CircleFlower

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To draw one, get a compass and set its radius to an inch (or three centimeters). Draw a circle.

Now set the point of the compass somewhere on the circumference of the circle and draw a second circle. Note that the second circle will just touch the center of the first, where you first put the compass point. It will also cross the first circle in two places.

Set the point of the compass on one of those crossing points. Draw a third circle. Continue drawing circles with the point of the compass where the new circles cross the circumference of the first circle until you get all the way around. If you draw this accurately, and your compass doesn't flex, exactly six circles will fit perfectly around.

Continue by setting the point of the compass at the intersection points and go around and out as far as you like. I think this is one of the most beautiful patterns in the Universe.

To make the CircleFlower as I have it pictured here, fill in the small leaf-shaped areas with red, yellow and blue felt-tip pen.

Alternatively, take a straightedge and draw straight lines from each intersection point to each neighboring one. You get a latticework with a crystalline appearance. Sorry I don't have an example to show you.

I have been drawing the latticework version since I was a small child. I started drawing the colored CircleFlower pattern in college. To me they represent the perfection of mathematics and geometry. -- MichaelCrawford

CircleFlower

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