Pentagon Circles

Pentagon Circles in EQ5

Arnout Cosman created a spectacular quilt entitled, Spin Off, that started a sensation on the Info-EQ mail list. As always we like to challenge ourselves and see if we can recreate a complex design in EQ5. This is my attempt for what it's worth, and is a virtual attempt only. I simplified my EQ5 rendition by using only straight edges so that the shapes would snap together in PatchDraw. I'll leave the sewing of this beauty to Arnout! Arnout's quilt has curved edges on the star points and is much more interesting with all the details he incorporated into it. Be sure to look at the closeup detail too.

See Arnout Cosman's Spin Off quilt

This block was created in PatchDraw -- no tracing required! I did not use curves, the circles are an illusion created by the like colored star points.

Creating this requires the use of the advanced drawing features in EQ5. My method to create this block seems unconventional, but I am aiming for shapes that will snap together perfectly. Creating the the decagon wreath first is the key to uniform shapes. You will need to enable the advanced drawing features in EQ5 in order to turn on Snap to Grid in PatchDraw. It's essential if you want all the shapes to neatly snap together.

Turn on Snap to Grid and Snap Patch to Grid. Draw a pentagon using the pre-closed shape on the Polygon tool fly-out. When you draw the pentagon, hold down the CTRL key as you drag out the shape to constrain it so that you will have an nice accurate upright shape. When you draw this initial pentagon note that the top node snaps to the grid. Once you have drawn it, move it so that the node on the second point to the right snaps to a grid point (this is what Snap Patch to Grid does).

Clone it, and then Flip V to flip the clones upside down. Place them as illustrated Now use the Line tool to draw the elongated triangle. The line ends will snap to nodes creating a closed shape. Take care not to move your mouse away as change direction drawing the triangle. Move the triangle away and check with the Bezier Edit tool to make sure it's closed. If it's notclosed, delete it and draw it again.

Helpful Hint: Once the star-pentagon is snapped to the main design, it's very difficult to select it again by itself. What I did was keep a cloned copy of the motif off in one corner of the worktable within easy reach.

Create a 5-cluster wreath by selecting the triangle/trapezoid group. Keep the Resize% set at 100%. Slide Cluster spacing all the way to the right to make it easier to move the individual clusters after they are "wreathed."

Did I mention that coloring the block is the most tedious part? :-)

Try other combinations with the main star-pentagon motif. Variations are endless depending on how you place the pentagons. Have fun!

More pentagon wonders...

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