Ornament types (islimi, girikh), making a mop, woodworking trades
An ornament is a decoration whose elements repeat in a set order. By structure it is islimi or girikh. An islimi ornament is made of stylised elements of nature – leaf, stem, bud, tree, bird – that is, decoratively generalised pictures. Girikh is a geometric ornament whose name means «knot»; it is built from rectangles, triangles, circles, arcs and polygons, with straight, curved or mixed lines. Before drawing ornaments one needs the rules of geometry. In decorative art, harmony (fit of colour, size and shape proportions), contrast (sharp difference of colours), symmetry and asymmetry are considered. Making a mop combines wood and other materials: a head of cloth or synthetic fibre is attached to a smoothly sanded wooden handle. Cutting the handle end, drilling the hole and fixing are done by a master or teacher; pupils sand the handle surface and prepare the cloth head. Trades connected with wood are the carpenter, the decorative artist-master (naqqosh) and the master of artistic wood carving. Because carpentry tools are often sharp, a master always uses protective equipment.
Ornament work: on squared paper draw two borders – one islimi (leaf-stem), one girikh (circles and straight lines). Choose two colours and check for contrast and symmetry. The compass point is sharp: be careful.