 10-fold with the Eye of the Sun from Bou Inania Medersa, Fez

 Adv S9 Master Class: 10-fold with the eye of the sun, from Bou Inania Medersa, Fes

Part A: Draw the main circle and subdivide it into tenths.

This 10-fold design is based on 2 concentric circles. These two fully contain the 4 central shapes. 10 other overlapping circles whose centers are outside of the outer circle complete and contain the remaining shapes. The first of the 2 concentric circles to be drawn is the outer one

1. We want the finished drawing to fit with 5 mm margins above and below. The ratio of the circle's radius, A, to the distance between the center and the outer point of the pattern, B, is approximately 5 to 7. Using a watercolor paper that is 304mm high, B should be no more than 304mm, minus the 5 mm margins, then divided in half, or 147 mm. So then A, the radius of the main circle, should be about (5/7) x 147 mm, or about 105 mm.

Use the usual method of finding the center of the page, draw a circle of the desired radius and quarter the circle with horizontal and vertical lines. 

Set the point of the same compass at 90 degrees on the circle and mark only where an arc would intersect the circle above and below the horizontal, then set a ruler between those two points, and mark where the ruler crosses the horizontal. This should be exactly a distance of 1/2 the radius from the center. (this may or may not matter, but it is worth noting that this sets up a 30-60-90 right triangle with sides of the ration sqrt(3)/2 to 1/2--the half radius, and the hypoteneuse 1-- or the full radius, whic is the distance from 90 degrees to the upper vertex of the triangle).

2. Set a compass at the point on the horizontal found in part 1. Then open it to the top point, or 0 degrees. This sets up a right triangle with sides 1, 2, and sqrt (5). Keeping the point where it is, transfer that distance to the horizontal. This will be a little more than 1/2 the radius from the center.

3. Now set the compass point at the point on the horizontal found in part 2, and open it to the top of the circle, or 0 degrees. This is the distance between the divisions of 5ths which you'll use to divide the circle into fifths, starting at the top, with two marks on either side, above the horizontal, then from each of those points, a point below the horizon. Check along the way to make sure you're compass radius is correct, and check the distance between the two lower points.

4. From the division marks made in step 3, draw lines extending across the circle and running through the center. This divides the circle into tenths. Label the points from 1 to 10, with 10 at the top.

Part B: Draw the construction lines for the inner shapes.

5.  Connect the points by skipping two points, so that 1 connects to 4, 2 to 5, 3-6, 4-7, 5-8, 6-9, 7-10, 8-1, 9-2, and 10-3. Extend the lines to beyond the circle. Check the triangles to ensure correct registration.

6.  Hold the ruler between points 1 and 3, and make marks where it crosses the two outside triangular sides that converge at point 2. Then, set a compass to the distance from the center to one of the marks and draw another circle, noting where it crosses the outer triangular lines which converge at each of the ten points.

7. The lines from step 4 connect points 1-6, 2-7, 3-8, 4-9, and 5-10. Place your ruler parallel to one of the lines, where the circle in step 6 crosses the two outside triangular lines which meet at each number. Draw a parallel line on each side, and continue around the circle until you have 10 lines forming 5 sets of parallels.

8. At this point, the construction lines for the 4 central shapes, (1-Khatem Maasher or Trenja, which means "bitter orange", 2-looza, or almonds, 3-Qandeel, or Mkhames, which means 5-fold, and the Sfet, or Sfiyet, which means "pure" or "sacred"), have been completed.

Part C: Draw the outer circles and construction lines for the outer shapes.

9. To construct the outer shapes, you'll need to draw 10 overlapping circles, the centers of which lie radially beyond the outer circle at a distance equal to the length of the far end of the outer sfet shape. Use dividers (or compass) to measure this length, and then project that distance radially beyond the outer circle, where the point of the sfet touches it, by marking it with the compass or dividers. The radius of these circles will be from the marked center to the outermost tip of the qandeels, or star shapes.

10. Ignoring the line segment running through the center of the small circles, label the points where the 4 lines cross the outer arc of the circles, 1-4, from right to left. For each pair of adjacent circles, draw a line through the outermost numbers, that is, 1 on the right to 4 on the left. 

(At this point, your should attach a temporary piece of paper to the top and bottom of the page so that circles 10 and 5 can be completed. Once the lines have been drawn in this step and the next one, the temporary pieces of paper can be discarded).

11. Next, connect point 2 of each circle on the right to point 3 of the circle on the left, skipping two circles. So, for example, point 2 on circle #1 connects to point 3 on circle #4, point 2 on circle #2 connects to point 3 on circle #5, etc., and point 2 on circle #8 connects to point 3 on circle #1.

12. Note the following points at the intersections of each pair of circles. Connect point R of each circle to point L of the circle to its left.

At this point, the construction lines are complete and you can now highlight the shapes.

Part D: Highlight the line segments of the pattern and channel the lines

The pattern has 131 separate shapes: 10 looza in the center, 60 on the periphery, 20 sftet, 10 qandel, 10 ba w la fnish, 10 small weaving shuttles, 10 partial eyes of the sun, and 1 complete eye of the sun in the center. It is a denser pattern than, for example, the S7 HW 12-fold Kora & Kandeel (57 shapes) or the S6 HW 8-fold jellyfish with solomon seal (33 shapes). In complexity, it is more like the S5 HW 8-fold spiderweb (169 shapes). So keep the channels thin--4 mm or 5 mm. Set the radius of the compass to 2.5 mm.

Do the over-unders while highlighting. It will be easier to do the channels when you already know the over-unders.

There ended up 190 channel markers, for 95 line segments, which seems like a small number given that the pattern contains 131 shapes, but it you follow a segment from end to end, you'll see that it typically borders 4, 5, or 6 shapes

Detail of channel markers

Part E: Ink the lines

There are 610 line segments to be traced. 61 per side times 2 sides times 5 rotations, or 122 times 5, or 610.

Part F: Color the shapes

Inner Sfet: Pyrrhole Red 315 (1 part) + Primary Yellow 275 (3 part)

Outer Sfet: Pyrrhole Red (1 part) + Primary Yellow (4 part)

Looza (normal): Azo Orange 276 (2 part) + Pearl Yellow 818 (1 part) + Pearl Red 819(1 part)

Looza (bent): Azo Orange 276 (2 part) + Pearl Yellow 818 (1 part) + Pearl Red 819(1 part)

Ba w la Fnesh: Oxide Black 735

Weaving Shuttle: Oxide Black 735

Qandeel: Naples Yellow Deep 223

Khatem (center and corner): Turquoise Blue 522 (1 part) + Sky Blue Light 551 (2 part)