DOMESTIKA COURSE – ISLAMIC ART – TRANSFERRING THE DESIGN
Following yesterday’s session in the studio where I created the first version of some design tracings, I had time to think about how it was working out. I realised I wasn’t happy with it, and decided to start the tracings again with a different approach.
Esra’s method for transferring the design
What our teacher Esra does is to take a piece of tracing paper large enough to cover the grid, and make marks at various strategic points. She then transfers these marks onto the watercolour paper. She then lines up her completed one-eighth tracing with her various marks, pencil side down, and transfers the design – she uses a pencil to retrace over all the lines once the tracing paper is taped securely in place. Once she has done the first transfer, she removes the tracing paper, flips it over and tapes it down again, lining up the design with the one already transferred. If you have any variations in the biomorphs in the initial mirror image, this will result in a nice mirrored symmetrical design once the whole circle is complete.
A better method
I have seen someone on YouTube making the initial drawing on a piece of tracing paper large enough to draw the outline of the whole design, in this case an eight-pointed star. Tape the tracing paper down over the grid. Trace the outline of the star. Divide the star into 16, joining the opposite lines from the points of the star, through the centre, and from the angles between the points. Tape the tracing paper down over the grid, and draw the pattern in the left-hand side of the first sector to the right of the vertical, using a 2B pencil. (Keep sharpening this pencil throughout the drawing process, to keep the drawing crisp.) Remove the tracing paper from the grid, and fold it in half with the pencil lines on the outside, along its vertical axis, making sure you match up all the points of the star.
At this point you can dispense with the grid and just work on the tracing paper.
Turn the folded tracing paper over, and trace the shape again on the other side. When you open up the fold, you have a sector twice the width, i.e. one-eighth of the star, with the mirror image completing that sector. The pencil lines are on the outside, with a mountain fold in the middle.
Now fold on the next line, i.e. the line immediately to the right of the drawing you have just done. Again, keep the pencil lines on the outside.
Turn the folded paper over, and trace again. This time you will be tracing the complete one-eighth of the design rather than the one-sixteenth you did the first time. When you open it up, you have one-quarter of the design completed.
Fold on the next line, making sure that the pencil lines are on the outside as before.
Turn it over, and trace the quarter. When you open it up, you have completed half the pattern.
Now fold it in half, turn it over and trace again. When you open it out, the pattern is complete.
Working on the side with the pencil lines, you can then erase and draw as required, to interlace any lines of pattern that you want. Also you can tidy up any parts that haven’t quite joined up.
Turn it over, and lay it onto your watercolour paper with the pencil lines facing down. Centre it carefully, and tape it down well.
Transferring the design
There are different ways of transferring the design to the watercolour paper. You can go over all the lines with a sharpened harder pencil (e.g. 2H), or you can burnish it with the edge of a spoon or with a specialist burnishing tool. This will transfer the graphite from the tracing onto the watercolour paper. The pencil method gives a nice sharp line, but it takes a very long time, especially with a complex design. You can lift up the corners without removing all of the tape, to see if you have missed any areas. If you have, it is easy to turn the tracing paper back where it was before, and then you can complete the missing areas. Just transfer the pattern, not the construction lines.
I think this is a better method. I like it because you end up with a complete tracing which can be used again if you want, and you are never trying to see through more than two layers of tracing paper. If you want to vary the biomorphs, you can omit them from your tracing altogether, and add them once the transfer is complete. With Esra’s method, there is a lot more lining up to do during the transferring phase, because you have to move the one-eighth design piece around the circle for each tracing. With the preferred method, the tracing remains in place and you simply trace over the whole thing with a sharpened hard pencil, or with a burnishing tool.
Working with the preferred method
I began with a large piece of tracing paper which I taped down over the grid, and traced the two overlapping squares forming the eight-pointed star, and all the diagonals. I removed it and set it aside.
Rather than starting the drawing of the design again completely from scratch, I took the one-eighth tracing I did yesterday, and used that as a starting point. lined it up on the grid and taped it in place. Then I laid my large piece of tracing paper over the top, lining it up with the grid once more, and traced the one-eighth design.
Here is a detail shot of the one-eighth design traced on the new large sheet of tracing paper.
At this point it was OK to dispense with the grid. I proceeded with the tracing and folding as detailed in the description above. Here is the design with the first quarter completed.
You can see how the pattern repeat is beginning to build up.
Here is half the design completed.
The final fold and trace produces the completed design in all its glory.
You can see that I’ve had to glue on some extra tracing paper at top and bottom, because my piece wasn’t quite large enough.
Transferring the design onto watercolour paper
I took a sheet of the recommended A4 hot press watercolour paper (300 gsm) and marked the centre. I placed the completed tracing face down onto the paper, lining up the centre and vertical and horizontal lines, and taped it in place really well, so that it would not move.
I used a small plastic modelling tool with a smooth rounded and curved tip as a burnishing tool, and this worked very well for transferring the graphite from the tracing to the watercolour paper, although it did leave quite a mess. Working with a sharp 2H pencil would probably have yielded cleaner results but it would have taken an extremely long time.
A detail shot.
I shall probably use a kneaded eraser to gently remove the excess graphite, and go over the detail with a harder pencil, lightly so that it doesn’t show when I paint the design.
Watch this space for further progress.
