Hankins: Poygons in contact
In 1925 Hanking publishes an article on what he calls 'The Drawing of Geometric Patterns in Saracenic Art'. You can find it online at Geometric Patterns
an accidental discovery
Remarkable is that Hanking doesn’t just sketches the patterns. He looks at them and studies the geometrical constructions. He notices that an underlying net of polygons define the pattern and calls them 'Polygons in contact' (PIC). This is his description of the method:
- Draw a net of PIC’s on the surface to decorate.
- Draw, starting from the midpoints of every polygon edge, lines that intersect as a letter X.
- These lines continue until they meet similar lines. This completes the pattern.
- Remove the construction lines afterwards so that only the line pattern remains, without any trace of how it was created.
