Stars
Islamic designs are well-known for their impressive usage of star-shaped
polygons. Here are two examples:
Click for larger images and citation information
Notice the smaller stars contained within larger stars
|
This example shows the use of stars in a true repeating tessellation
of polygons
|
|
How to create such marvelous tessellations is beyond the scope
of this site. A wonderful experience would be to discover for
yourself what exactly in terms of geometry is meant by the term
"star." The following animation will give you a few hints regarding
the direction in which you should proceed.
The simplest stars (known as regular stars) are created using
regular polygons as framework. The procedure is to connect the
vertices of a regular polygon in a pre-defined order. For example,
for the pentagon on the left, vertices are connected by proceeding
in a clockwise direction, skipping one vertex each time. The number
of vertices skipped can be varied, as can the number of sides
of the original regular polygon.
|
|
Experiment and explore this geometric definition of "star." Then,
analyze the Islamic star patterns shown above and try designing
a tessellation of your own.
Web Resource
Islamic Patterns - a tutorial on how to create star-like Islamic patterns
  
top of the page
|
