Taught by Richard Henry, this introductory workshop is suitable for beginners, or those seeking to refresh their skills.

Patterns based upon 5 and 10-fold symmetry are among the most beautiful and subtle found within Islamic art. There are a number of traditional approaches to drawing these designs. In the previous session, we considered the ‘polygonal’ method. In this workshop will explore an alternative layout based upon radial intersections and proportional modules, typically used in the design of the Quranic pages, as in the Quran Baybars al-Jashnagir illustrated above. There will be a brief contextual slide lecture and each student will receive a video recording of the workshop, together with PDF handouts and a additional supporting material. Although this can be taken as a stand-alone workshop, we will build upon themes introduced earlier in the series. (Scroll through gallery in banner above to see images of historical 10-fold designs and former students’ work ).

REQUIRED equipment & materials

• A compass (recommended compass is the Rotring Master Bow)
• A ruler
• Cartridge paper, 3 sheets – A3 size ideally heavy weight (150gsm plus)
• Range of Pencils (6B-4H)
• Tracing paper
• Masking Tape
• Zero Eraser or equivalent
• Scissors
• Optional – Coloured pencils.
• Optional – Fine line drawing pens (useful to have, but not essential)