A somewhat arabesque bookmark

Not so complicated, no fancy techniques involved.  It was dressed by soaking it in water, spraying lightly with medium starch (I don’t have any liquid starch) and then pressing with a pretty hot iron.  There are still some problems, but there is improvement.  I tatted this with a #20 thread, so it is larger than the pattern specified (it recommended #30 or #40).  Pattern from Nancy Price, http://www.be-stitched.com/bookmark.asp.

The endless picots and repeating, circling motifs of many tatting patterns remind me strongly of arabesque decoration.  See?

This is my copy of the Quran, in both Arabic and English.  Not that I read Arabic.  I loved my Arabic class in college.  I mean, really loved it.  Alas, I promptly forgot how to read the alphabet, so I can  decipher not even one sound of it.  Fortunately, the English translation is in there too!  I love the sound of Arabic when it’s read fluidly and well.

Anyway, I haven’t read the Quran.  It was on my list of plans for last year, but it didn’t happen.  I didn’t bother to put it on my list for this year; I’m not going to push it.  But reading a surah here and there might be nice.

I  just finished reading the book Arts and Crafts Textiles, which I picked up randomly at the library last week.  It’s not a crafts book!  It’s an art history book!  Yeah, that surprised me too.  I’m not really given to knowing, well, anything about art history.  I will talk more about it later, because I enjoyed it and learned a lot from it (Imagine 99.99999% ignorance.  Now imagine 99.99998% ignorance after reading this book.)  I feel all this kinship with Frank Lloyd Wright now, doncha know?  And that is so decidedly NOT endlessly ornamented – I’m being inconsistent.  Or, put more positively, I am appreciating various types of visual art.

We’re off to the planetarium today.  More love for the contributions of Islamic civilization?